Life sentence for city man who killed five people in shop blast

A COVENTRY man convicted of murdering five people in an explosion has been jailed for life.

Hawkar Hassan, 33, of Eld Road, and two other men were convicted of murder at Leicester Crown Court last month.

The fatal blast was caused by a petrol-fuelled inferno at the Zabka Supermarket in Leicester’s Hinckley Road, on the evening of Sunday, February 25.

Hassan was convicted of murder along with shop owner Aram Kurd, 34, and Arkan Ali, 38.

The men were also found guilty of plotting to fraudulently claim a £300,000 insurance pay-out by starting the fire which blew up the shop.

At Leicester Crown Court on Friday all three were given life sentences.

Ali and Kurd were jailed for a minimum term of 38 years while Hassan was jailed for a minimum term of 33 years

During a six-week trial, Leicester Crown was told Ali, of Drake Close, Oldham, and Kurd, of Hillary Place, Leicester, used between 26 and 60 litres of petrol in the fire-raising attack at the store.

The blast caused a massive explosion which completely destroyed the shop and upstairs two-storey flat, described as a “pancake collapse”.

Nearby residents initially feared a bomb had gone off.

Those who died in the flat were devoted mother, Mary Ragoobeer, 46, her teenage sons Shane and Sean, and 18-year-old Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shane’s girlfriend.

Ali’s girlfriend, Viktorija Ivejleva, 22, who was working behind the counter in the store, also lost her life.

The defendants were said to have left Miss Ijevleva to die in the building because she was aware of the plan and helped Kurd to arrange an insurance policy on the shop’s contents about three weeks earlier.

During the trial, prosecutor, David Herbert QC, said she died because “she knew too much.”

He said the defendants intended to maximise the damage to the premises and “would have known” occupants were in the flat above and Kurd told an inmate in custody before the trial they were likely to have got a bigger insurance payout if anyone died.

Ali, Hassan, and Kurd were assisted by Kurdish interpreters throughout the trial.

They denied five counts of murder and claimed they played no part in an insurance fraud.

During the trial the court heard that between 26 and 60 litres of petrol, mixed with BBQ fluid and white spirit was used to start the fire in the basement of the supermarket, triggering a massive explosion at 7.01pm.

CCTV and traffic camera footage released by police at the end of the trial showed people escaping from a nearby takeaway moments after the explosion, and rubble being blasted into the roadway as cars pass by.

During his opening address, Mr Herbert told jurors the four people who were killed in the flat above the shop had been doing nothing more than “enjoying a peaceful night in”.

“The devastation caused by the defendants was carried out with the intention to kill,” he said.