The court was told Ali, who had previous convictions for kidnap, racially aggravated assault and drug offences, had been physically violent and controlling towards Antonia during the course of their relationship. <\/p>\n
He had hired crack cocaine addict Sunderland to accompany him to the house during a 44-second phone call the day before. <\/p>\n
Sunderland, who fled the scene after kicking the door down, had claimed during his trial that he had thought he had only been hired to set a car alight and insisted he would not have gone had he known Ali’s real intentions. <\/p>\n
But Mr Justice Hilliard described Sunderland’s account as “untruthful” and said he posed a “significant risk of serious harm to the public”. <\/p>\n
He will not be released before 2042 at the earliest. <\/p>\n
The visibly injured Ali, who showed no emotion during the sentencing hearing, has become one of fewer than 80 prisoners to be serving a whole life term, only handed down for the gravest offences. <\/p>\n
Noting that Ali’s injuries would have “shortened his life expectancy”, the judge described the murderer as the “sole author of his predicament”. <\/p>\n
The judge also praised the response of the emergency services to the incident, including the conduct of police officers who tried to rescue those inside the house, as “quite exceptional”.<\/p>\n
Ali, of Langbar Avenue, Bradford, was convicted of four counts of murder and of attempting to murder Antonia Gawith.<\/p>\n
Sunderland, of Carlton Street, Bradford, was found guilty of four counts of manslaughter but cleared of a charge of attempted murder and an alternative of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to Antonia Gawith.<\/p>\n