Accident or murder? The deadly Leicester shop explosion
On the evening of 25th February 2018, a quiet residential street in Leicester was shattered by a devastating explosion. Initially appearing to be a tragic accident, it soon unravelled into one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies in recent British history.
Join us at Crime+Investigation, as we take a deep dive into an unbelievable case of murder and greed.
A blast that stunned a city
Just after 7pm, a huge explosion tore through a convenience store and the flat above it. The building was reduced to rubble and sent shockwaves through the surrounding area. Residents reported that it was chaotic, with some believing a bomb had gone off.
The wreckage was immediately on fire and emergency services rushed to the scene, Tragically, five people lost their lives and several others were injured. At first, the cause of the explosion was unclear. Investigators treated it as a possible gas explosion, a tragic but not uncommon accident.
But this assumption wouldn’t last long.
The innocent victims
The explosion claimed the lives of five people. Three members of the Ragoobeer family; Mary (46) and her sons Sean (17) and Shane (18), were killed in the flat above the shop. 15-year-old Scotty Ragoobeer survived, in what prosecutors later described as a 'miracle'.
Shane’s girlfriend, 18-year-old Leah Beth Reek, also died. Leah was described as a kind-hearted young woman who volunteered at a hospice and had dreams of becoming a nurse. The fifth victim was 22-year-old shop worker Viktorija Ijevleva. Unlike the others, she had some involvement in the business.
The human cost of the explosion was devastating, leaving families shattered and a community in mourning.
From accident to arson
In the days following the blast, police began piecing together evidence. It became clear very quickly, that the explosion wasn’t an accident. Investigators discovered that it had been caused by petrol deliberately poured inside the shop and ignited.
Attention soon turned to the shop’s leaseholder Aram Kurd, and his associates Hawkar Hassan and Arkan Ali. Within days, all three men were arrested and their chilling plot was uncovered. They had planned to destroy the shop in order to claim an insurance payout of around £300,000.
Police discovered that the men had taken out an insurance policy weeks before the explosion and bought large quantities of petrol in preparation. More importantly, they knew people were living above the shop and still went ahead with their plan.
Tracking the culprits
The case was built using a combination of forensic evidence, witness accounts and CCTV footage. Cameras had captured the suspects movements before and after the explosion, contradicting their claims of innocence.
In one particularly damning detail, Aram Kurd even gave media interviews the day after the blast. He blatantly pretended to be a victim, making up a story about the explosion.
As investigators dug deeper, the charges got worse. Initially arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and arson, the men were later charged with murder. The case also had a darker twist: Viktorija Ijevleva, who had helped arrange the insurance policy, was deliberately left inside the building because she 'knew too much'.
The trial
The trial at Leicester Crown Court began in late 2018 and lasted several weeks. The defendants denied all the charges, claiming they didn’t know anything about it.
But prosecutors painted a stark picture of calculated greed and callous disregard for human life. The jury heard how the men had used large amounts of petrol to maximise the damage, knowing it would likely be fatal.
The CCTV evidence, financial records and witness testimony clearly dismantled the defendants’ accounts.
On 28th December 2018, all three men were unanimously convicted of five counts of murder, as well as conspiracy to commit fraud.
Justice and aftermath
In January 2019, the trio were sentenced to life imprisonment. Two received minimum terms of at least 38 years, while the third had to serve at least 33 years. The judge described their actions as 'exceptionally callous and deceitful', highlighting their complete lack of remorse.
For the victims’ families, the verdict brought a certain amount of justice, but not any real closure. The loss of five lives, including three members of one family, left a lasting scar on the community.
A crime driven by greed
The Leicester explosion stands out not only for its brutality, but for its motive. It wasn’t an act of terrorism or a personal vendetta, but a calculated attempt to profit from destruction.
As one criminology expert noted, it might be the first case in the UK of mass murder carried out purely for financial gain. What began as a presumed accident was actually something far more disturbing: a crime in which human lives were treated as expendable due to immense greed.
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