Man guilty of killing relatives

Gurmej Rai will be sentenced on Tuesday for murder

A man has been found guilty of murdering four relatives by organising for their Black Country home to be set on fire while they were inside.

Gurmej Rai, 37, was convicted of killing wife Darshan Kaur, her parents Ajit Singh, 64, and Gurdish Kaur, 60, and daughter-in-law Palvinder Kaur, 44.

He was also convicted of the attempted murder of Amerjit Kaur who managed to escape by leaping through a window.

Rai recruited two men to set their house, in Peake Drive, Tipton, on fire.

Two Handsworth men, Raju Sahonta, 20, of Station Road, and Ravinder Bedhan, 19, of Raleigh Close, were acquitted of four counts of murder and one of attempted murder by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court.

The pair said they did not know anyone was in the house in the Dudley Port area and admitted the manslaughter of the four.

Family trapped in burning house

A fourth defendant, Ravinder Mattu, 20, of Birmingham Road, Great Barr, Birmingham, was cleared of four counts of murder and a single charge of attempted murder.

A jury, of six men and six women, took six hours and 31 minutes to reach the unanimous verdicts.

The five-week trial heard that Rai, of Florence Road, West Bromwich, had been in the UK for six years while his wife - known as both Darshan and Nurmal - stayed in India.

He lived a bachelor's life and had a mistress, but in 2004 his wife also came to Britain and her family told him he needed to start acting the model husband, the court heard.

Rai resented their views and organised for Sahonta and Badhan, to let themselves into the family home in September 2004.

'Behaved properly'

The pair were given keys to the house and doused the hallway in petrol before setting it alight.

Mr Stephen Linehan QC, prosecuting, told the court: "Four people died in that fire and a fifth person escaped by jumping from the bedroom window and was badly burnt.

"Mr Rai had been living in the UK for six years and living the bachelor's life, and had a mistress.

"But after his wife arrived her family were insistent he lived with his wife and behaved properly."

All three men will be sentenced on Tuesday.