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Three "wicked" men who murdered five people in a "bomb-like" shop blast after plotting to claim a £300,000 insurance pay-out have been jailed for 109 years in total.

Arkan Ali, Hawkar Hassan and Aram Kurd used "many, many litres of petrol" in the arson attack on Kurd's supermarket in Leicester - destroying the shop and the flat above.

A five-week trial was told the defendants left shop worker Viktorija Ijevleva, 22, to die in the explosion because she "knew too much" about the insurance policy taken out less than three weeks earlier.

Mary Ragoobeer, 46, her sons Shane, 18, and Sean, 17, and Shane’s girlfriend Leah Reek, also 18, were also killed in the blast.

The victims had been enjoying a “peaceful Sunday evening together” in their flat above Polish shop Zabka when it exploded.

(Image: Jason Senior / SWNS.com) (Image: Jason Senior / SWNS.com)

Ali, 38, Hassan, 33, and Kurd, 34, were unanimously convicted of five counts of murder and a further charge of conspiring with Ms Ijevleva to make a gain, by dishonestly pursuing an insurance claim in respect of the fire.

Today, Ali and Kurd were both sentenced to a minimum of 38 years, and Hassan to 33 years.

The trio "motivated by money and greed" did not show any reaction.

High Court Judge, Mr Justice Holgate said: “None have shown the slightest remorse for their wicked crimes.”

The three men doused the basement of the building with 60 litres of petrol mixed with barbecue fuel and white spirit, and then ignited it in the insurance payout plot.

The jury was told how the killers left Miss Ijevleva to die in the building because she was aware of the plan and helped Kurd to arrange an insurance policy on the shop's contents about three weeks earlier.

(Image: Helen Tipper / SWNS.com) (Image: SWNS.com)

CCTV and traffic camera footage released by police at the end of the trial showed people escaping from a nearby takeaway moments after the explosion, and rubble being blasted into the roadway as cars pass by.

Footage recovered by police from a neighbouring business also showed Ali in shot three days before the blast - moments before the camera angle was moved.

Further images from the same CCTV unit a day before the fire showed a gloved hand moving the camera angle again - at a time when all three defendants were nearby.

Kurd was also recorded on a security camera as he escaped from the scene at the rear of the shop.

Leicester Crown Court heard how some residents living nearby thought a bomb had reduced the property to rubble.

Scotty Ragoobeer, 15-year-old brother of Shane and Sean, was rescued and survived while Thomas Lindop, 56, a passer-by, was also seriously injured.

Prosecutor David Herbert QC said the blast was so huge residents thought it was a “bomb exploding”.

(Image: PA)

He told the jury: “It was an explosion caused by many, many litres of petrol. There was no gas supply to the shop. It was a petrol vapour explosion.

“It was so powerful it demolished the entire building and killed five people inside. One had been left in the shop and four others were in the flat above, enjoying a peaceful Sunday evening together."

During an interview with the BBC just hours after the blast, Kurd said he was in the storeroom when it occurred and found himself trapped under rubble.

He described the horror fire as like being 'inside hell' and claimed he did not know what caused it.

(Image: SWNS.com)

He said: "I was in the shop with my staff Viktorija, and then, we was watching together YouTube.

"I said I go to bring some beers in a storeroom, and I go to the storeroom, with [Viktorija's] phone in my hand, because we was watching together from her phone. My phone was on the charger.

"And then I go there, storeroom belongs to my shop. There are steps, you go a little down.

"And I could not reach the beers. I just heard a big bang.

"I didn't know what was that, and I found myself on the floor, eyes open, looking up."

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He continued: "Half of my body was under the bricks, and rubble, I say for two, three minutes, but I don't know, it was more than that, less than that, in my opinion that time was about two, three minutes.

"My eyes was open, but I couldn't breathe, or, I don't know, I was just standing like a picture.

"And I see from everywhere fire. Like I am inside hell. My eyes not see anything because was dusty, and phone gone from my hand."

Kurd said once free he used the light on Viktorija's phone to find a way out of the back before entering the kebab shop next door.

The judge said Kurd had no real injury but a “pre-prepared story” designed to make him look like an innocent victim of this disastrous explosion and fire.

During his opening address, Mr Herbert told jurors: "The explosion and the proceeding fire demolished a building and killed five people in the building - one person who was in the shop and four who were in the flat above enjoying a peaceful night in."

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Mr Herbert said: "Even on camera 50 metres away you can see the explosion and the enormity of what happened.

"It was an explosion, the prosecution say, caused by many, many litres of petrol.

"The explosion and the fire that followed was deliberately caused by these defendants who intended to profit from loss of stock, contents and future loss of business from the shop.

"It was not an accident, the prosecution say, that the petrol used caused such devastating damage."

Describing the unlawful killing of Ms Ijevleva, Mr Herbert added: "The defendants thought she knew too much and decided to leave her to die in the explosion that they created.

"In other words, the devastation that they caused was carried out with the intention to kill."

(Image: ITV)

Jose Ragoobeer who lost his wife and two sons in the blast described the three men as "inhuman".

Mr Ragoobeer was at work when the explosion ripped through the shop beneath his family's flat killing wife Mary, 46, and his sons Shane, 18, and 17-year-old Sean.

Speaking to ITV News Central, Mr Ragoobeer, 59, a care worker, described his heartbreak at watching the men who killed his family over the course of the trial.

He said: "It was very stressful and heartbreaking when you see these three people sitting in the dock without any emotion.

"They are not human, they are not human. And they don't value the life of a human being.

"They took our loved ones and they knew that there were people living upstairs, because at the back of the shop they'd got a camera and anyone inside the shop, they will see people go in and out, so how could they say they didn't know there were people living there?

"That makes me more angry."

Mr Ragoobeer said of his wife: "Mary was a lively woman. She always liked to go to parties. She liked having a drink and she laughed a lot but she would always care for the boys. The boys came first for her."

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He said sometimes family and friends gather around tributes laid to his wife and two sons to remember them.

"It's very emotional and sometimes on a Saturday night you can see their friends around having a drink and sitting and chatting. You know that your sons and wife have been loved," he said.

Following today's sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Michelle Keen, the Senior Investigating Officer, said: “As an SIO I’ve never dealt with a job that caused so much devastation, both to the families who have lost family members and to the wider community.

"The impact of this incident is still clear to see almost a year on, and the families will never recover from their loss - and all because of the callous actions of these three men who were motivated by money and greed.

“Today marks the end of a long and complex investigation and provides, I hope, some closure to the families whose strength, resolve and dignity throughout the last year has been nothing short of remarkable.

“The lengthy sentences handed down today are reflective of the hideous crimes carried out by the defendants.

“The level of planning carried out prior to the explosion showed they had no regard for human life, and only had one thing in mind – getting their hands on the money from the fraudulent insurance claim.

“While the conviction and sentences can never bring those loved ones back, I hope that it’s of some comfort knowing those responsible are in prison for many, many years to come.”