Fifty mobile phone calls were made to plot the arson attack which killed two Oxford youngsters, a murder jury was told.

Anum Khan, nine, died in the horrific blaze at her home in Magdalen Road during the early hours of August 26 last year. Her brother Majid, 15, died shortly afterwards.

Birmingham Crown Court heard yesterday that records of the phone calls had been obtained by police from phone companies.

The prosecution alleges that a large number of calls were made on the night of the murders between Haroon Sharif in Oxford and five others travelling from Stevenage with petrol in containers.

The jury heard that although Sharif was at home within a minute of the fire being started, he played a "significant part" in setting up the arson attack by phoning others and letting them know when the Khans had switched off their lights to go to bed.

Julian Baughan QC, prosecuting, said: "This was plainly a perfectly planned and carefully executed killing. You only have to look at the time it was done and how they waited until the house was dark. "Why squirt petrol through someone's letterbox in the middle of the night when the family is asleep and set fire to it when all you want to do is give them a bit of a scare? Only two people were killed but it could have been the whole lot."

Mr Baughan added that the jury should draw "overwhelming inferences" from the number of calls made around the time of the fire.

He said: "It may well be that the telephone users had no idea that their telephone calls could be brought in evidence and placed before the jury, as there seems to be no attempt to disguise them."

The court also heard that after the fire, Haroon Sharif and Haq Nawaz visited Amjad Khan, 22, the brother of Anum and Majid, in prison, where he was serving a three-year sentence.

The court heard earlier that Amjad and Sharif's friendship contributed to a lengthy dispute between the Khan family and their rivals, the Munshis. Ill-feeling increased when Amjad began dating Fiaz Munshi, the sister of defendant Riaz Munshi. Recalling the prison visit by Sharif and Nawaz, Mr Baughan said: "When Amjad told him that his little sister had died, Haroon gave the impression that he could not believe it."

Giving evidence, Amjad told the court of the jail visit from Sharif on the day his brother died. Amjad, who is serving his sentence at Bullingdon Prison, said he and Sharif had been close friends for two years and his sister Anum would jump up to greet Sharif.

On August 28, two days after the fatal fire, Sharif and Nawaz visited him in prison. Amjad told the jury he thought Sharif behaved strangely.

Mr Baughan asked him: "Did he show any emotion?"

Amjad replied: "He was tearful. He used to take my little sister to the shops and he said he missed her."

Amjad added that Sharif also appeared to want to talk about irrelevancies, and added: I have known Haroon for two years but there was something that was odd."

On another occasion Majid phoned Haq Nawaz, who made the comment: "We'll be getting the bastards who were responsible."

The trial continues. 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. I tried to save her CARING sister Billqees Khan told how she tried to save her sister Anum from a raging inferno.

Computer student Billqees, 21, said she woke up in the early hours and realised her mother was not in the bedroom they shared.

She then saw her sister Nazeem, 19, about to jump from the upstairs window.

Choking back tears, she told the court: "I looked outside the window and I saw the fire outside. I tried to get my little sister but I could not. I tried so hard. A ball of fire came up the stairs and threw me back. I got burned on my right hand and my back."

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