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Trio killed five people in bomb-like shop explosion to claim £300,000 insurance pay-out

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Three men who killed five people in a bomb-like shop blast have been convicted of murder and plotting to claim a £300,000 insurance pay-out.

Arkan Ali, Hawkar Hassan and Aram Kurd used many, many litres of petrol in an arson attack on Kurds supermarket – causing an explosion which completely destroyed the shop and a flat above the premises.

Leicester Crown Court heard how some residents living near the Polish supermarket on Hinckley Road, Leicester, thought a bomb had reduced the property to rubble.

FILE PICTURE - GV of the shop in Leicester, where five people were killed in an explosion. See NTI story NTIBLAST. Three men accused in connection with Leicester???s Hinckley Road shop explosion are now facing five counts of murder. The defendants, who appeared at Leicester Crown Court today, were originally charged with the manslaughter of five people who died in the blast which also demolished the flat above the shop, on the evening of Sunday February 25. The shop owner, Aram Kurd , 33, Arkan Ali, 37, and Hawkar Hassan, 32, were arrested after the Polish supermarket, Zabka, and a two-storey flat, were destroyed. Those who lost their lives were Shane Ragoobeer, 18, his brother Sean, 17, Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shane's girlfriend, along with the brothers??? mother, Mary Ragoobeer, 46. They were in the flat when the tragedy happened. Viktorija Ljevleva, 22, who was believed to have been working in the shop at the time, was also killed.

Arkan Ali, Hawkar Hassan and Aram Kurd used many, many litres of petrol in an arson attack on Kurds supermarket – causing an explosion which completely destroyed the shop and a flat above the premises (Picture: SWNS)

A five-week trial was told the defendants left shop worker Viktorija Ijevleva, 22, to die in the building because she was aware of the insurance policy taken out less than three weeks earlier.

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Opening the Crowns case at the start of the trial, prosecutor David Herbert QC told a jury of seven women and five men the defendants intended to maximise the damage to the premises and would have known people would have been in the two-storey flat above.

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Ali, 38, Hassan, 33, and Kurd, 34, were assisted by a Kurdish interpreter throughout the trial after denying 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 Ms Ijevleva to make a gain, by dishonestly pursuing an insurance claim in respect of the fire.

Ms Ijevleva, Mary Ragoobeer, 46, her teenage sons Shane and Sean, and 18-year-old Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shanes girlfriend, were all killed in the blast on Sunday February 25.

Around 26 litres of petrol was used to start the fire in the basement of the supermarket, triggering a massive explosion at 7.01pm.

FILE PICTURE - (L-R) Arkan Ali, Hawkar Hassan and Aram Kurd in Leicester magistrates court. See SWNS story SWMDblast. The jury is out at Leicester Crown Court for the trial of three men accused of murder in connection with Leicester???s Hinckley Road shop explosion, where five people died in the blast which also demolished the flat above the shop, on the evening of Sunday February 25. The shop owner, Aram Kurd , 33, Arkan Ali, 37, and Hawkar Hassan, 32, were arrested after the Polish supermarket, Zabka, and a two-storey flat, were destroyed. Those who lost their lives were Shane Ragoobeer, 18, his brother Sean, 17, Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shane's girlfriend, along with the brothers??? mother, Mary Ragoobeer, 46. They were in the flat when the tragedy happened. Viktorija Ljevleva, 22, who was believed to have been working in the shop at the time, was also killed.

Arkan Ali, Hawkar Hassan and Aram Kurd in Leicester magistrates court (Picture: SWNS)

FILE PICTURE - Mary Ragoobeer with her sons Sean (L) and Shane (R). See NTI story NTIBLAST. Three men accused in connection with Leicester???s Hinckley Road shop explosion are now facing five counts of murder. The defendants, who appeared at Leicester Crown Court today, were originally charged with the manslaughter of five people who died in the blast which also demolished the flat above the shop, on the evening of Sunday February 25. The shop owner, Aram Kurd , 33, Arkan Ali, 37, and Hawkar Hassan, 32, were arrested after the Polish supermarket, Zabka, and a two-storey flat, were destroyed. Those who lost their lives were Shane Ragoobeer, 18, his brother Sean, 17, Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shane's girlfriend, along with the brothers??? mother, Mary Ragoobeer, 46. They were in the flat when the tragedy happened. Viktorija Ljevleva, 22, who was believed to have been working in the shop at the time, was also killed.

Mary Ragoobeer with her sons Sean (L) and Shane (R) (Picture: SWNS)

FILE PICTURE - Leah Beth Reek. See NTI story NTIBLAST. Three men accused in connection with Leicester's Hinckley Road shop explosion are now facing five counts of murder. The defendants, who appeared at Leicester Crown Court today, were originally charged with the manslaughter of five people who died in the blast which also demolished the flat above the shop, on the evening of Sunday February 25. The shop owner, Aram Kurd , 33, Arkan Ali, 37, and Hawkar Hassan, 32, were arrested after the Polish supermarket, Zabka, and a two-storey flat, were destroyed. Those who lost their lives were Shane Ragoobeer, 18, his brother Sean, 17, Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shane's girlfriend, along with the brothers??? mother, Mary Ragoobeer, 46. They were in the flat when the tragedy happened. Viktorija Ljevleva, 22, who was believed to have been working in the shop at the time, was also killed.

Leah had only arrived at the property two minutes before the blast (Picture: SWNS)

FILE PICTURE - Viktorija Ijevleva. See NTI story NTIBLAST. Three men accused in connection with Leicester???s Hinckley Road shop explosion are now facing five counts of murder. The defendants, who appeared at Leicester Crown Court today, were originally charged with the manslaughter of five people who died in the blast which also demolished the flat above the shop, on the evening of Sunday February 25. The shop owner, Aram Kurd , 33, Arkan Ali, 37, and Hawkar Hassan, 32, were arrested after the Polish supermarket, Zabka, and a two-storey flat, were destroyed. Those who lost their lives were Shane Ragoobeer, 18, his brother Sean, 17, Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shane's girlfriend, along with the brothers??? mother, Mary Ragoobeer, 46. They were in the flat when the tragedy happened. Viktorija Ljevleva, 22, who was believed to have been working in the shop at the time, was also killed.

A five-week trial was told the defendants left shop worker Viktorija Ijevleva, 22, to die in the building because she was aware of the insurance policy taken out less than three weeks earlier (Picture: SWNS)

CCTV and traffic camera footage released by police at the end of the trial shows people escaping from a nearby takeaway moments after the explosion, and rubble being blasted into the roadway as cars pass by.

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Footage recovered by police from a neighbouring business showed Ali in shot three days before the blast – moments before the camera angle was moved.

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Further images from the same CCTV unit a day before the fire showed a gloved hand moving the camera angle again – at a time when all three defendants were nearby.

Kurd was also recorded on a security camera as he escaped from the scene at the rear of the shop.

Ali of Oldham, Hassan of Coventry, and Kurd of Leicester, were remanded in custody and will be sentenced in mid-January.

During his opening address, Mr Herbert told jurors: 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.

Mr Herbert said: Even on camera 50 metres away you can see the explosion and the enormity of what happened.

FILE PICTURE - GV of the destroyed building on Hinckley Road, where five people have died in an explosion at a shop in Leicester. See NTI story NTIBLAST. Three men accused in connection with Leicester???s Hinckley Road shop explosion are now facing five counts of murder. The defendants, who appeared at Leicester Crown Court today, were originally charged with the manslaughter of five people who died in the blast which also demolished the flat above the shop, on the evening of Sunday February 25. The shop owner, Aram Kurd , 33, Arkan Ali, 37, and Hawkar Hassan, 32, were arrested after the Polish supermarket, Zabka, and a two-storey flat, were destroyed. Those who lost their lives were Shane Ragoobeer, 18, his brother Sean, 17, Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shane's girlfriend, along with the brothers??? mother, Mary Ragoobeer, 46. They were in the flat when the tragedy happened. Viktorija Ljevleva, 22, who was believed to have been working in the shop at the time, was also killed.

The defendants, who appeared at Leicester Crown Court today, were originally charged with the manslaughter of five people who died in the blast (Picture: SWNS)

FILE PICTURE - Aerial view of the shop in Leicester, where five people were killed in an explosion. See SWNS story SWMDblast. The jury is out at Leicester Crown Court for the trial of three men accused of murder in connection with Leicester???s Hinckley Road shop explosion, where five people died in the blast which also demolished the flat above the shop, on the evening of Sunday February 25. The shop owner, Aram Kurd , 33, Arkan Ali, 37, and Hawkar Hassan, 32, were arrested after the Polish supermarket, Zabka, and a two-storey flat, were destroyed. Those who lost their lives were Shane Ragoobeer, 18, his brother Sean, 17, Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shane's girlfriend, along with the brothers??? mother, Mary Ragoobeer, 46. They were in the flat when the tragedy happened. Viktorija Ljevleva, 22, who was believed to have been working in the shop at the time, was also killed.

It was an explosion, the prosecution say, caused by many, many litres of petrol (Picture: SWNS)

Hassan filling petrol can and making payment withing the garage. See SWNS story SWMDblast. The jury is out at Leicester Crown Court for the trial of three men accused of murder in connection with Leicester?s Hinckley Road shop explosion, where five people died in the blast which also demolished the flat above the shop, on the evening of Sunday February 25. The shop owner, Aram Kurd , 33, Arkan Ali, 37, and Hawkar Hassan, 32, were arrested after the Polish supermarket, Zabka, and a two-storey flat, were destroyed. Those who lost their lives were Shane Ragoobeer, 18, his brother Sean, 17, Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shane's girlfriend, along with the brothers? mother, Mary Ragoobeer, 46. They were in the flat when the tragedy happened. Viktorija Ljevleva, 22, who was believed to have been working in the shop at the time, was also killed.

Hassan filling a petrol can and making payment within the garage (Picture: SWNS)

Kurd after the explosion. See SWNS story SWMDblast. The jury is out at Leicester Crown Court for the trial of three men accused of murder in connection with Leicester?s Hinckley Road shop explosion, where five people died in the blast which also demolished the flat above the shop, on the evening of Sunday February 25. The shop owner, Aram Kurd , 33, Arkan Ali, 37, and Hawkar Hassan, 32, were arrested after the Polish supermarket, Zabka, and a two-storey flat, were destroyed. Those who lost their lives were Shane Ragoobeer, 18, his brother Sean, 17, Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shane's girlfriend, along with the brothers? mother, Mary Ragoobeer, 46. They were in the flat when the tragedy happened. Viktorija Ljevleva, 22, who was believed to have been working in the shop at the time, was also killed.

Kurd after the explosion (Picture: SWNS)

It was an explosion, the prosecution say, caused by many, many litres of petrol.

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.

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It was not an accident, the prosecution say, that the petrol used caused such devastating damage.

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Describing the unlawful killing of Ms Ijevleva, Mr Herbert added: 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.

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