Court told of 'bad blood'

A bitter feud between Asian families led to the murder of two youngsters in a horrific house blaze, a court heard.

Anum Khan, nine, died in the arson attack on her home in Magdalen Road, Oxford, during the early hours of August 26 last year.

Her brother Majid, 15, managed to escape but suffered severe burns and died shortly after the fire, which swept upstairs to bedrooms where seven family members were sleeping.

Moments before arsonists poured petrol through the letterbox, the teenager was flicking through a family photo album with his sisters.

The blaze engulfed the house within minutes and Anum could not be saved, despite valiant attempts to rescue her by her mother Mehfooz, next-door neighbours and students.

Julian Baughan QC, prosecuting, told Birmingham Crown Court yesterday: "Anum was found curled up in a ball underneath the bedroom window. She died from the fumes.

"Her mother escaped through the front door and when she discovered her family was not behind her, she had to be restrained from going back in."

The court was told five men and one woman plotted to torch the house. Five of them travelled in two cars from Hertfordshire to Oxford with their lethal weapons - petrol contained in a canister and two Tango bottles - and met the sixth.

The six co-ordinated their trip by mobile phone. Two were instructed to pour the inflammable liquid through the letterbox and light it once the Khan family switched out their lights to go to bed.

The six, who deny the two murders, 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.

Mr Baughan told the court Swanton and Liedl, who are white, were recruited to start the fire by the other four, all Asian. He told the jury the fatal fire was the culmination of a long and bitter feud between two Asian families. On one side were the Khans, who strictly adhered to Muslim values, while rival family the Munshis preferred to live a more Western way of life.

"There was plainly bad blood between some of the defendants and the Khan family," Mr Baughan added.

Trouble began when the victims' brother Amjad, 22, began a sexual relationship with Fiaz Munshi, the sister of accused Riaz Munshi. Fiaz had since fled the country, the court heard.

The relationship was against Amjad's Muslim upbringing and he deliberately hid it from his parents. But when he was jailed for three years last year, his parents discovered his friendship with Haroon Sharif and Fiaz Munshi.

Mr Baughan added: "They blamed Sharif and the Munshi sisters for their son's downfall."

Amjad's mum Mehfooz confronted members of the Munshi family and the two Munshi sisters were forced to flee Oxford after a street fight last June, he said.

Mr Baughan added that the Munshi family viewed the actions of the Khan parents as "meddling by sticklers of the Muslim faith".

The prosecution alleges that the fatal fire was lit as a revenge attack in the wake of several confrontations.

The trial, which is expected to last six weeks, continues.

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