Bradford house fire murder suspect in coma ‘expected to survive’

A man arrested on suspicion of murder at the scene of a house fire that killed a mother and her three children is now “expected to survive” the injuries he sustained.

Bryonie Gawith, 29, Denisty Birtle, nine, Oscar Birtle, five, and 22-month-old Aubree Birtle died following the blaze at their home in Westbury Road, Bradford, on 21 August.

Mohammed Shabir, 44, and Calum Sunderland, 25, both of Keighley, are due to go on trial next week after pleading not guilty to murdering Ms Gawith and the three children, and attempting to murder Ms Gawith’s sister, Antonia.

Bradford Crown Court previously heard that the third man arrested, named in court as Sharazi Ali, was “in a coma” and would not be ready for trial.

On Monday, prosecutor Matthew Bean told the same court that it had at first been thought Mr Ali “was not expected to survive, or if he did, it was going to take a considerable amount of time for him to recover”.

However, Mr Bean told the hearing: “In January and February, we received updates indicating a marked improvement in his condition.

“The summary of the current prognosis … (he) is expected to survive and the expected timescale for discharge from hospital is between a number of weeks to a small number of months.”

The court heard he could be fit to stand trial by the end of the year.

Mr Ali was due to be interviewed by police, the court heard.

An application to delay the trial of Mr Shabir and Mr Sunderland so the three men could stand trial together if Mr Ali was charged was adjourned until next week.

West Yorkshire Police previously confirmed Mr Ali was the ex-partner of a woman who was visiting the family.

Ms Gawith died at the scene and the three children died from their injuries in hospital.

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