Man given whole-life order for murder of woman and children in Bradford fire

Sharaz Ali, 40, sentenced over arson attack in which his ex-partner’s sister and her three children died

A man who killed his ex-partner’s sister and her three children by setting fire to their house has been sentenced to a whole-life order.

Antonia Gawith said she was “haunted” because she was the intended target of the arson attack by her former boyfriend, Sharaz Ali.

“Knowing they died because someone wanted to kill me is a torment I can never put into words,” she told a sentencing hearing on Friday.

Antonia’s sister Bryonie Gawith, 29, and Bryonie’s three children – Denisty Birtle, nine, Oscar Birtle, five, and Aubree Birtle, 22 months – died in the blaze started at their home in Bradford.

Ali, 40, was “motivated by jealousy and fuelled by drink and drugs” when he turned up at the house in the early hours of 21 August 2024.

Antonia, who had ended an abusive seven-year relationship with Ali, managed to escape the fire but Bryonie and her three children died.

Sentencing Ali to a whole-life order – meaning he will never be released from prison – the judge, Mr Justice Hilliard, said Ali’s intention was to “wipe out a family”.

He told Doncaster crown court that the three children were “acceptable collateral damage” for Ali because he was “so full of hatred for Bryonie”, whom he blamed for the breakup with Antonia.

Antonia tearfully told the hearing that Bryonie’s children were “my babies, my joy”.

She said: “What haunts me the most is the attack was meant for me. I was the target; petrol was poured on me and my life was meant to end that night. I can’t escape the thought that I was spared when they were taken. How can I move on when they never had the chance to?”

Sobs could be heard from family members in the public gallery as Antonia said Bryonie “had warmth that could fill a room and a heart so big she would give the world away if she could”.

Calum Sunderland, 27, a crack-cocaine addict who went with Ali to the house and kicked in the door for him, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 18 years for manslaughter.

The judge said Bryonie “acted with immense courage” by staying in the house with her children when she saw Ali pouring petrol around.

“Although she must have known what Mr Ali was going to do, there was no way she was going to run out of the house and desert her children,” he said. “She remained at the top of the stairs to protect them.

“Bryonie acted with immense courage. I hope that will be how her family will remember her last moments.”

The judge said “substantial premeditation” went into the murders, adding: “I’m sure, on all the evidence, that [Ali] had determined to burn down the house and anyone in it, including the children, if Antonia did not change her mind. She did not do so.”

He said he was sure that Sunderland “knew the house was occupied” and agreed to an “extraordinarily dangerous” scheme, adding: “He played with fire and four people died as a result.”

During the trial, Antonia Gawith described trying to get upstairs to her sister and the children, but being kept away as she was still covered in petrol. “They said it wasn’t safe. I was just begging them all and screaming and crying, and I just wanted to save them and I just couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything.

“They wouldn’t let me go up – I just wanted to be with her.”

Before the sentencing hearing, DCI Stacey Atkinson, who led the investigation, said Ali knew the children were in the house and “knew they had no way of escape”.

Ali, a drug dealer, was rescued from the fire by police officers but suffered serious injuries and was initially not expected to survive. He was put on trial last year after coming out of a coma and recovering enough to be charged.

Jurors were told that Ali suffered burns to 70% of his body, that two fingers on each of his hands had been amputated, and that he still used oxygen and had difficulty speaking.