‘Cold-blooded’ teens who set diners on fire in restaurant arson attack jailed

Two teenagers have been jailed for 10 years over an arson attack at an Indian restaurant that left diners in ‘agonising’ pain when they were doused in petrol and engulfed in flames.

The youths, aged 17, were armed with ‘long knives and swords’ when they stormed Indian Aroma in Woodford Avenue, Gants Hill, at around 9pm last August 22, the Old Bailey heard on Friday.

Am accomplice, who was not involved in the case, made his way to the back of the room and began emptying cannisters of petrol on to the floor and tables while the pair held the door ‘mostly shut’ and a piece of paper was used to cause an ‘explosion’.

Prosecutor James Dawes KC told the Old Bailey that customers were ‘guaranteed to suffer burns’ after being left ‘frozen in terror’.

The pair were previously convicted of arson with intent to endanger life and having a bladed article, and were sentenced by His Honour Judge Michael Grieve KC on Friday.

They were handed an extended sentence made up of 10 years custody, with an extended period of three years.

Sentencing the pair, the judge said the attack was a ‘sophisticated and professional operation’ which involved a ‘high degree’ of planning.

He added: ‘You were both fully aware of the almost inevitable consequences, namely to cause serious harm, up to and including death, to complete strangers.’

Referring to the victims, he said they ‘have suffered agonising and life-changing injuries – and it could have been worse’.

He added: ‘I have no doubt that you were carrying out this operation on the direction of some older and more experienced criminal who has not been identified… but you did so with cold blood.’

The court heard the arsonists ‘burst into’ the establishment at around 9pm, with Mr Dawes telling the court the ‘peace’ felt by the eight customers dining at the restaurant was ‘shattered’.

The two teenagers guarded the door with machetes while the third individual ran to the end of the restaurant and began emptying petrol on the floor and tables.

While it was previously said the attacker poured petrol directly on to the back of a customer, the judge said that having reviewed the CCTV evidence in court, this was perhaps ‘questionable’.

But he did say petrol was ‘liberally spread around on the chairs of which customers were sitting’.

After doing so, the group reversed out the room and proceeded to hold the door ‘mostly shut’ before lighting a slip of paper, causing an ‘explosion’.

The attackers fled the scene in a stolen car and emergency services attended – including six London Fire Brigade vehicles and crew.

The prosecutor said: ‘The preparations for this attack were extensive and the execution of this attack was professional and clearly had been planned and rehearsed as each one of them had separate, well-defined roles.’

He said the attackers ordered the customers to remain in their seats and ‘threatened them with long knives and swords’.

‘The offenders took the decision to set light to the pool of petrol while the customers were still seated frozen in terror, guaranteeing burns would be caused to some or all of them,’ he added.

The court was told about the injuries sustained by the customers at the restaurant.

One woman was placed in a medically induced coma after the incident, which saw her clothing melted to her skin.

The court heard she sustained burns to 50% of the total body surface area, 45% of which were full-thickness burns.

Her husband – who was seen running out of the restaurant on fire – sustained mixed-depth burns to 51% of the total body surface area. In a statement, he said he ‘woke up 45 days after being burnt’.

The prosecutor said it has been a ‘completely traumatic and appalling incident’ for both of them and has ‘transformed their personal lives’.

Another victim said in a statement that before the incident, she was an ‘independent woman with plans, prospects and hope’.

She added: ‘What I have now is a life that has been completely upended by 30 seconds of someone else’s violence.’

Another customer described the ‘agonising physical pain’ felt during the incident.

Mark Graffius KC, representing one of the youth defendants, invited the judge to draw the ‘reasonable inference’ that the teenager was ‘subject to ongoing exploitation up to and until the offence’.

Nneka Akudolu KC, representing the other teenager, said her client is ‘sorry’ for the “painful and life-changing injuries” the victims suffered at his hands.

She said he had been told the restaurant would be empty.

The teenagers had denied the offences but were convicted after a six-week trial which took place earlier this year.

One of the teenagers had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to an additional charge of failing to disclose a Pin.

The third accomplice was not involved in the trial or sentencing hearing.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.