Neighbour who murdered mom and her daughters will get jail time minimize

An arsonist neighbour who murdered a mother and her daughters by setting fire to their flat has won a bid to reduce his jail time after his lawyer claimed the judge hadn’t given ‘sufficient weight’ to his mental health.

Jamie Barrow, 32, was jailed for life with a minimum of 44 years in July last year for the murders of Fatoumatta Hydara, 28, and her daughters, Fatimah and Naeemah Drammeh, aged three and one, who died because of smoke inhalation.

Nottingham Crown Court heard how Barrow drank several cans of lager before taking petrol from his motorbike and setting the home alight in November 2022.

He then stood outside the home in Fairisle Close, Clifton, Nottingham, to watch the fire take hold, after holding what prosecutors described as a ‘grievance’ over rubbish being left in an alleyway.

In a ruling at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Tuesday, Lord Justice Singh, Mr Justice Jay and Judge Mayo lowered his sentence to 38 years after Barrow’s defence said the original sentence was ‘manifestly excessive’ compared to other murder cases involving arson.

Chris Henley KC, who had made arguments on Barrow’s behalf, said the prison term was ‘out of kilter’ with other comparable cases. 

He added that the judge did not give sufficient weight to his clients personality disorder and mental health problems when carrying out his verdict, which the judges considered a significant submission for reducing the sentence. 

Jamie Barrow, 32, was jailed for 44 years after torching the flat belonging to Fatoumatta Hydara and her two daughters 

Fatoumatta Hydara, 28, and her daughters, Fatimah (left) and Naeemah (right) Drammeh, aged three and one, who died because of smoke inhalation

The judges said there should be, as far as possible, ‘consistency as between different cases’, but acknowledged the sentencing judge had a ‘difficult’ exercise to perform.

The judges also expressed their ‘sincere sympathy’ to family members, adding: ‘Nothing in this judgment should be taken in any way to detract from the gravity of the offences committed by this appellant.’

Jailing Barrow at Nottingham Crown Court last year, Mrs Justice Tipples had said that she felt he showed no genuine remorse and she was sure he wanted to kill Mrs Hydara and her children. 

The court was told last year that Barrow had used a Clean ‘N Fresh spray bottle to decant the petrol, which he chose deliberately because its slim neck would fit through a letterbox. 

He then watched the fire take hold for several minutes before walking away, later being seen on CCTV walking his dog with a cigarette in his mouth in the early hours of November 20 last year. 

The girls were pronounced dead shortly after the fire started at around 3am, while their mother died two days later. 

Prosecutor Simon Ash KC previously told the trial that Barrow ‘walked casually away’ after lighting the petrol with some tissue paper, having watched the flames take hold for ‘about five minutes’.

Barrow never gave a motive.

Mr Ash said several reasons could have caused him to start the fire, including the ‘grievance’ over rubbish being left, anger over noise, and a desire to be rehoused by Nottingham City Council to be closer to his son.

Barrow, who was found guilty at the end of a three week trial, showed no emotion at Nottingham Crown Court as he was sentenced for what was described as a ‘hateful’ triple murder

Police at the scene of the Nottingham flat where the blaze broke out and killed three victims

Mrs Hydara with her heartbroken husband Aboubacarr Drammeh (left) and their two daughters Naeemah Drammeh, aged one, and Fatimah Drammeh, aged three, who also died in the blaze

Reading a victim impact statement during sentencing, Mrs Hydara’s husband and the children’s father, Aboubacarr Drammeh, said: ‘I was hopeless, and I was left helpless, because I didn’t have a family, and it was the people who mattered most to me.

‘Since then, it has been a downward plunge into darkness and the unknown.

‘It was unthinkable, it was unplanned, and I wish this on no one else, including you.’

Mr Drammeh was in America at the time of the fire and had to fly back to the UK, spending his 40th birthday identifying the bodies of Fatimah and Naeemah.

In her statement read to the court, Mrs Hydara’s mother, Aminata Dibba, called Barrow a ‘monster’ and a ‘heartless human being’.

No family members were present at Tuesday’s hearing.