Bradford house fire accused 'terrified' of being blamed for four deaths, trial told
Prosecutors claim Sharaz Ali enlisted the help of convicted arsonist Calum Sunderland for a 'revenge attack' on his ex.
A man who was allegedly recruited for a house fire murder plot is "terrified" at the prospect of being blamed for the deaths of four people, a trial has heard.
Prosecutors say Sharaz Ali enlisted the help of convicted arsonist Calum Sunderland for a revenge attack on his former partner Antonia Gawith, who was staying with her sister Bryonie Gawith after ending their relationship.
It is alleged Ali deliberately set fire to the house, killing Bryonie, 29, and her three children, Denisty Birtle, nine, Oscar Birtle, five, and Aubree Birtle, 22 months.
Doncaster Crown Court has heard that Sunderland, 26, is seen on Ring doorbell camera footage walking up to the house holding a petrol canister, kicking the door down when instructed by Ali, 40, and then running off.
Sunderland told the trial he was enlisted by Ali to torch a car and did not know there was anyone in the house.
Giving his closing speech to jurors on Monday, Nicholas Worsley KC, defending Sunderland, said he was a "deeply flawed, pathetic, damaged and devastated individual" who "knows he played a part in what unfolded that awful night".
Mr Worsley told jurors: "He is terrified at the prospect of being held to blame for the deaths of those four individuals."
The trial has heard that Sunderland was addicted to crack cocaine, would break windows for money and was once convicted of arson for setting fire to a car - a job he said he had done for one of Ali's friends.
Mr Worsley said: "These things do not make him someone who would set out to burn a house or help someone do that... Not if it meant killing someone, was Calum Sunderland's response to that."
Referring to the fact that Sunderland had given changing and untrue accounts of what happened in his interviews with police, Mr Worsley said he had been "reacting in a feral way, like a child would if they had broken something - denying everything in the face of the obvious".
He told jurors: "He was trying to distance himself from something so horrible and so dreadful he just couldn't cope with the allegations.
"He couldn't bear to be thought of as someone capable of doing what was being alleged."
Mr Worsley went on to say: "The fact that someone has addiction issues does not mean they lose all possible sense of morals."
Doncaster Crown Court has heard that after Ali went into the house and started pouring petrol around inside, as well as on himself and Antonia, she ran outside in an attempt to lure him out.
Ali stayed in the house and used a lighter to start a "catastrophic" blaze which killed Bryonie Gawith 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.
Ali, of no fixed address, and Sunderland, of Calton Street, Keighley, West Yorkshire, are charged with murdering Bryonie and the three children, and attempting to murder Antonia.
Mohammed Shabir, 45, who drove Ali and Sunderland to the house and had been due to go on trial with them, died of a heart attack while on remand.
Ali and Sunderland deny the charges and the trial continues.