Third man charged with murdering mother and three children in house fire

A third man has been charged with murder following a house fire that killed a mother and her three children.

Bryonie Gawith, 29, Denisty Birtle, nine, Oscar Birtle, five, and 22-month-old Aubree Birtle died after the blaze at their home in Westbury Road, Bradford, in the early hours of August 21 last year.

Mohammed Shabir, 44, of Alice Street, Keighley, and Calum Sunderland, 25, of Calton Street, Keighley, are currently due to go on trial on Tuesday after pleading not guilty to murdering Ms Gawith and the three children, and attempting to murder Ms Gawith’s sister, Antonia Gawith.

On Monday, West Yorkshire Police confirmed that Sharaz Ali, 39, of Langbar Avenue, Bradford, has also been charged with four counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.

Ali will appear at Bradford Magistrates’ Court on Monday morning, officers said.

Bradford Crown Court heard last year that Ali was “in a coma” and would not be ready for trial “even if he does wake up”.

Last week, prosecutor Matthew Bean said it had been thought he “was not expected to survive, or, if he did, it was going to take a considerable amount of time for him to recover”.

But Mr Bean told the hearing: “In January and February, we received updates indicating a marked improvement in his condition.

“The summary of the current prognosis… (he) is expected to survive and the expected timescale for discharge from hospital is between a number of weeks to a small number of months.”

The court heard Ali may be fit to stand trial by the end of the year.

An application to delay the trial of Shabir and Sunderland so the three men can stand trial together is expected to take place later on Monday at the crown court.

Ms Gawith died at the scene and the three children died from their injuries in hospital.