Fugitive father jailed for fire-bomb killing

A married father who fled to Bangladesh after taking part in a fire-bombing which claimed the life of a young girl was jailed for eleven-and-a-half years today.

Jabed Ali, who pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of six-year-old Alisha Begum yesterday, was arrested in April after spending more than four years as a fugitive.

Birmingham Crown Court heard that the 27-year-old car body worker's fingerprints were found on a bottle of petrol at the scene of the arson attack in March 2006.

Alisha, who was sleeping upstairs, died of toxic shock after being trapped in her home in Bayswater Road, Perry Barr, Birmingham, although other family members escaped with relatively minor injuries.

Ali, formerly of Stamford Road, Aston, Birmingham, is the second man to be jailed for taking part in the attack, although its alleged instigator is still at large.

Judge William Davis, QC, was told that the motive for the arson was anger at a "clandestine" relationship between one of Alisha's brothers and the sister of a man who is still being sought.

Passing sentence, Judge Davis told Ali: "You barely knew those who were taking revenge on that family and yet you joined in with an enterprise in which you knew that bottles of petrol were to be used to fire-bomb a house.

"You, for no reason at all, joined in that wicked plan."