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Sentencing remarks of Mr Justice Spencer: R v Mohammed

Judgment Cited authorities 11 Cited in Precedent Map Related
Vincent
JurisdictionEngland & Wales
Judgment Date07 August 2019
Subject MatterSentencing Remarks
CourtCrown Court
1
The Queen
-v-
Shahid Mohammed
Sentencing Remarks of Mr Justice Spencer
Leeds Crown Court
7th August 2019
1. Shahid Mohammed, I have to sentence you for eight counts of murder and for an
associated offence of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life. You
committed these murders 17 years ago, in May 2002. With others you took part in
setting fire to a terraced house in Huddersfield in the middle of the night, 40 Osborne
Road, the home of the Chishti family. The downstairs front window was smashed and
four petrol bombs were thrown into the house. Two to three litres of petrol were poured
through the letter box and lit. Very soon the house became a blazing inferno.
2. There were eleven people asleep in the house, including five children, all girls, whose
ages were 13, 10, 7, 2 and a baby of only 6 months. All five of the children died in the
fire. So did their mother, aged 35, and their uncle, Ateeq, who was aged 18. Their
grandmother, aged 54, jumped from an upstairs window as the flames engulfed her. She
died a week later from the head injuries she sustained in the fall. Three other members
of the family managed to escape, and although they bravely tried to rescue the others
despite their own injuries, it was an impossible task. Experienced fire fighters who
attended described it as the worst house fire they had ever seen.

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