An arsonist burnt his niece and sister to death af

An arsonist burnt his niece and sister to death after a row over a neighbour’s baby he had become obsessed with, the Old Bailey heard today.

(Thurs)

Arshad Ali, 41, doused his kitchen and dining room with petrol and set it ablaze after being told he could not see little Casson Coutinho (corr) again, it was alleged.

As a massive explosion ripped through the downstairs room at Tanner Street, Barking, Essex, Ali managed to jump through a window to escape.

His sister, Razia Begum – who Ali blamed for failing to heal the split over Casson – and her daughter, Anum Ahmed, 10, died in the inferno.

Miss Begum died trying to protect her daughter from the flames and her body was found lying over her daughter’s.

The court heard Ali warned his sister days before the fire she would be ‘totally destroyed.

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Prosecutor Christopher Kinch, QC, said Ali moved in with his sister and her husband and her daughter, after his own family separated.

But when Razia began to share baby-sitting duties for a neighbouring family with Ali, a ‘strange and curious story’ began to unfold.

For some reason Ali grew to like Lorraine and Tony Coutinho’s son Casson.

‘Ali had an extreme form of obsession for the boy,’ said Mr Kinch.

Ali had photos taken of him with Casson and he carried the pictures on his key-ring wherever he went.

Casson was showered with gifts from Ali but when the Coutinhos became concerned for their son’s well-being they returned the presents and asked Ali to stay away from the baby.

But this only angered Ali, who would shout for Casson through the Coutinhos’ letter box.

And when a baby-sitting replacement was found for Ali, he was overcome with jealousy, the court heard.

‘Late one evening Mr Ali arrived to to the Coutinho’s house demanding to see the boy,’ said Mr Kinch.

‘He was told to leave and so he lunged at Tony Coutinho and Ali had to be pulled out of the house by a neighbour.

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Matters came to a head in and around December 1998 when Ali left his job as a minicab driver.

‘Around that time he asked for his sister to try to effect a reconciliation with the Coutinhos and eventually Razia Begum was persuaded to speak to them on his behalf,’ said Mr Kinch.

‘But they refused to be reconciled with Ali and the two families decided it would be better if there was no further contact between them.

‘Ali became angry and blamed Razia Begum for severing his links with Casson.

‘There were continuing arguments culminating on one occasion with Ali telling Razia Begum that she would be totally destroyed.

‘This was a period when Ali’s sense of aggrievement grew more and more powerful,’ Mr Kinch told the court.

On the morning of the fire a neighbour heard two people, a man’s and a woman’s voice, screaming at each other in a foreign language and a child bawling in the back ground.

At around 10.

30am, the neighbour heard an explosion and immediately fled her house, grabbing her child and switching off the gas as she ran out into the street.

She then saw glass shattering as Ali dived through the bay window of his home.

Despite suffering from serious burns, Ali went straight to the Coutinho’s home at number 5 Tanner Street.

Two local residents, Jackson Joseph and Martin O’Neill tried to rescue the woman and her daughter but were beaten back by the flames.

Firecrews from Barking, Dagenham, and Ilford spent half an hour bringing the blaze under control.

One neighbour later saw Ali standing in the street with a knife stained with his own blood.

Ali was airlifted to a hospital burns unit in Chingford where he was later interviewed as a witness rather than a suspect.

He claimed he walked into the kitchen to find a masked intruder starting the blaze.

Mr Kinch said that the masked man was ‘nothing more or less than a figment of Ali’s imagination.

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Ali denies two charges or murder on February 13 last year.

The trial continues.

ends