Man given whole life sentence for murdering ex’s sister and her three children in house fire

A man who killed his ex-partner’s sister and her three children in a revenge arson attack on their home will die behind bars.

Antonia Gawith had ended an abusive seven-year relationship with Sharaz Ali and was staying with her sister Bryonie Gawith when Ali set fire to Bryonie’s home in the early hours of August 21 last year.

While Antonia managed to escape the fire, Bryonie, 29, and her three children, Denisty Birtle, nine, Oscar Birtle, five, and Aubree Birtle, 22 months, were trapped upstairs and could not be saved.

Ali, 40, was found guilty in December of four counts of murder and one of attempted murder following a trial at Doncaster Crown Court.

Today, judge Mr Justice Hilliard imposed a whole life sentence, saying Ali was ‘full of hatred for Bryonie’, who he blamed for the break-up.

His plan that night had been to ‘wipe out a family’, with the young children simply considered ‘acceptable collateral damage’ in his quest for revenge.

The judge said ‘substantial pre-meditation’, went into the murders, adding: ‘I’m sure, on all the evidence, that (Ali) had determined to burn down the house and anyone in it, including the children, if Antonia did not change her mind.

‘She did not do so.’

Prosecutor David Brooke KC said the murders were ‘particularly cruel’ and the fact that Ali poured petrol on Antonia showed ‘an intention to kill through means that would have been excruciatingly painful’.

During the trial, jurors were played audio of Antonia’s 999 call – but the court heard they had been shielded from the trauma of what sounded like a child screaming in the background.

Mr Brooke said: ‘We say it’s plain that at least one child did wake, sadly,’ Mr Brooke said.

‘Although the pathologist’s view is that the children would have succumbed pretty quickly, nevertheless the screams of children which were muted for the jury could be heard.’

Antonia told police that Bryonie had given her the ‘confidence and support’ to leave her violent and controlling relationship with Ali weeks before the fire, and that Ali had blamed her sister for the break-up.

On the night of the fatal blaze, Ali and convicted arsonist Calum Sunderland, 26, who sometimes sold drugs for Ali, were driven to the house on Westbury Road, Bradford, by Mohammed Shabir, who was due to go on trial with them but died of a heart attack while on remand.

Sunderland was jailed for life with a minimum term of 18 years for manslaughter.

Jurors heard they stopped on the way to fill a seven-litre canister with petrol, and Ali sent Antonia a series of aggressive messages accusing her of being with someone else.

When the men arrived, Antonia, who had finished her shift at Tesco at 12.30am, was with Bryonie in the main bedroom upstairs.

Doorbell footage captured Ali telling Sunderland, who was carrying the petrol and a lighter, to ‘kick the door in’, which he did before running back to the car.

Antonia said she went downstairs after hearing a noise and saw an ‘angry’ Ali run into the house and begin pouring petrol on her while shouting.

She described trying to wrestle the canister and lighter from him, before running outside in an attempt to lure him out of the house.

As she realised he had not followed her, Antonia went back towards the house and saw Bryonie, who had woken up, kick Ali down the stairs.

Antonia said Ali then hit the lighter, igniting the petrol and setting himself and the house on fire.

In a video interview played to jurors, Antonia sobbed as she told police how she ‘couldn’t save’ her sister, nieces and nephew.

She described trying frantically to get in through the back door, which was jammed shut, while screaming for help.

Antonia tearfully told the hearing that Bryonie’s children were ‘my babies, my joy’ and that ‘knowing they died because someone wanted to kill me is a torment I can never put into words’.

She said: ‘What haunts me the most is the attack was meant for me. I was the target, petrol was poured on me and my life was meant to end that night.’

Antonia went on to say: ‘I can’t escape the thought that I was spared when they were taken. How can I move on when they never had the chance to.’

Sobs could be heard from family in the public gallery as Antonia said Bryonie ‘had warmth that could fill a room and a heart so big she would give the world away if she could’.

Mr Justice Hilliard said Bryonie ‘acted with immense courage’ by staying in the house with her children when she saw Ali pouring petrol around.

‘Although she must have known what Mr Ali was going to do, there was no way she was going to run out of the house and desert her children,’ Mr Justice Hilliard said.

‘She remained at the top of the stairs to protect them.

‘Bryonie acted with immense courage. I hope that will be how her family will remember her last moments.

‘She was determined to protect her children if she possibly could. She begged Mr Ali to stop but he completely ignored her.’

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