Eight defendants have gone on trial accused of setting fire to a house in Leicester on 13th September, which caused the deaths of Shehnila Taufiq, 47, her daughter Zainab, 19, and sons Bilal, 17, and Jamal, 15.
All eight defendants deny murder: Kemo Porter, 19, Leicester, Tristan Richards, 22, Leicester, Nathaniel Mullings, 19, Leicester, Shaun Carter, 24, Leicester, Jackson Powell, 20, Leicester, Aaron Webb, 20, Leicester, Akeem Jeffers, 21, Leeds and a 17-year-old youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, from Leicester.
During the opening of the trial, the court heard that the setting of the fire was a revenge act after Antoin Akpom was stabbed on 12th September and died in hospital.
The Taufiq family had nothing to do with the stabbing, but the mother of one of the men accused of it lived in the same street.
The trial is expected to last 8 weeks.
Please click here to read the article reported by BBC news and the Leicester Mercury.
Please click here to see Christopher Hotten QC’s profile.
