Insurance scam plotters get life for murdering 5 in shop blast
THREE men who murdered five people in an insurance scam explosion have been jailed for life.
Aram Kurd, Hawkar Hassan and Arkan Ali soaked the basement of Kurd’s shop in 60 litres of petrol before setting it on fire.
The blast destroyed the store and a flat above it, killing Mary Ragoobeer, 46, her sons Shane, 18, and Sean, 17, and Shane’s girlfriend Leah Beth Reek, 18.
Ali’s girlfriend Viktorija Ijevleva, 22, who was in on the £300,000 scam, was left to die in the explosion because she ‘knew too much’ about the insurance policy at the centre of the plot.
Ali, 38, Hassan, 33, and Kurd, 34, were unanimously convicted of five counts of murder and a further charge of conspiring to make a gain by dishonestly pursuing an insurance claim after the fire in Leicester.
Ali, of Oldham, and Kurd, of Leicester, were both jailed for a minimum of 38 years, and Hassan, of Coventry, for 33 years.
Passing sentence at Leicester Crown Court yesterday, Mr Justice Holgate said: ‘None of the defendants has shown the slightest wicked exceptionally bit crimes. of remorse callous They for were their and deceitful. I agree with the prosecution that it is plain beyond doubt that Kurd and Ali were both centrally involved in the planning of these crimes.
‘It is plain from the way they both behaved in court and outside that they are highly manipulative and cunning individuals.’
The judge added: ‘The arson attack on this terraced building was exceptionally dangerous and put the lives of neighbours and other members of the public at a high level of risk. The defendants caused an exceptionally high level of harm.’
The three defendants were flanked by eight dock officers throughout the hearing. Shopkeeper Kurd wept in the dock as victim impact statements were read out and his mitigation was put forward. The families of the victims were also emotional as the killers were jailed. David Herbert QC, prosecuting, said the killers knew people would be at home in the flat above the explosion the shop on at the the evening time of of February 25 last year. He added that the blast was ‘caused by the three defendants as part of a plan to profit from a false insurance claim for the loss of stock, contents and future loss of business from the shop on the ground floor’.