Man in court over fire deaths

Mr Hussain will reappear in court on 23 May

A 23-year-old unemployed man appeared in court on Thursday accused of murdering seven members of the same family, including five young sisters, who died in a fire at their home.

Nazar Hussain, of Dryclough Road, Huddersfield, appeared before magistrates in the town for an hour-long appearance.

He is charged with murdering the five girls, aged between six months and 13 years, their mother and their uncle.

All seven died when fire swept through their terraced house in Osborne Road, Birkby, Huddersfield, on Sunday.

Terraced house

Mr Hussain was remanded in custody to appear again at Bradford Crown Court on 23 May.

West Yorkshire Police are still questioning 11 other men about the fire on Sunday, which gutted the terraced house.

The father of the five sisters - all aged between six months and 13 years - is due to arrive in the UK from Pakistan.

Abdul Aziz Chishti, 65, the grandfather of the five girls and the father of the two other victims, has made an appeal for information about the incident.

Mr Chishti's wife Zaib-u-Insa is in a critical condition at Leeds General Infirmary following the fire.

Extended holiday

The other man still in hospital following the incident on 12 May, Mohammed Shafique, has been transferred from a specialist burns unit in Manchester to Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield.

Those who died in the fire were Mr Chishti's son Mohammed Ateeq-Ur-Rehman, Mr Chisti's daughter Nafeesa and her five daughters - Tayyaba Bootall, 13, Rabia Bootall, 10, Ateeqa Nawaz, six, Aneesa Nawaz, two, and Najeeba Nawaz, six months.

It is believed the girls were on an extended holiday from Pakistan to visit their grandfather with their mother.