Shopkeeper and two accomplices guilty of murdering 5 in blast
Insurance fraud gang face life in jail
THREE men who killed five people in an explosion as part of a £300,000 insurance scam were yesterday found guilty of murder.
Aram Kurd, 33, Arkan Ali, 37, and Hawkar Hassan, 32, doused the cellar of Kurd’s shop in Leicester with 13 gallons of petrol, white spirit and lighter fluid.
The blast at Polish store Zabka in February killed Mary Ragoobeer, 46, and sons Shane, 18, and Sean, 17, who lived in the flat above.
Shane’s girlfriend Leah Reek, 18, and shop worker Viktorija Ljevleva, who was in on the scam, also perished.
The fraudsters knew Viktorija, 22, would die in the blast but allowed it as she “knew too much”, Leicester crown court heard. A month earlier, she and Ali had visited an insurance broker in Oldham, Greater Manchester, and tried unsuccessfully to take out cover for the shop.
A week later the pair were joined by Hassan and managed to finalise a policy.
Four days before the explosion, Viktorija and Ali were caught on CCTV changing the position of a camera in the rear yard. Three days later Ali, Hassan Building after blast and Viktorija bought six gallons of petrol. Ali and Viktorija also bought smoke alarms from B&Q and a gallon of white spirit from Wilko.
The blast destroyed several buildings and one officer said the scene was like “a war zone”. Scotty Ragoobeer, 15-yearold brother of Shane and Sean, was rescued from the rubble and survived.
Passer-by Thomas Lindop, 56, was seriously injured. After the tragedy, Kurd shamelessly gave interviews saying he bravely escaped the blaze. He said: “I couldn’t breathe. Everywhere I could see fire, like I was inside hell.”
He, Ali and Hassan showed no emotion as they were convicted of five counts of murder and conspiracy to defraud. They will be jailed for life when sentenced on January 18. Outside court yesterday, Leah’s sister Molly said: “A light went out of our world on that terrible night.”
Jose Ragoobeer, husband of Mary and father of Shane and Sean, added: “Mary was a hard-working, loving mother and wife who was devoted to her family. Our lives will never be the same.”