Ex-Asylum Seeker Denies Carrying Petrol Into Shop Before Blast Which Killed Five
5 December 2018, 18:24 | Updated: 5 December 2018, 18:27
A former asylum seeker charged with murdering five people in a shop explosion has denied carrying petrol into the building - claiming another defendant had asked him to fill a canister "to the top".
A former asylum seeker charged with murdering five people in a shop explosion has denied carrying petrol into the building - claiming another defendant had asked him to fill a canister "to the top".
A jury at Leicester Crown Court heard how Hawkar Hassan had put four to five litres of fuel into the container for victim Viktorija Ijevleva's car - but was told by her boyfriend Arkan Ali to continue filling it.
Hassan accepted he bought the fuel but insisted Ali had given him the cash to purchase it.
The prosecution allege the two men and shopkeeper Aram Kurd destroyed the shop and its contents to gain an insurance payout of around £300,000 - intentionally leaving Ms Ijevleva to die because she "knew too much".
Despite being captured on CCTV meeting with insurers in Oldham, 33-year-old Hassan told jurors he had "no interest" and "no involvement" in the discussions.
He told the jury Ali and Ms Ijevleva were taking out insurance on the Polish supermarket on Hinckley Road, Leicester, but he was only at the meeting because he was visiting them.
Prosecutor David Herbert QC had said the can Hassan used to store petrol was "one and the same" as the container recovered from the rubble after the explosion.
Ali, 37, Hassan, 33, and Kurd, 34, have pleaded not guilty to five counts of murder and five alternative counts of manslaughter.
The trio also deny conspiring with 22-year-old Ms Ijevleva, the partner of Ali, to make a gain, by dishonestly pursuing a claim on an "overinflated" insurance policy in respect of a fire at the shop.
Ms Ijevleva, Mary Ragoobeer, 46, her teenage sons Shane and Sean, and 18-year-old Leah Beth Reek, who was Shane's girlfriend, were all killed in the blast in February.
Questioning Hassan about the petrol can, defence counsel Peter Birkett said: "It seems to have a black bin liner around it."
The defendant replied: "Yes, correct. It was to stop the car being damaged."
Mr Birkett continued: "Did you carry the petrol container into the shop?" to which Hassan answered: "No, never, I never carried it into the shop."
Ali, of Drake Close, Oldham; Hassan, of Eld Road, Coventry; and Kurd, of Hillary Place, Leicester, deny all 11 charges against them.
The trial, listed for six weeks, continues.
