Vengeful hatred drove two brothers to murder a mother and her children by lighting a raging fire at their home, a jury heard.

Asjid and Arshed Mahmood were targeting Iram Shah’s former husband when they killed the family in a ferocious blaze, fuelled by paper and petrol, it is alleged.

Mrs Shah, 30, fractured her spine when she leapt from a bedroom window with her clothing on fire.

She died six days later in Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield, from severe burns she suffered in the fire in Hendford Drive, Pollard Park, Bradford.

Her daughter Alina, ten, and son, Aman, eight, died in the house from inhaling choking smoke and fire fumes, the jury at Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday.

Asjid Mahmood, 22, and Arshed Mahmood, 18, both of Pollard Lane, Undercliffe, Bradford, plead not guilty to three charges of murder.

It is alleged that Asjid’s feud with his former close friend, Zaheer Shah, led him to burn the house where Mr Shah sometimes stayed. He was the children’s father and occasionally slept in the spare room, the court heard.

It is claimed that Asjid said his head was spinning and he wanted to kill Mr Shah. He wished he could “grip him and torture him because he had ruined his life”, said Andrew Stubbs QC, for the prosecution.

Mr Stubbs told the court that Asjid admitted starting the fire but claimed he did not intend to cause death or serious injury.

“He is therefore saying that he is guilty of manslaughter and not murder,” he told the jury.

His brother denies setting fire to the house.

Mr Stubbs said Mrs Shah and her children shared the same upstairs bedroom because the youngsters could not sleep without her.

They were in bed after midnight on July 6 last year when Mrs Shah’s brother, Mohsan Rasa, who lived with them, heard the smoke alarm go off as he watched television downstairs.

The back door was engulfed in flames and he ran upstairs to warn his sister and the children.

The house was full of thick choking smoke. Mrs Shah, who came to the top of the stairs, ran back to her children.

Mr Rasa climbed from a window on to an outhouse roof, waiting to help the family escape.

Mr Stubbs told the packed courtroom: “They didn’t come.”

Mr Rasa and many neighbours made brave attempts to force their way into the blazing house to rescue the children.

Firefighters found Aman’s body in the bedroom where the family was sleeping. He was handed out of the building and carried down a ladder.

Alina’s body was recovered from under the window inside the rear bedroom her uncle had escaped from.

Mr Stubbs said Aman suffered 80 per cent burns and Alina extensive burns to two thirds of her body.

He said: “The prosecution cannot say which of the defendants actually applied the match. Our case is that you can be sure that this was a team effort – a joint enterprise in which they both participated, and the object of which was to kill or cause serious bodily harm to the occupants of Hendford Drive.

“They set a fire at the door of a house they knew was occupied, in the dead of night, when the children would inevitably have been asleep upstairs – what other intention can there have been in starting such a fierce fire, fuelled with paper and petrol?” Mr Stubbs asked.

Giving evidence, Mr Rasa told the jury he was Mrs Shah’s youngest brother and very close to her.

He said Zaheer Shah had been at the house that night but left shortly after midnight.

Mr Rasa said when he heard the smoke alarm and opened the living room door, the flames were so high he could not see the back door. He ran upstairs and warned his sister the family could not escape downstairs.

He opened the back bedroom window and waited for her to pass the children through to him.

When she did not appear, he tried to get back into the house but was beaten back by heat and smoke.

Mr Rasa said he saw his sister lying on the concrete in front of the house with her arms on fire.

He carried her on to the grass. “She was saying ‘My children are dying inside, go and take them out. My kids are dying’,” he said.

Mr Stubbs told the jury that Asjid Mahmood’s anger and hatred of Zaheer Shah was the motive for the fire.

The two had been close friends and business associates but had fallen out over a car they bought to rent out.

The loan for the vehicle was in Asjid Mahmood’s name and Mr Shah was unable to meet his share of the liabilities.

Mr Stubbs alleged that Asjid’s ill-feeling turned to bitter hatred and deep seated anger. By July, he was saying he wanted to torture and kill Mr Shah.

In one text message to a friend, Asjid described Mr Shah as a “robbing, blood-sucking, leech,” the jury was told.

Mr Stubbs said Mr Shah also owed money to Arshed Mahmood.

Shortly before midnight on July 5, it is alleged that Asjid texted his brother, saying “get the petrol canister outta the cellar.”

Mr Stubbs said the brothers’ family runs Barkerend Fisheries and fish and chip paper used to start the blaze matched that from the business.

CCTV footage showed Asjid driving to a petrol station on Killinghall Road on the night of the fire and Arshed paying for petrol and filling the canister.

Mr Stubbs said that when Zaheer Shah heard about the fire he blamed Asjid Mahmood.

Asjid Mahmood was arrested at his home at 2.25am and made no comment in three police interviews.

Mr Stubbs alleged that Arshed Mahmood told officers “a series of deliberate and calculated lies”.

He was arrested, bailed and re-arrested on October 21. He also made no comment to the police.

The trial continues.