NEWS
10 Men Jailed for Combined 130 Years Over Revenge Arson Attack That Left Mother With 65% Burns, Teenager Injured
Ten men have been sentenced to a combined 130 years in prison over a brutal revenge attack in Stoke-on-Trent, England, in which a home was deliberately set ablaze, leaving a 31-year-old woman with life-changing injuries and her 13-year-old daughter badly burned.
The horrific incident happened shortly before 11pm on December 16, 2021, at a two-bedroom property on Beverley Drive, Stoke-on-Trent.
A group of men reportedly smashed the downstairs windows of the house before pouring petrol into the hallway and outside the living room window, turning the property into a raging inferno.
At the time of the attack, the woman and her teenage daughter were inside the house. With the fire rapidly spreading, both victims were forced to escape by jumping from an upstairs window.
Police later established that the mother was struck on the head and set on fire during the attack. She sustained devastating injuries, including burns covering 65 per cent of her body, a broken pelvis, broken ribs and a cut to her liver.
Her condition was so critical that she spent two months in a coma and was not expected to survive.
Despite the severity of her injuries, she eventually recovered enough to walk again. However, doctors have warned that she is likely to require medical treatment for the rest of her life.
Her 13-year-old daughter also suffered serious injuries, sustaining burns to 15 per cent of her arm that required skin grafts.
Staffordshire Police’s major investigations department described the attack as a ‘truly shocking’ act of violence.
The case subsequently went to trial at Nottingham Crown Court, where proceedings lasted 11 weeks and concluded in February. Several of the defendants had entered guilty pleas before the trial, while others were convicted following the proceedings.
Seven men were sentenced at Leicester Crown Court, while three others had previously received their sentences at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.
The sentences handed down to those involved reflected the different roles and offences attributed to each defendant.
Haris Mahmood, 22, of Normacot, Stoke-on-Trent, received the longest sentence among those sentenced today, with 24 years and nine months in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of attempted murder and arson with intent to endanger life.
Shakil Uddin, 23, of Oldham, was sentenced to 34 years after being convicted of attempted murder and arson with intent to endanger life.
Ali Abbas, 23, of Normacot, Stoke-on-Trent, was jailed for 25 years after pleading guilty to two counts of attempted murder and arson with intent to endanger life, two counts of grievous bodily harm with intent, and possession of a knife or blade in a public place.
Riyadh Iqbal, 23, of Normacot, Stoke-on-Trent, was sentenced to 12-and-a-half years after being convicted of grievous bodily harm with intent and arson with intent to endanger life.
Tayyeb Majeed, 24, of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, received 10-and-a-half years after being convicted of grievous bodily harm with intent.
Lukman Khan, 25, of Normacot, Stoke-on-Trent, was sentenced to 12-and-a-half years after being convicted of grievous bodily harm with intent and arson with intent to endanger life.
Muhammad Sufyaan-Shah, 25, was sentenced to 11-and-a-half years after being convicted of grievous bodily harm with intent.
Three other defendants had been sentenced earlier.
On June 3, Bilal Ahmed, 27, of Normacot, Stoke-on-Trent, was sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, alongside 100 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to violent disorder.
Naveed Hussain, 32, of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, received a 22-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, after pleading guilty to violent disorder and possession of a knife blade or sharp pointed article in a public place.
Then, on July 7, Kashif Ahmed, 26, of Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, was sentenced to 48 weeks in prison after pleading guilty to violent disorder.
The court heard that the chain of events began around 4pm on the day of the fire when a fight broke out on Kildare Street, Longton, involving Hussain, Abbas, Bilal Ahmed and Kashif Ahmed.
According to police, Kashif Ahmed was stabbed in the shoulder during the confrontation and subsequently went to hospital for treatment. Several hours later, the violence escalated dramatically.
A group of men travelled to the property on Beverley Drive and demanded to speak with Hussain. What followed was a deliberate attack in which petrol was used to set the house alight.
Hussain’s former partner was reportedly ‘relaxing in her home’ and had no knowledge of the earlier street fight, while her teenage daughter was ‘on her phone upstairs’ when she heard men breaking into the property and demanding to know where her stepfather was. The court heard that Hussain visited the woman and her daughter at the property ‘periodically’.
Judge Mayo described the ordeal faced by the victims as ‘virtually impossible to imagine a more horrific scene’. The teenage girl recalled hearing her mother screaming as her ‘hair, face, arms, and legs’ were on fire while she was unclothed.
The prosecution described the attack as ‘deliberate revenge for the relatively minor injury to Kashif Ahmed’.
Prosecutor Siobhan Collins told the court: ‘It is clear when that was put in motion the intended victim was Naveed Hussain.’
However, the revenge attack ultimately placed Hussain’s former partner and her teenage daughter in grave danger and left both with devastating injuries.
All ten men will serve two-thirds of their respective sentences in custody, with the remainder to be served on licence.
Following the sentencing, Detective Constable Howard Davies said: ‘We hope these sentences send a strong message that this kind of violence will not be tolerated and that those responsible will be held to account.’