Man who murdered ex's sister and her children in revenge attack given whole-life sentence

A man who murdered his ex-partner's sister and her children in a house fire in Bradford will spend the rest of his life in jail after being given a whole-life order.

Bryonie Gawith, 29, and her children Denisty, nine, Oscar, five, and Aubree Birtle, 22 months, died when Sharaz Ali set fire to their home in a revenge attack after Bryonie's sister, Antonia, ended their relationship.

Speaking outside court Antonia Gawith said she was "haunted" by the knowledge she was the intended target, adding that "no sentence can heal the pain they caused".

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

During the hearing prosecutor David Brooke KC said Ali was "motivated by revenge and sexual jealousy" when he and Sunderland had driven to Westbury Road in Bradford, on 21 August 2024, where his ex-partner was living with her sister, nieces and nephew.

On arrival Sunderland kicked the front door of the house down on Ali's instructions, and Ali went inside and poured petrol over Antonia Gawith with the intention of setting her alight.

Antonia managed to escape before Ali torched the house, but Bryonie Gawith and her three children were trapped inside.

The court Ali himself suffered "life-changing injuries" in the blaze.

Passing sentence Mr Justice Hilliard KC said there was a "substantial degree of pre-meditation and planning" behind the attack and that he had seen the three young children as "acceptable collateral damage" in his plot to "wipe out a whole family".

The judge paid tribute to the "courage" shown by the two sisters, as it was said Bryonie Gawith prevented Ali from going upstairs in the house in an effort to protect her children.

'Every breath a struggle'

Reading her victim impact statement out to the court, Antonia said the events of the night had "shattered my entire existence forever".

"The memories of seeing their lifeless bodies from the fire is etched on my mind with a permanence I cannot escape," she said.

"Every breath since has been a struggle to exist in a world that no longer feels safe or fair."

Outside court, in a statement, she added: "Today, the judge sentenced the monsters who killed our beautiful family, Bryonie, and her three children Denisty, Oscar, and Aubree.

"But no sentence, no matter how long, can ever heal the pain they caused. No sentence can bring back their laughter, their hugs, their voices, their love. No sentence can bring back four hearts that should still be beating."

The court was told Ali, who had previous convictions for kidnap, racially aggravated assault and drug offences, had been physically violent and controlling towards Antonia during the course of their relationship.

He had hired crack cocaine addict Sunderland to accompany him to the house during a 44-second phone call the day before.

Sunderland, who fled the scene after kicking the door down, had claimed during his trial that he had thought he had only been hired to set a car alight and insisted he would not have gone had he known Ali's real intentions.

But Mr Justice Hilliard described Sunderland's account as "untruthful" and said he posed a "significant risk of serious harm to the public".

He will not be released before 2042 at the earliest.

The visibly injured Ali, who showed no emotion during the sentencing hearing, has become one of fewer than 80 prisoners to be serving a whole life term, only handed down for the gravest offences.

Noting that Ali's injuries would have "shortened his life expectancy", the judge described the murderer as the "sole author of his predicament".

The judge also praised the response of the emergency services to the incident, including the conduct of police officers who tried to rescue those inside the house, as "quite exceptional".

Ali, of Langbar Avenue, Bradford, was convicted of four counts of murder and of attempting to murder Antonia Gawith.

Sunderland, of Carlton Street, Bradford, was found guilty of four counts of manslaughter but cleared of a charge of attempted murder and an alternative of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to Antonia Gawith.