Man accused of murdering four in house fire ‘wanted to inflict maximum pain’

A man accused of murdering his former partner’s sister and her three children in a house fire as part of a botched revenge attack “wanted to inflict maximum pain” and “didn’t care who was there”, a trial has heard.

Prosecutors say Sharaz Ali was “motivated by jealousy and fuelled by drink and drugs” when he set fire to the home of Bryonie Gawith and her three small children in the early hours of August 21 last year.

Ali is accused of starting the fire as “revenge” on his former partner – Bryonie’s sister Antonia Gawith – who was staying there after ending their “abusive” seven-year relationship.

Doncaster Crown Court has heard that after Ali went into the house in Bradford and started pouring petrol around inside, as well as on himself and Antonia, she ran outside in an attempt to lure him out.

Ali, 40, stayed in the house and used a lighter to start a “catastrophic” blaze which killed Bryonie and her three children, who were all upstairs.

Ali told the trial that he wanted to kill himself in front of Antonia, and only intended to set himself alight.

The court previously heard that Ali was rescued from the fire by police who had arrived at the scene first.

Giving his closing speech to jurors on Friday, prosecutor David Brooke KC said the case had been “particularly grim”.

He told jurors: “Whilst a trial can sometimes show us the best of humanity – think of the actions of those first two police officers who went into that burning house – equally it can expose us to the worst of human behaviour.

“Little did those officers know they were saving a man who had, moments before, deliberately set fire to a house with a mother and her children upstairs, knowing he was condemning them to, at the very least, really serious harm, if not death.

“And why? A deep and persistent anger and jealousy towards his former partner Antonia, fuelled by drink and drugs – an action designed to inflict maximum pain on her, both physically, as he soaked her in petrol, and mentally, as he took his revenge on her and her sister.”

Mr Brooke said in the days before the fire Ali had sent messages to Antonia saying: “I know who caused this in my life and deep down you do too,” as well as one referring to: “You and your whore sister.”

The prosecutor said: “When it comes to motivation, you don’t just have Antonia’s evidence, you have those texts, setting out clear as could be the anger, the resentment, the self-pity, the drunkenness, the threats.”

Mr Brooke told the court that Ali “must have known” the children were at home, saying: “He didn’t care who was there – he wanted to inflict maximum damage on anyone he could find in that house.”

He said Antonia had told police that Ali “loved the kids … as part of her incomprehension at how he could have done this to them”.

He told jurors: “We know from the texts that it didn’t stop him threatening her sister and the children.”

Mr Brooke said the relationship between Ali and Antonia had been abusive and that it was Bryonie, who “had gone through her own struggles” and was separated from her partner, who persuaded her sister to leave.

In his closing speech, Mohammed Nawaz KC, defending Ali, said: “His defence is, he was there because he was intoxicated, drunk, affected by cocaine, and wasn’t thinking straight.

“He was there because he wanted to kill himself and had no intention to cause a fire to the house or to cause harm to anyone else.”

Mr Nawaz told the court: “His thinking that the fire would stop at him was very obviously wrong, however that does not mean he intended to cause harm to others, even if, ultimately and tragically, that was the result.”

Bryonie, 29, and her children Denisty Birtle, nine, Oscar Birtle, five, and 22-month-old Aubree Birtle, died in the blaze.

Ali, of no fixed address, and Calum Sunderland, 26, of Calton Street, Keighley, are charged with murdering Bryonie and the three children, and attempting to murder Antonia.

Mohammed Shabir, 45, who had been due to go on trial with them, died of a heart attack last month after collapsing in prison.

Prosecutors say Shabir drove to and from the house while Sunderland kicked the door in.

Sunderland told the trial he had been enlisted by Ali to “torch a car” and did not know there were people in the house.

Mr Brooke said Sunderland was seen on Ring doorbell camera footage walking to the house with a canister of petrol and a lighter, before kicking the door down when instructed by Ali, and then running off.

He said: “You only go into a house with seven litres of petrol and a lighter if you’re intending to start a major fire.”

Mr Brooke said Sunderland may not have known there were children in the house, but that he “knew enough and did enough to mean that, like Sharaz Ali, he is guilty of murder”.

Ali and Sunderland deny the charges and the trial continues.