A man accused of murdering two teenagers in an arson attack asked a friend to black out his car window hours before the fatal fire, a court heard.

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.

Ritesh Vyas, a student at Oxford College of Further Education, told Birmingham Crown Court that his friend Haroon Sharif, 20, one of six people accused of the murders, asked him to tint out the rear window of his black Vauxhall Cavalier.

But the precaution did not prevent Sharif from being spotted by Shanaz Khan, sister of Majid and Anum, as he drove past her Ablett Close home shortly before the fire, the court heard. Mr Vyas said Sharif came round to his home in Hawthorne Avenue, Headington. and asked him to carry out the work on his car.

He said: "He asked me if he could fit a blinder, to tint out the back, basically. We measured the blind and then I put the blind up."

The court heard that after some other work had been carried out on the Cavalier's engine, Mr Vyas and Sharif took the car for a drive.

As they travelled past the home of Shanaz Khan, sister of Majid and Anum, there were a group of people standing outside and Sharif was upset because he thought he had been spotted. Mr Vyas told the court: "There were some people standing outside Shanaz's house and as Haroon drove past he said 'They have seen me'."

Shortly afterwards the court heard Sharif made a phone call from a public telephone box nearby.

Mr Vyas also told the jury that earlier that evening Sharif had asked him to leave the room at his Morrell Avenue home so he could make a phone call.

Mr Vyas returned as the call was finishing, to hear Sharif say "it's hot, it's hot." Mr Vyas said he asked Sharif who it was and was told it was Sharif's girlfriend, who wanted to come to Oxford.

Earlier the court heard evidence from John Richardson, a cashier at athe Broadwater service station in Stevenage, who was on duty. He was working at the service station on the night of the fire. He recalled seeing three cars pull up on the forecourt.

His pal Craig Pretty also told how six men and two women, some white and some Asian, got out of the three cars, a Fiat Panda, a red Vauxhall Cavalier and a red Renault. He saw one of the men fill a fuel canister with petrol, before the group left in two cars. The six charged with the two murders are Alan Swanton, 18, of Southern Way, Letchworth, Hertfordshire; 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 jury has heard that Swanton and Liedl started the fire by squirting petrol through the letterbox and lighting it.

The accused allegedly plotted the arson attack when a feud developed between the Khan family and the Munshi family.

The case continues.

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