Moment jealous ex tells buddy to kick down door of household dwelling earlier than he murdered his former associate’s sister and three youngsters in arson assault – as video exhibits arrest of confederate

This is the chilling moment a jealous ex-boyfriend told his accomplice to kick down the door of a family home moments before he started a catastrophic blaze that killed his former partner’s sister and her three children.

Sharaz Ali, 40, was today found guilty of murdering Bryonie Gawith, 29, and Denisty, nine, Oscar, five, and 22-month-old Aubree Birtle – by setting fire to their house in Braford. 

Doncaster Crown Court heard the blaze was a botched revenge attack on Bryonie’s sister Antonia Gawith, who was staying there after ending her seven-year relationship with Ali. 

Newly released doorbell footage shows Ali and convicted arsonist Calum Sunderland, 26, approaching the door of the house in the early hours of August 21 last year.

Ali can be seen holding a bottle of vodka while Sunderland is holding a seven-litre canister of petrol.

The footage shows Ali saying: ‘Kick the door in Calum,’ before telling him to ‘kick it in’ four times.

Sunderland, who was found guilty of the manslaughter of Bryonie and the three children but cleared of murder, broke the door down before fleeing.

Other CCTV clips released by police show Sunderland at a Shell garage filling the canister with the petrol that Ali would later use to douse Bryonie’s home.

Another clip shows Ali buying vodka from the same garage.

CCTV also shows Ali and Sunderland being driven by Mohammed Shabir – who had been due to go on trial with them but died of a heart attack while on remand – to the house, before Ali and Sunderland get out of the car.

Ali attended today’s hearing via a video link from prison, and appeared to wipe away tears before the jury came in.

Doncaster Crown Court heard that Ali wanted to ‘inflict maximum pain’ with the fire and ‘did not care who was there’, although prosecutors said he must have known the children were at home.

Antonia told police that Bryonie had given her the ‘confidence and support’ to leave her violent and controlling relationship with Ali weeks before the fire, and that Ali had blamed her sister for the break-up.

On the night of the fatal blaze, Ali and convicted arsonist Sunderland, who sometimes sold drugs for Ali, were driven to the house on Westbury Road, Bradford, by Mohammed Shabir, who was due to go on trial with them but died of a heart attack while on remand.

Jurors heard they stopped on the way to fill a seven-litre canister with petrol, and Ali sent Antonia a series of aggressive messages accusing her of being with someone else.

When the men arrived, Antonia, who had finished her shift at Tesco at 12.30am, was with Bryonie in the main bedroom upstairs.

Antonia said she went downstairs after hearing a noise and saw an ‘angry’ Ali run into the house and begin pouring petrol on her while shouting.

She described trying to wrestle the canister and lighter from him, before running outside in an attempt to lure him out of the house.

As she realised he had not followed her, Antonia went back towards the house and saw Bryonie, who had woken up, kick Ali down the stairs.

Antonia said Ali then hit the lighter, igniting the petrol and setting himself and the house on fire.

In a video interview played to jurors, Antonia sobbed as she told police how she ‘couldn’t save’ her sister, nieces and nephew.

She described trying frantically to get in through the back door, which was jammed shut, while screaming for help.

Antonia said Bryonie, who had rung 999 while coming down the stairs, threw her phone out of the window.

She told officers she picked it up and started ‘shouting down the phone telling them to send everybody – the police, ambulance, fire brigade’.

‘I was just screaming, trying to get back in the house and I couldn’t get in. I couldn’t save them,’ she said tearfully.

The court heard the first police officers on the scene managed to break the door down and pull Ali from the blaze, but when firefighters arrived it was too late to save Bryonie, who was found on the floor next to her bed, and the three children, who were all found in their beds.

Footage played during the trial was edited to mute screaming, which may have been from one of the children.

Prosecutor David Brooke KC said one of them may have been woken up by the noise and ‘frightened by the sound of the explosion’.

The court heard Ali refused treatment from paramedics at the scene and was put into an induced coma for months before his recovery began.

Jurors were told that after the incident two fingers on each of his hands had been amputated, that he still uses oxygen and still has difficulty speaking.

He told the trial he wanted to kill himself in front of Antonia, and only intended to set himself alight.

Sunderland said Ali had recruited him to torch a car, and that he did not know there was anyone in the house.

In a statement issued after Bryonie’s death, her family said the loss of ‘our B’ and the children, referred to as ‘Chuch, Oggy and Strawberry’, had brought ‘unimaginable sadness and grief’.

The tribute read: ‘Our B was the life and soul of the party, music was a big part of her life, she loved music, singing and dancing, she would always be singing and dancing with Chuch (Denisty), Oggy (Oscar) and Strawberry (Aubree).

‘B was always a really happy, joyful, bubbly beautiful woman, who cared for everyone and was loved by everyone, her kids were everything to her, her whole life.

‘Oggy had the cheekiest smile, he was cheeky but he was a shy boy, Strawbs was shy and bashful with big blue eyes and blonde hair and Chuch was a beautiful, confident, outgoing and creative young girl.’

After they returned their verdicts, Mr Justice Hilliard thanked jurors and said the case had been ‘distressing beyond measure – three children and their mother murdered’.

He said: ‘I don’t think anyone who heard Antonia’s desperate cries for help will ever forget them.’

He added: ‘These are truly dreadful crimes.’

But, he said, there was also the ‘extraordinary bravery’ shown by people who tried to save the children trapped in the house, including their mother Antonia.

He praised Pc Miles Milner, who pulled Ali out of the fire, along with a colleague.

The judge asked: ‘Did you ever hear a braver thing?’

Mr Justice Hilliard said jurors were excused jury service in the future.