A former Norfolk man who was found guilty of the murder of an ex-Norwich student and four others in an explosion set up as part of a bogus insurance claim has had an appeal against the conviction rejected, it has emerged.
Hawkar Hassan, formerly from Great Yarmouth, was jailed for life for his part in murdering five people in a "bomb-like" shop blast after plotting to gain a £300,000 insurance pay-out.
The blast at a supermarket in Hinckley Road, Leicester, on February 25 2018 killed five people, including 22-year-old Viktorija Ijevleva, who studied A-levels and a business management degree at City College Norwich in 2016 and also attended Ormiston Venture Academy in Gorleston.
In January last year Hassan, then 33, was sentenced along with Aram Kurd, then 34, and Arkan Ali, then 38, after being convicted of the murder of five people following a five week trial at Leicester Crown Court.
Hassan had sought to appeal his conviction but on Wednesday (March 4) that application was rejected at the Court of Appeal in London,
Following a hearing in front of Lord Justice Holroyde, Mr Justice Pepperall and Her Honour Judge Munro QC a spokesman said the application to appeal had been "refused".
The trial had heard how Hassan and two other defendants left Ms Ijevleva, who was believed to be working at the shop at the time, to die in the explosion because she "knew too much" about the insurance policy taken out less than three weeks earlier.
Ms Ijevleva, Mary Ragoobeer, 46, her teenage sons Shane and Sean, and 18-year-old Leah Beth Reek, who was Shane's girlfriend, were all killed in the blast.
The three men were unanimously convicted of five counts of murder and a further charge of conspiring with Ms Ijevleva to make a gain, by dishonestly pursuing an insurance claim in respect of the fire.
Passing sentence, Mr Justice Holgate said: "None of the defendants has shown the slightest bit of remorse for their wicked crimes. They were exceptionally callous and deceitful.
Kurd, of Hillary Place, Leicester, and Ali, of Drake Close, Oldham, were ordered to serve a minimum of 38 years with Hassan, of Eld Road, Coventry given a term of 33 years.
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