Blast that killed five ‘was down to greed’
A SHOPKEEPER and two other men caused a huge explosion to murder five people, including a friend involved in a bogus £300,000 insurance claim who “knew too much”, a court has heard.
Arkan Ali, Hawkar Hassan and Aram Kurd allegedly doused a shop in “many, many litres of petrol” before igniting it – something which “did not bother these defendants one bit”.
Leicester Crown Court heard how some in the neighbourhood near the Polish supermarket on Hinckley Road in the city thought a bomb had exploded.
The prosecution alleged that the trio destroyed the shop and its contents to gain an insurance pay-out of around £300,000 – in an act that “boils down to greed”.
The jury heard how the defendants intentionally “left (Viktorija Ijevleva) to die” in the explosion and fire, which was started in the basement of the building.
In the days leading up to the alleged murders, the prosecution said Hassan had bought over 26 litres of unleaded petrol which was clearly not intended for the diesel Audi vehicle they had driven to Leicester in.
The court was told yesterday that the can Hassan used to store the petrol was “one and the same” as the can recovered from the rubble after the explosion.
Ali, of Drake Close, Oldham, Hassan, of Eld Road, Coventry, and Kurd, of Hillary Place, Leicester, deny all 11 charges against them. The trial, listed for six weeks, continues.