Melissa’s estranged husband wanted revenge, at any cost….
Weeping uncontrollably in the public gallery of Maidstone Crown Court, Amanda Crook squeezed her son's hand tightly. She had good reason: having lost three members of her family, 22-year-old Bohdan was all this 50-year-old mum had left.
Even the Maidstone Court staff, who were used to harrowing details of vicious crimes, had been shocked listening to Amanda's tragic evidence when she described how she had seen her daughter Melissa, 20, her little 15-month-old grandson, Noah, and husband Mark, 49, all perish in a fire at their home in Chatham, Kent.
Now, Amanda and Bohdan only had each other…
In the dock were Melissa's estranged husband, Danai Muhammadi, 24, along with his alleged accomplice, Farhad Mahmud, 35. Like the other two, Muhammadi's new girlfriend Emma Smith, 21, was also facing murder charges.
Even though no one saw Muhammadi start the fire, the evidence against him was overwhelming…
Melissa had met Danai when she was just 15 years old. At first Amanda hadn't approved of the immigrant Iranian Kurd - nicknamed Sam - because he was four years older than her daughter. But when Melissa, who loved R&B music and country star Kenny Rogers, turned 16, Amanda realised the young lovers were serious, and no amount of objections were going to keep them apart.
Amanda recalled: 'Melissa told us that she was going to live with Sam in Coventry. We knew she would go with our blessing or not, so we decided to support her. We welcomed [him] into the family. He called me “Mum”. ’
The couple moved into a terraced house in Brittania Street in the Midlands city and in September 2009, they were married at the Rochester Corn Exchange. Melissa wore a white dress with a blue sash around the waist and Danai wore a black suit and silver tie. Cutting the cake and smiling for the cameras, they looked like young love's dream.
There was more happiness just a month later. Despite having been told by doctors she may never have children, Melissa discovered she was expecting a baby. And she was over the moon when she gave birth to little Noah on May 25, 2010 at Coventry General Hospital.
At first, Danai was a model dad, devoted to his son. But by April 2011, juggling fatherhood and his work as a used-car salesman was starting to take its toll. He started to become violent, lashing out at Melissa. On one occasion he was cautioned by the police for slapping Melissa after she refused to have sex with him. The following day, Melissa packed her things….
Amanda said, 'Melissa called me, saying, “Mum, I'm not bringing Noah up in that environment.” ’
So Melissa brought her daughter back to her parents’ home in Chatham. For the sake of their little boy, however, she stayed in touch with Danai.
Although Danai made desperate attempts to win Melissa back, he had also started seeing unemployed Emma Smith. The couple had met at a bus stop that August, when Danai had offered Emma a lift and driven her home. They exchanged numbers, and started sleeping together three days later.
That was when matters turned sinister…
Soon after she started seeing Danai, Emma became jealous. She regarded Danai’s estranged wife as a love rival and started taunting Melissa by text. One text read: 'I'm wearing your clothes, I'm wearing your jewellery and I'm sleeping with your husband.'
Feisty Melissa replied: 'Yes, but while he's sleeping with you, he's thinking of me.'
Emma also mocked Melissa about her size, for being 'boring' in the bedroom and added: 'Enjoy your life with no husband, no house... no money, you gold-digger.'
Then, on August 30, Danai texted Melissa saying, 'Until this evening I tried and I'm sick of waiting for you to forgive me.'
Initially, it sounded as though Danai had finally given up and decided to move on. In truth, it was far from it…
In the early hours of September 10, Danai picked up his friend, nightclub bouncer Farhad Mahmud, in his Renault Megane and the pair began the 200-mile journey to Chatham, taking an empty plastic garden sprayer with them. On the way, they stopped at a petrol station where Muhammadi filled the sprayer with seven litres of petrol.
Then, under the cover of darkness, the pair drove to Melissa's home where she, Noah, Bohdan, Amanda and Mark were asleep in bed. At 2.30am, they poked the garden sprayer through the letterbox, covering the bottom of the stairs with petrol. Then they ignited it.
Within minutes, flames had engulfed the hallway. The flames then raced up the stairs of the property, cutting off the family's escape route…
Moments later, Muhammadi phoned Emma, and asked her to call 999 and report the fire, which she did.
As the fire took hold, Amanda woke up to find her bedroom filled with smoke. She woke her husband and flung open the bedroom door. She recalled, 'The whole hallway was a mass of flames - I couldn't get through to Bohdan and Melissa's doors. I was screaming for the kids to try to get out.'
Thinking she might be able to reach them from outside, Amanda escaped with Mark behind her. She recalled, 'I managed to get out the back window and onto the flat roof. I was screaming for someone to help us. I looked back up at the window but because Mark was a large man, he had got stuck.'
In that instant, the flames became so intense that the window blew out.
'I watched him burn,' said Amanda. 'I stood and watched the window melt. There was a fireball and that just engulfed him.'
After Amanda escaped the blaze, she ran round to the front of the house to find Bohdan on the front lawn wearing nothing but boxers. He'd jumped out of his bedroom window.
But where were Melissa and Noah?
Amanda said, 'I looked up at the bedroom window and I knew they hadn't made it.'
As the terrifying drama unfolded, Amanda's worst fears were confirmed. While Mark was rushed to East Grinstead Hospital with severe burns, firefighters found Melissa's body next to her upturned bed. Noah's body was wrapped in a cot quilt, at her feet.
Fire investigator Mick Jackson said, 'She had clearly made an attempt to rescue the baby, had taken the baby from the cot while trying to get out of the room.'
The fire was quickly deemed suspicious and while Amanda and Bohdan were dealing with the horrific consequences of the blaze, an investigation was launched.
Meanwhile, Muhammadi, who had driven back to Coventry that night, picking up Emma en route, attempted to divert suspicion by texting Melissa. He wrote: 'Hi Mel, hope you both well. Can I book the hotel for 22 September. Let me know please. Love you, mate. Give Noah [a] hug and kiss from me. X.'
The following day police officers DC Ian Godsmark and DC Dave Frampton left Chatham to tell Muhammadi that his wife and son had died - but while they were on their way, a colleague uncovered Muhammadi's movements on the night of the arson by using an automatic number plate recognition system.
Having found he travelled from Coventry to Chatham and back again, and discovered CCTV footage of Muhammadi at the garage filling the garden sprayer with petrol, the police stormed his empty home. Inside they found Mahmud's address and bank details scrawled on a piece of paper.
Visiting the address, they found the garden sprayer, still containing traces of petrol, in the bouncer's bath.
Both men were arrested and charged with two counts of murder and three of attempted murder. Emma Smith was also arrested and charged with the same after being confronted with her 999 call.
Despite suffering agonizing 80 per cent burns, Amanda's husband Mark survived for six days. He never regained consciousness though, and died from his injuries in the burns unit at East Grinstead Hospital.
In May, 2012, all three defendants appeared at Maidstone Crown Court, charged with three counts of murder and two of attempted murder relating to Amanda and Bohdan.
During the six-week trial, Muhammadi told the court he had a good relationship with his estranged wife. But it soon became clear he had thoughts of extreme violence. Up to three months before the fire, he told one workmate he wanted to throw acid in Melissa's face to 'f*** up her life'.
Denying that he started the fire, Muhammadi instead concocted a fantastical blackmail story. He described receiving an anonymous note a week before the fire, which threatened his son with kidnap and the burning down of the family home or car unless a demand of £5,000 was met. He claimed to have met with the blackmailer on the night of the arson attack, but said that the deal had fallen through.
Mahmud, who did not take the stand in his own defence, gave a conflicting account - he claimed the fire was an insurance job gone wrong.
Chief prosecutor Mark Dennis QC said the blackmail allegation was a 'ludicrous fantasy' and instead described Muhammadi as 'a very highly dangerous and unbalanced individual' who had committed 'murder in its purest form'. He also alleged that Smith, who was in Maidstone at the time of the fire, had 'goaded' Muhammadi into starting the fire with texts after he'd tried to reconcile his marriage.
After 13 hours of deliberation, the jury of five men and seven women, found Muhammadi and Mahmud guilty of three counts of murder and two of attempted murder.
Smith was cleared of those charges but convicted of three counts of manslaughter.
High Court judge Mr. Justice Sweeney, said, 'There can be very few criminal cases which are as taxing for a jury than this one must have been... I don't suppose any of us are going to forget some aspects of the evidence we have heard about the fire.'
Speaking about Muhammadi and Mahmud, the judge continued, 'There is only one sentence the law permits me to pass and that is a sentence of life imprisonment.'
There were whispers of 'yes!' from the family in the public gallery.
After the verdict, Detective Chief Inspector David Chewter said, 'This was one of the most tragic cases I have dealt with in 24 years of policing, and my thoughts are with the Crook family who lost three generations of their close-knit family as a result of the fire which was deliberately set by someone they had welcomed into their family.'
Outside court, Amanda said, 'The verdict today is not a cause for celebration for us - it wasn't an exchange. Mark, Melissa and Noah are not coming back to us. We've all got the life sentence.'
And in a press interview, Amanda and Bohdan spoke about how their lives had been changed by the killers' actions. Amanda said, 'There are days when you just can't believe it. There are days when it's not real, it's not happened, and you're going to wake up. We're never going to get over them.'
When asked about how they contemplated the future, Bohdan said, 'We're going to live it as positively as possible because that's how they would've wanted it and it's as simple as that. We're going to live our lives to the full for them and we'll try to make a legacy for them as well.’
Amanda said, 'Technically, Bohdan and I shouldn't be here either, so for us, if we give in, they've won, they've taken something else. And they've taken more than enough from us. They're not going to take our futures.'
Danai Muhammadi was given a life sentence with a minimum of 38 years in jail for three counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. His accomplice Farhad Mahmud was also jailed for life but with a 34-year minimum tariff, having been found guilty of the same charges.
END