The judge in the case of six people accused of murdering two Oxford youngsters was today due to sum up the evidence.
Mr Justice Jowitt will summarise the key points of the evidence for the seven men, five women jury in the seventh week of the trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
Anum Khan, nine, died in the blaze at her home in Magdalen Road, east Oxford, on August 26 last year. Her brother Majid, 15, died two days later.
Yesterday, Stephen Kaye QC, defending for accused Riaz Munshi, told Birmingham Crown Court she was not part of the plot to start the fire and only accompanied the others to Oxford out of loyalty to her sister Fiaz.
Mr Kaye also claimed that descriptions of Riaz as "tough, determined, ruthless and angry", were not accurate. He told the court she had been prepared to supported sister Fiaz during an earlier conflict with the Khan family but this did not mean she was part of a murder plot.
In his closing speech, Christopher Hotten QC, defending Haroon Sharif, said his client had had close ties with the Khan family and there was no evidence about Sharif expressing dislike for the Khans.
Mr Hotten added: "Although there has been innuendo, there is no evidence that Mr Sharif was dealing in drugs. He was not arrested by the police."
Mr Hotten said Sharif remained on good terms with Amjad Khan, who was imprisoned for drug dealing, after the fire.
Mr Hotten said: "Who did Amjad call after the fire? It was Haroon."
The six accused are Alan Swanton, 18, of Southern Way, Letchworth, Herts; brothers Mohammed Nawaz, 21, and Haq Nawaz, 31, both of Ridge Road, Letchworth; Thomas Liedl, 18, of Birdshill, Letchworth; Haroon Sharif, 20, of Morrell Avenue, Oxford; and Riaz Munshi, 26, of Fulwell Road, Sheffield.
They all deny the charges. The judge is expected to ask the jury to retire to consider a verdict tomorrow.
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article