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Great Barr murder trial: Uber driver 'smothered children with petrol soaked rag', court told

A father killed his two children by suffocating them with a petrol-soaked rag before setting fire to the family home as his wife slept upstairs, a court heard.

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Endris Mohammed, inset, with his son Saros Endris and daughter Leanor who died after a house fire in Great Barr

Endris Mohammed trapped his family in the house, which he doused with petrol and set alight, before driving off leaving them to die, a judge was told.

The Uber driver claimed he had been consumed by depression over a lack of money and was taken over by a 'powerful force' urging him to kill himself.

He said he smothered his son Saros, eight, and six-year-old daughter Leanor, with the cloth to 'spare them' from being killed in the fire, prosecutor Mr Jonas Hankin QC told Birmingham Crown Court.

He told doctors of his chilling thought process: "You're going to burn them alive, do something. Then it came to my mind to take a petrol-soaked rag and put it over their faces."

Mohammed had spiralled into a 'deep depression' and felt 'useless' due to his lack of career prospects and thought to himself 'today is a good day to die', the jury was told.

"The kitchen cooker was dislodged, leaking gas into the home, the back door locked and the key tossed onto the front lawn, denying the family any chance of escape," Mr Hankin said.

The 'lifeless' bodies of the children were carried from the semi-detached house in Holland Road, Hamstead, Great Barr, by their mother and a neighbour and placed on the front lawn.

Neighbours, firefighters and paramedics all battled to save the siblings but they were pronounced dead in hospital a short time later.

Mohammed, 47, by this time was on the M6 in his Uber taxi which was later set on fire 40 miles away in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. He was found on the ground next to it with serious burns and spent three months in hospital.

He admits killing his two children in October 2016 but denies murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility and that he was mentally impaired.

A jury must decide whether Mohammed is guilty of murder or manslaughter. He also denies the attempted murder of his wife Penil Teklehaimanot.

Opening the case, Mr Hankin explained how the Uber driver had chatted cheerily with customers hours before killing his children.

"He had already filled a fuel canister with three litres of petrol as he made plans to kill his family," Mr Hankin said.

He told the jury: "The prosecution rejects the defendant's mental responsibility for his actions was impaired, certainly that it was substantially impaired."

Mohammed was also said to have told doctors that he was 'stressed' but 'could not say I was sick' when assessed afterwards.

He said he panicked when he heard the smoke alarm and, realising his plan to kill his wife had gone awry, fled in his car, the court was told.

Mr Hankin said: "He set the fire, say the prosecution, having disabled the electricity in the belief it would stop the smoke alarm from working.

"He must have intended the gas would escape and an explosion would occur. He threw the back door key to ensure she couldn't escape.

"He drove away having killed his children and leaving a fire likely to lead to his wife's death."

The trial continues.

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