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Farhad Mahmud, Danai Muhammadi
and Emma Smith
by Dan Bloom
A “sick” car salesman has been found guilty of murdering his
estranged wife, toddler son and father-in-law in a horrific arson
attack.
Danai Muhammadi, 24, drove 200 miles to his in-laws'
Chatham home and used a garden sprayer to pump petrol through
the letterbox in a spite-fuelled attack.
A jury at Maidstone Crown Court this afternoon found Muhammadi
guilty of three counts of murder and two of attempted murder.
His friend, Maidstone nightclub bouncer Farhad Mahmud, 35,
was found guilty of the same charges after a six-week
trial.
Muhammadi’s girlfriend - unemployed Emma Smith, 21, of The
Barley Lea, Coventry - was acquitted of three murder charges,
but found guilty of three counts of manslaughter by 10-2
majorities. Smith was also cleared of two counts of attempted
murder.
Iranian national
Muhammadi's estranged wife Melissa Crook, 20, died in the
blaze clutching her 15-month-old son Noah. Her father Mark died of
his burns in hospital. Melissa's mother Amanda and brother
Bohdan escaped.
Amanda, 50, and Bohdan, 22, shook uncontrollably and wept as the
verdicts were delivered after more than 13 hours of
deliberations.
High Court judge Mr Justice Sweeney adjourned sentencing
until the first week of July for psychiatric reports.
Speaking about Muhammadi and
Mahmud, he said: "There is only one sentence the law permits me to
pass and that is a sentence of life imprisonment." There were
whispers of 'yes!' from the family.
Outside court, widow Amanda said: "The
verdict isn't a celebration for us - it wasn't an exchange. Mark,
Melissa and Noah are not coming back to us. We've all got the life
sentence."
Mark Crook (left) his daughter
Melissa and her toddler son Noah were killed
Mark Crook, 49, became trapped in a window trying to escape as
she watched helplessly as it melted around him. He died of his
burns six days later.
Bohdan survived the blaze by jumping from his bedroom window
after a desperate battle to save his sister.
In an emotional interview, Bohdan slammed Muhammadi as
“sick”.
He said: “He’s taken away our whole lives just because of his
greed.
"We want the right people away so they don’t do it again, or try
to hurt anyone else.
“For dad, Mel and Noah, we want to make sure they didn’t die in
vain. They didn’t die for no reason.”
Jurors heard Smith met Muhammadi a month before the fire and
“goaded” him into murder after exchanging expletive-filled texts
with his wife Melissa Crook, a former pupil at Gillingham’s Upbury
Manor School.
However, Smith maintained she knew nothing about the fire until
it happened - despite travelling with her new boyfriend to
Maidstone on the fatal night.
Amanda and Bohdan Crook survived
the blaze at the family home
The Crook family’s terraced home in, Chatham Hill, was torched
at 2.30am on September 10 when Muhammadi’s wife Melissa was
fast asleep.
Maidstone Crown Court heard Muhammadi, who married teenage
sweetheart Melissa in 2009, was angry after she left him last
March.
He drove from their former marital home in Britannia Street,
Coventry, to Mahmud’s flat in Fernhill Road, Maidstone, on the
night of the fire.
He was shown on CCTV filling a weedkiller sprayer with petrol 20
minutes before the blaze at the Texaco garage in Maidstone Road,
Chatham.
Sorry, this video asset has been removed.
Amanda and Bohdan Crook react to
the verdicts
Muhammadi told the court he and Mahmud had gone to meet two
blackmailers, who threatened to kidnap Noah or burn the house down
if they were not paid £5,000.
However, prosecutors said the two men were the arsonists -
claiming Muhammadi offered Mahmud up to £10,000 to help him.
No one saw them setting a fire, but prosecutors claimed the
circumstantial evidence was overwhelming.
The morning after the fire, Muhammadi went to work as normal
without telling anyone where he had been, the court
heard.
Melissa and Noah Crook died in
the fire
He was arrested over his wife and son’s murder within 12 hours,
asking police: “What has happened to them?”
A jury of five men and seven women began deliberating on
thousands of pages of evidence on Wednesday.
As the verdicts were delivered, Muhammadi sat emotionless with
his eyes shut, while Mahmud leaned forward in the dock.
The judge told jurors: "I don't suppose any of us is
ever going to forget some of the aspects of the evidence that we
have heard about the fire that night.
"There can be very few cases in criminal court which are as
taxing for a jury as this one."
Outside court, the Kent Police detective who led the murder
investigation welcomed the verdicts.
DCI David Chewter said: "I'm very pleased with the verdicts.
This was one of the most tragic cases I have dealt with in 24 years
of policing and my thoughts are with the Crook family who lost
three generations of their close-knit family as a result of the
fire which was deliberately set by someone they had welcomed into
their family.
"Muhammadi was driven by jealously and from day one, has denied
his involvement."
