Drug Dealer Arranged Fire That Killed Family

By James Matthews, Scotland Correspondent

Two men have been convicted of murdering a man and his two children in a fire at their home two years ago.

Drug dealer Scott Snowden, 38, ordered his 'henchman' Robert Jennings, 50, to pour petrol through the letterbox of 55-year-old Thomas Sharkey's flat in Helensburgh. 

Scott Snowden: found guilty of murdering three members of the same family

Mr Sharkey, his 21-year-old son Thomas and his daughter Bridget, aged eight, were unable to escape the ensuing, ferocious blaze.

The sole survivor of the fire was 48-year-old Angela Sharkey,  Mr Sharkey's wife and the children's mother.

Welcoming the verdict, Mrs Sharkey said in a statement: "Personally, knowing that the people responsible are being prevented from carrying out such a crime again will help. 

"I still struggle to understand why they felt it necessary to do what they did to my innocent children but I will have to learn to live with that."

Robert Jennings: set fire to the Sharkey jome on Snowden's orders

She had earlier told the 11 week-trial at the High Court in Glasgow: "The Saturday before the fire was just a normal day.

"I went to  bed after checking in on Thomas and Bridget. it was something I always did. They were both sleeping. I went to bed and read the next thing I remember is waking up in hospital.

"I wish I'd never gone to sleep that night."

Thomas Sharkey Jnr was a promising golfer who had won a golf scholarship to Georgia Southern University in America when he was studying accountancy. 

Bridget was at primary school and, on the night of the fire, she had gone to the house of a friend for a 'sleepover' but had been unsettled and, fatally, returned home.

The target for the attack had been Thomas Sharkey Snr. He was well-known in his home town and raised thousands of pounds for charity. He was also a drug dealer, as was the man who ordered his murder.

Snowden resented the high-profile that Mr Sharkey enjoyed through his charity work and he was irritated when Mr Sharkey stepped in to sort out a drug debt owed by his niece.

Snowden also believed that Mr Sharkey was setting him up for a drugs bust.

Prior to the fatal fire, Snowden orchestrated a campaign of violence against Mr Sharkey that included burning down his pub in April 2010 and plotting to have him shot at a sports dinner.

The plan for a 'hit' was only cancelled because of tight security at the event.

The Sharkey family home was targeted at 5am on July 24, 2011. 

Snowden went on holiday to Mexico to provide himself with an alibi, having ordered Jennings to carry out the attack.

Angela Sharkey survived the fire that killed husband Thomas and children

He poured petrol through the letter box and the fire that followed created temperatures of up to 900 degrees centigrade inside the three-bedroomed flat.

A key piece of evidence that led to a conviction in the case was the way Jennings walked.

He was captured on CCTV walking towards the Sharkey's flat at Scott Court in Helensburgh.

Detective Constable Jennifer Bell, a CCTV expert who had worked with the Metropolitan Police on the 7/7 bombings, studied the footage several thousand times. 

She then saw Jennings walking down a corridor in a police station and  identified him as the person in the footage because of his distinctive walk.

Other witnesses also said that Jennings had a unusual swaggering kind of walk.

The attack on the Sharkey home also fitted a pattern of behaviour by self-styled gangster Snowden.

In July 2008, a partially constructed house in Helensburgh was set on fire because the builders refused Snowden's offer to provide security.

In June 2009, The Garth Inn pub in Helensburgh was torched after Snowden was refused service.

In September 2009, a yachtsman had his home in Rhu set on fire after he challenged Snowden's competency as a berthmaster at Rhu Marina.

In January 2011, a man had his home set alight after he punched Snowden in a pub.

Judge Lord Matthews deferred sentence on Snowden and Jennings until tomorrow.

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