Two men charged with murder after mother and three children killed in Bradford house fire

Two men have been charged with murder following a house fire in Bradford which killed a mother and her three children.

Mohammed Shabir, 44, and Calum Sunderland, 25, have both been charged with four counts of murder and one count of attempted murder over the blaze, West Yorkshire Police have said.

The pair will appear at Bradford Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, while four other people remain under investigation – including a 39-year-old man who was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder.

A police statement on Tuesday evening said that another suspect, a 36-year-old man arrested on Friday on suspicion of murder and attempted murder has been interviewed and released on conditional bail.

The force added that a 54-year-old woman and 42-year-old man arrested on Monday on suspicion of assisting an offender have also been interviewed and released on bail.

Bryonie Gawith, 29, and her three children – Denisty Birtle, nine, Oscar Birtle, five, and Aubree Birtle, just 22 months old – died after their home on Westbury Road, Bradford, was deliberately set alight in the early hours of Wednesday, August 21.

Emergency services had descended on a property on the street after the fire service alerted police to the nature of the blaze just after 2am.

Gawith was “tragically” pronounced dead at the scene, the force said, while her three children all died in hospital.

More to follow…