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by Dan Bloom
Here is the face of the Maidstone bouncer accused of killing a father, his daughter and her baby son, in a Chatham house fire.
Our exclusive pictures show a smiling Farhad Mamhud in the town centre.
The 35-year-old is alleged to have helped Danai Muhammadi set fire to his wife Melissa Crook’s home in Chatham Hill at 2.30am last September 10.
The blaze killed Melissa (pictured below), 20, her her father Mark, 49, and her and Muhammadi’s 15-month-old son Noah.
Both men deny setting the house alight by pouring petrol through the letterbox with a garden sprayer.
But a court heard Mahmud was offered "blood money" to help murder his friend's estranged wife.
While in prison he told friends the fire was an insurance scam gone wrong, but he declined to stand up that version of events in court.
Melissa Crook, 20, and her 15-month-old son Noah
Mark Dennis QC, prosecuting, told a jury yesterday: “It’s no small wonder Mr Mahmud has been unable to cross the floor to come up with an explanation.”
Mr Dennis said Mahmud travelled to Chatham on the night of the fire from his flat in Fernhill Road, Maidstone, with Muhammadi, who he had met working at a bakery on Allington's 20/20 estate.
He added: “This was not a case of one man… idly standing in the street admiring the stars, not knowing what his friend was doing.
“Petrol does not self-ignite. Therefore the arsonist would have the opportunity, the time to squirt as much petrol and he or his accomplice wished, even stopping to let the other person have his turn.”
Mahmud came to Britain from Iraq in 2003 and settled in Maidstone, where friends said he was "very hands-on" and "always hugging people", the court heard.
He worked as a bouncer at Babylon, Chicago's and Liquid, all bars in Maidstone town centre.
The jury is due to retire to consider its verdict in the six-week trial next Wednesday.
Mahmud, Muhammadi, 24, of Britannia Street, Coventry, and Muhammadi's new girlfriend Emma Smith, 21, of Barley Lea, Coventry, (both pictured above left) all deny three counts of murder and two of attempted murder.
The trial continues.