Three men are due to appear in court on manslaughter charges after a shop explosion left five people dead.

Arkan Ali, 37, Hawkar Hassan, 32, and Aram Kurd, 33, were arrested after the blast destroyed a Polish supermarket and two-storey flat on February 25.

Mary Ragoobeer, 46, her sons Shane, 18, and Sean, 17, Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shane’s girlfriend, and Viktorija Ljevleva, 22, were all killed in the incident on Hinckley Road, Leicester.

File photo dated 27/02/18 of emergency services at the scene of an explosion on Hinckley Road in Leicester. Investigations at the scene of an explosion which killed five are due to finish, emergency services have said.

The trio also face a separate count of arson with intent to endanger life.

Ali, of Drake Close, Oldham, Hassan, of no fixed abode and Kurd, of Hillary Place, Leicester, will appear at Leicester Crown Court for a plea hearing later. </s> Three men accused of causing an explosion which gutted a shop in Leicester, killing five people, have denied arson and manslaughter.

A flat above the Polish supermarket in Hinckley Road, was also destroyed in the blast on 25 February.

Aram Kurd, Arkan Ali and Hawkar Hassan appeared at Leicester Crown Court via video link.

All three have been remanded in custody until another hearing at the same court in August.

They each face five counts of manslaughter and one count of arson with intent or being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

A further charge of conspiracy to commit fraud with Viktorija Ljevleva, one of the deceased, between December 31, 2017 and February 26, 2018 was also denied by the three men.

Mary Ragoobar, 46, and her sons, Shane Ragoobeer, 18, and Sean Ragoobeer, 17, who lived in the flat above the shop, died alongside Shane's girlfriend Leah Reek, 18

Mr Ali's partner, 22-year-old shop worker Viktorija Ijevleva, also died in the explosion.

Mrs Ragoobar's husband, Jose Ragoobeer, was working at the time of the explosion. Their youngest son Scotty survived.

Inquests into the deaths of the five victims have been opened and adjourned.

At an earlier hearing at Leicester Magistrates' Court, the prosecution said the explosion had been caused by petrol spread throughout the shop.

Seven people have been arrested in total over the explosion. </s> Image copyright PA Image caption The shop and flat above were both destroyed in the blast

Three men accused of causing an explosion which gutted a shop in Leicester, killing five people, have denied arson and manslaughter.

A flat above the Polish supermarket in Hinckley Road, was also destroyed in the blast on 25 February.

Aram Kurd, Arkan Ali and Hawkar Hassan appeared at Leicester Crown Court via video link.

All three have been remanded in custody until another hearing at the same court in August.

Image caption Store owner Aram Kurd is among the three men charged with arson and manslaughter

The defendants are:

Aram Kurd, 33, of Hillary Place, Leicester

Hawkar Hassan, 32, of no fixed address

Arkan Ali, 37, of Drake Close, Oldham

They each face five counts of manslaughter and one count of arson with intent or being reckless as to whether life was endangered.

A further charge of conspiracy to commit fraud with Viktorija Ljevleva, one of the deceased, between December 31, 2017 and February 26, 2018 was also denied by the three men.

Image copyright Leicestershire Police Image caption Mary Ragoobar lived in a flat above the shop with her sons Sean and Shane

Mary Ragoobar, 46, and her sons, Shane Ragoobeer, 18, and Sean Ragoobeer, 17, who lived in the flat above the shop, died alongside Shane's girlfriend Leah Reek, 18

Mr Ali's partner, 22-year-old shop worker Viktorija Ijevleva, also died in the explosion.

Mrs Ragoobar's husband, Jose Ragoobeer, was working at the time of the explosion. Their youngest son Scotty survived.

Inquests into the deaths of the five victims have been opened and adjourned.

Image copyright Leicestershire Police Image caption Leah Reek, who was Shane Ragoobeer's girlfriend, also died in the explosion

Image copyright Leicestershire Police Image caption The explosion killed shop worker Viktorija Ijevleva, who was the partner of one of the men accused of arson and manslaughter

At an earlier hearing at Leicester Magistrates' Court, the prosecution said the explosion had been caused by petrol spread throughout the shop.

Seven people have been arrested in total over the explosion. </s> Three men in Britain have been found guilty of murdering five people in an explosion as part of a plot to claim over 300,000 pounds ($380,000) from an insurance policy.

Arkan Ali, Hawkar Hassan and Aram Kurd were convicted Friday in Leicester Crown Court.

Prosecutors say they used around 26 liters (7 gallons) of gasoline in an arson attack in February on a supermarket, causing a blast that destroyed the shop and an apartment above.

Prosecutors say the men left a shop worker to die in the building because she was aware of the insurance policy taken out less than three weeks earlier. Four others also died in the explosion. </s> ASSOCIATED PRESS The shop was completely destroyed by the blast

Three men have been found guilty of murder in relation to a shop explosion in Leicester.

Aram Kurd, Arkan Ali and Hawkar Hassan, who denied five counts of murder and five alternative counts of manslaughter, were found guilty at Leicester Crown Court today.

They were also convicted of conspiracy to commit insurance fraud.

On 25 February, the fire tore through a Polish supermarket and two-storey flat on Hinckley Road.

Mary Ragoobeer, 46; her two sons Shane, 18, and 17-year-old Sean and Shane’s 18-year-old girlfriend Leah Beth Reek were killed in the blast, along with Viktorija Ljevleva, 22. Several others were injured.

Disturbing police bodycam footage shown to the court showed a casualty, Thomas Lindop, under the rubble with a severe head injury.

He had been walking by the shop at the time of the blast and suffered a traumatic brain injury and fractures to his skull, head, pelvis and spine, leaving him in hospital for around three months.

During the trial, families of those who died were in tears as they heard cries for help on some of the footage shown to the court, including teenager Scotty Ragoobeer, who survived the explosion in what the prosecution described as a “miracle”. </s> Three men have denied arson and manslaughter charges at their court appearance after five people were killed in an explosion at a Polish supermarket in Leicester.

Arkan Ali, 37, Hawkar Hassan, 32, and Aram Kurd, 33, were arrested after the blast destroyed the shop and two-storey flat above on 25 February.

Mary Ragoobeer, 46, her sons Shane, 18, and Sean, 17, Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shane’s girlfriend, and Viktorija Ljevleva, 22, were all killed in the incident on Hinckley Road.

The trio each face five counts of manslaughter and one count of arson with intent or being reckless as to whether life was endangered. The three men denied a further charge of conspiracy to commit fraud with Ljevleva.

Appearing at Leicester crown court on Tuesday via video link from HMP Woodhill, Kurd, Hassan and Ali only spoke to confirm their names and to deny all seven alleged offences. During a 50-minute hearing, the three men were told their trial was likely to be heard under a high court judge.

The prosecution had told an earlier hearing at Leicester magistrates court that the explosion was caused by petrol spread throughout the shop.

Jose Ragoobeer, paying tribute to his wife and two sons after the incident, said: “Our lives will never be the same. What happened that day has affected so many people’s lives. Every day they will all be missed.” 



Reek’s family said their hearts were breaking and described her as a “beautiful, bubbly baby girl”. “There is a part of us gone forever,” they said. “We will always miss her cheeky smile and will miss her every day for the rest of our lives.”

Ljevleva’s mother said: “There are very few children like my beautiful Viktorija. Friends were always jealous that I never had any problems with my little one. We shared a mutual understanding with one another. We miss her terribly.”

Ali, of Drake Close, Oldham, Hassan, of no fixed abode, and Kurd, of Hillary Place, Leicester, were remanded into custody by Judge Philip Head until a further hearing on 31 August at the same court. </s> Three men who killed five people in a “bomb-like” shop blast have been convicted of murder and plotting to claim a £300,000 insurance pay-out.

Arkan Ali, Hawkar Hassan and Aram Kurd used “many, many litres of petrol” in an arson attack on Kurd’s supermarket – causing an explosion which completely destroyed the shop and a flat above the premises.

Leicester Crown Court heard how some residents living near the Polish supermarket on Hinckley Road, Leicester, thought a bomb had reduced the property to rubble.

A five-week trial was told the defendants left shop worker Viktorija Ijevleva, 22, to die in the building because she was aware of the insurance policy taken out less than three weeks earlier. Brothers Sean Rajoobeer, 17 (left) and Shane Rajoobeer, 18, and their mother Mary, three of the five victims of the Hinckley Road explosion in Leicester (Leicestershire Police)

Opening the Crown’s case at the start of the trial, prosecutor David Herbert QC told a jury of seven women and five men the defendants intended to maximise the damage to the premises and “would have known” people would have been in the two-storey flat above.

Ali, 38, Hassan, 33, and Kurd, 34, were assisted by a Kurdish interpreter throughout the trial after denying murder and alternative counts of manslaughter.

But they were unanimously found guilty of five counts of murder after 11 hours and 26 minutes of deliberations. Viktorija Ljevleva was among the victims (Leicestershire Police)

The trio were also convicted of conspiring with Ms Ijevleva to make a gain, by dishonestly pursuing an insurance claim in respect of the fire.

Ms Ijevleva, Mary Ragoobeer, 46, her teenage sons Shane and Sean, and 18-year-old Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shane’s girlfriend, were all killed in the blast on Sunday February 25.

Around 26 litres of petrol was used to start the fire in the basement of the supermarket, triggering a massive explosion at 7.01pm.

CCTV and traffic camera footage released by police at the end of the trial shows 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 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.

Ali, of Drake Close, Oldham, Hassan, of Eld Road, Coventry, and Kurd, of Hillary Place, Leicester, were remanded in custody and will be sentenced in mid-January.

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.”

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.” </s> A man from Coventry is due in court today in connection with the explosion at a shop in Leicester that killed five people.

Hawkar Hassan, 32, of Foleshill, is charged with five counts of manslaughter and arson with intent to endanger life following the blast in Hinckley Road on Sunday, February 25.

Hassan is due to appear at Leicester Crown Court today for a plea and trial preparation hearing.

He will be joined in the dock by co-defendants Aram Kurd, 33, from Hillary Place, Leicester, and Arkan Ali, 37, of Drake Close, Oldham.

Kurd is the shopkeeper whose premises was destroyed in the blast.

All three men are currently remanded in custody following a hearing at Leicester Magistrates’ Court last month.

Five people - including a mother and two of her sons - were killed in the blast on February 25.

Mary Ragoobeer, 46, and sons Shane, 18, and 17-year-old Sean lost their lives, along with Shane’s girlfriend Leah Reek, 18, and Viktorija Ijevleva, 22, who was believed to have been working in the shop at the time of the explosion.

Viktorija had been due to start a new job in Coventry.

Shane and Sean’s 15-year-old brother Scotty survived the blast. The schoolboy, who was pulled from the rubble, was taken to hospital with injuries, but has since been discharged.

Their father Jose Ragoobeer, a carer, was at work when the tragedy happened.

Four other men were also arrested in connection with the incident and released under investigation.

Two men in their 30s from East Anglia were detained on suspicion of conspiracy to cause an explosion and offences under the proceeds of crime act.

They were both released under investigation at the start of March.

The third, a man in his 40s from East Anglia, had been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter on Saturday, March 3, and was released two days later after being quizzed by officers.

The fourth, a man in his 30s from the East Midlands, was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter on Tuesday, March 6.

He was released from police custody on Wednesday, March 7.

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Search for jobs, motors and property, or place an advert or family notice here. </s> A Coventry man and two others have denied manslaughter charges after five people were killed in a shop explosion.

Hawkar Hassan, from Foleshill, was arrested after the blast destroyed a Polish supermarket and two-storey flat in Leicester on February 25.

Also arrested were Arkan Ali and Aram Kurd, and all three appeared at Leicester Crown Court this morning where they pleaded not guilty to five counts of manslaughter.

All three also denied separate counts of arson being reckless as to endanger life and fraud by false representation.

During a 50-minute hearing, Kurd, 33, who was wearing a grey jumper, and Hassan, 32, and 37-year-old Ali, wearing blue jumpers, only spoke to confirm their names and to deny all seven alleged offences.

Appearing via video-link from HMP Woodhill, the three men were told their trial is likely to be heard under a High Court Judge.

Hassan, stated as of no fixed abode in court, Ali, of Drake Close, Oldham, and Kurd, of Hillary Place, Leicester, were remanded into custody by Judge Philip Head until a further hearing on August 31 at the same court.

The fatal blast happened at a shop in Hinckley Road, Leicester, and left five people dead.

Among them was Mary Ragoobeer, 46, and her sons Shane, 18, and Sean, 17, as well as Leah Beth Reek, 18, who was Shane’s girlfriend, and Viktorija Ljevleva, 22.

Viktorija had been due to start a new job in Coventry and her mother said: “There are very few children like my beautiful Viktorija. Friends were always jealous that I never had any problems with my little one.

“We shared a mutual understanding with one another. We miss her terribly.”

Jose Ragoobeer, paying tribute to his wife and two sons after the incident, said: “Our lives will never be the same. What happened that day has affected so many people’s lives. Every day they will all be missed.”

Ms Reek’s family said: “Our whole family’s heart is breaking because we have lost our beautiful, bubbly baby girl.

“There is a part of us gone forever. We will always miss her cheeky smile and will miss her every day for the rest of our lives.”

Four other men were also arrested in connection with the incident and released under investigation.

Two men in their 30s from East Anglia were detained on suspicion of conspiracy to cause an explosion and offences under the proceeds of crime act.

They were both released under investigation at the start of March.

The third, a man in his 40s from East Anglia, had been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter on Saturday, March 3, and was released two days later after being quizzed by officers.

The fourth, a man in his 30s from the East Midlands, was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter on Tuesday, March 6.

He was released from police custody on Wednesday, March 7.

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Three men plead not guilty to arson and manslaughter in connection to the deaths of five people in an explosion at a shop in Leicester, England.