Swindon firebombers have their sentence cut (From Swindon Advertiser)

Swindon firebombers have their sentence cut

10:00am Tuesday 9th February 2010 in

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Three Swindon Sikhs who were jailed for a total of more than 20 years for a series of “honour” related fire-bombings have had their sentences cut at the Court of Appeal.

Sandip Singh Rooprai, 21, enlisted two brothers, Muhkam and Jasdev Singh Dogra, 18 and 19, to target the home of a priest and witness involved in the marriage of his sister to a Hindu man.

In June, he was jailed for nine years for a series of arson offences, while Muhkam Dogra received seven years and four months. Jasdev was jailed for five years and eight months.

But yesterday, after appeals by their lawyers, three judges cut Rooprai’s term to eight years, Muhkam’s to six years and seven months and Jasdev’s to five years and two months.

Their campaign arose out of the marriage of Rooprai’s sister, Pardip, to Gaurav Kapoor, a 29-year-old Hindu at a Hindu temple in Bristol.

The marriage caused friction within the family, both in the UK and in India, with some members objecting to the marriage of a Sikh to a Hindu.

On the night of January 9, 2008, upset at the effect the marriage had had on his mother, Rooprai, of Penhill Drive, Swindon, went to Bristol with the Dogra brothers, of Cowdrey Close, Toothill, to target the priest’s home.

Petrol was poured through the letterbox at Kamlesh Vyas’ home in Gilbert Street, Bristol, and then set alight, causing damage to the outside of the door, but nothing inside.

The three then drove back to Swindon, where they used another petrol bomb to burn out a car they mistakenly thought belonged to the father of Alpona Begum Rahim, a witness at the wedding.

Days later, they went to Mrs Rahim’s home in Broad Street, Swindon, and attempted to throw a petrol bomb through a window, failing only because the window was double-glazed.

Even then they did not stop and returned weeks later when Rooprai smashed the front window with a brick so that another firebomb could be thrown inside.

Mrs Rahim, her parents and sister were at home, but managed to escape unharmed after firefighters put out the blaze.

At the Court of Appeal, lawyers for all three men argued before Lord Justice Moore-Bick, Mr Justice Silber and Mr Justice Kenneth Parker that their sentences were “manifestly excessive” and had to be reduced.

But, although the judges accepted that some reduction had to be granted to reward their guilty pleas, they declined to grant a more substantial cut in the sentences.

“The appellants had engaged in a pre-meditated and planned campaign of violence against those that had been involved in the sister’s wedding,” said Mr Justice Silber.

“They put at risk the lives of many people and they did substantial damage.

“The effect on each of these people, whose houses were targeted, must have been terrifying.”

The three men admitted arson and reckless arson at Winchester Crown Court last May.

They were convicted of further counts of arson and reckless arson two weeks later.