Leicester fire murders: Three men found guilty of killing five people in shop explosion to claim insurance payout
Shopkeeper and two friends driven to kill by greed to 'financially motivated atrocity', say police
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A shopkeeper and two friends have been found guilty of murdering five people in a “bomb-like” explosion planned to secure a £330,000 insurance payout.
Aram Kurd, Arkan Ali and Hawkar Hassan lit 26 litres of petrol in the basement of a Polish supermarket, causing a blast which destroyed the shop and a flat above.
The flat’s residents Mary Ragoobeer, 46, and sons Sean, 17, and Shane, 18, died in the explosion along with the elder teenager’s girlfriend Leah Beth Reek, 18.
Shop worker Viktorija Ijevleva, 22, was also killed. Leicester Crown Court heard her killers left her die because she knew about the insurance policy, taken out just three weeks earlier.
Prosecutor David Herbert told the jury: “The defendants thought she knew too much and decided to leave her to die in the explosion that they created.
“In other words, the devastation that they caused was carried out with the intention to kill.”
He said the men had intended to cause maximum damage to the Hinckley Road shop, which Kurd owned, and “would have known” people were in the two-storey flat above.
Police said the killers’ motivation was “purely financial greed and personal gain”.
During a five-week trial, Mr Herbert told the court: “The explosion and the proceeding fire demolished a building and killed five people in the building – one person who was in the shop and four who were in the flat above enjoying a peaceful night in.”
Ali, 38, Hassan, 33, and Kurd, 34, denied murder and alternative counts of manslaughter. But they were unanimously found guilty of five counts of murder after 11 hours and 26 minutes of deliberations.
The trio were also convicted of conspiring with Ijevleva to dishonestly profit from an insurance claim following the fire.
Mr Herbert said the explosion was caused by “many, many litres of petrol.”
He added: “Even on camera 50 metres away you can see the explosion and the enormity of what happened.
“The explosion and the fire that followed was deliberately caused by these defendants who intended to profit from loss of stock, contents and future loss of business from the shop.
“It was not an accident, the prosecution say, that the petrol used caused such devastating damage.”
Detective Chief Inspector Michelle Keen, of Leicestershire Police, described the arson as “a financially motivated atrocity”.
Ms Keen added: “The motive would seem to be purely financial greed and personal gain.
“The intention was to claim against an over-inflated insurance policy for business interruption and contents.
“There was significant investment into the shop’s set-up and it is evident that it wasn’t as profitable as expected. This led to the subsequent fire and explosion.”
In a statement issued by police after the verdict, Jose Ragoobeer, the husband of Mary and father of Shane and Sean Ragoobeer, said: "Mary was a hard-working, loving mother and wife who was devoted to her family.
"Shane was in a relationship with a lovely girl called Leah. They were so happy together. Leah was a lovely girl who bought so much joy and happiness to our home.
"Sean was a good person and loving son who like Shane was always willing to help family and friends. He was looking forward to going to university and to study French and history."
Reek's said she had been looking forward to training as a nurse before she was murdered.
Speaking outside court, her older sister Molly told reporters: "The light went out of our world on that terrible night. No parent should ever have to arrange a funeral for their child. It is so difficult to put into words how much we miss Leah."
Kurd, of Hillary Place, Leicester, Ali, of Drake Close, Oldham, and Hassan, of Eld Road, Coventry, were remanded in custody and will be sentenced in mid-January.