Father who started fire in attempt to stop daughter 'dishonouring family' by marrying for love is found guilty of murdering wife and three other daughters

• Mohammed Riaz Inayat, 56, flew into a rage when his daughter, Kalsoom Bibi, said she was moving to Dubai to marry a policeman
• He poured gallons of petrol over his family home before setting it alight
• Three of Inayat's daughters and a family friend were also in the house
• Was found guilty of murdering his wife and arson, but was cleared of attempted murder of his daughters
  

By William Turvill

Published: 14:03 EDT, 30 October 2013 | Updated: 14:46 EDT, 30 October 2013

A father who killed his wife after he set fire to his family home in a bid to stop his daughter marrying a man he disapproved of was found guilty of murder today.

Mohammed Riaz Inayat, 56, flew into a rage when his daughter, Kalsoom Bibi, told him she planned to move to Dubai to marry a policeman.

He said she had brought ‘dishonour on the family’ before pouring gallons of petrol over his family home and setting it alight.

Mohammed Riaz Inayat (left), 56, was found guilty of murdering his wife today after he set his house on fire

On the night of April 17 Inayat killed his wife Naika and injured his three daughters in a blaze that took seconds to engulf the house.

Naika died of carbon monoxide poisoning and one of his daughters, 16-year-old Saimah, who jumped from a bedroom window, suffered 50 per cent burns.

He was found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court of murdering his wife and arson but was cleared of attempted murder of his three daughters.

During his trial the court heard how the father-of-six soaked seven parts of his home in petrol at about 5am as his family slept - only hours before Miss Bibi, 28, was set to fly to Dubai to marry the CID officer.

After initially telling police the fire was started by ‘a gang led by a white middle-aged woman’, he admitted one count of manslaughter.

Philip Bennett QC, prosecuting, told the court: ‘For this defendant a love marriage was not appropriate.

‘He was traditional in his beliefs that marriage should be arranged.’

Miss Bibi, who is already divorced from a marriage arranged by her father, met her lover in 2011 but had to travel in secret to see him in Dubai.

When her family discovered the affair in December last year, they disapproved, and her father became increasingly angry and upset, the jury heard.

Inayat, 56, flew into a rage when his daughter, Kalsoom Bibi (pictured), told him she planned to move to Dubai

Miss Bibi, who works for World Duty Free, told the court: ‘He told me he would kill me and that he would poison himself if I married him.

‘He said I would bring disgrace to the family. He was not happy with it. I understand why he wasn’t happy, it was because he had never met the man.

‘It took him a long time to accept it, but he did in the end because he could see it was what I wanted.’

On the night of the fire Miss Bibi woke to find flames coming under her bedroom door.

While his wife, three daughters and a family friend slept upstairs, Inayat used petrol as an accelerant both upstairs and downstairs in the family home and then set it on fire, trapping his family upstairs.

Neighbours called the emergency services and they tried in vain to rescue the occupants of the house.

The three daughters and family friend jumped from the first floor bedroom windows resulting in them suffering broken bones.

When the fire service arrived they entered the house and the found the body of the defendant’s wife in one of the upstairs bedrooms. She had died as a result of smoke inhalation.

Miss Bibi suffered a broken arm and three broken vertebrae after leaping from the window of the terraced house in Tyseley, Birmingham.

Inayat, who is originally from Pakistan, told the jury he tried to kill himself on the night of the fire, using three kitchen knives.

He then claimed he attempted to tie electrical cord around his neck before pouring petrol over himself.

Inayat poured gallons of petrol over his family home in Springfield, Birmingham, and set it alight

After the verdict, Zafar Siddique, Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor from West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service, said: ‘Crimes committed to supposedly defend a family’s honour will not be tolerated in our society and today’s conviction of Mohammed Inayat demonstrates that.

‘Honour-based violence and forced marriages are ultimately about men policing the behaviour of women.

‘This can include rights as fundamental as a choice of partner, as in today’s case, and this abuse can escalate frighteningly quickly from controlling behaviour to murder.

‘Inayat committed a dreadful crime, a crime which he committed because he was unable to accept the fact that his daughter wanted to get married to someone that she loved, cared for and wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

‘This he felt brought dishonour to him and his family, but today’s conviction has shown that the shame is his to bear.

‘The CPS will not shy away from tackling honour-based violence. It is a fundamental abuse of human rights and should not be tolerated in any civilised society.

‘Our thoughts are today with the family and friends of Naika Inayat.’