Leicester house fire deaths:

Five men have appeared in court charged with murdering a woman and her three children in their Leicester home.

Shaun Carter (24), of Franche Road, Dane Hills, Leicester; Jackson Powell (19), of Burnside Road, Saffron Lane estate, Leicester; Akeem Jeffers (21), of Carr Mills, Buslingthorpe Lane, Leeds; Tristan Richards (22), of Sparkenhoe Street, Highfields, Leicester; and a 17-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons appeared at Birmingham Crown Court earlier this week in connection with the fire in Wood Hill, Spinney Hills, in the early hours of 13th September.

CHARGES: The four men and one youth denied the murder charges at Birmingham Crown Court

The five defendants are each charged with four counts of murder. They all deny the charges.

The charges relate to the deaths of mother Shehnila Sattar and her three children, Zainab, 19, Bilal, 17, and Jamal Sattar, 15, whose bodies were found in the house.

The five defendants appeared alongside two other men, who are accused of murdering football coach Antoin Akpom the night before the fire.

Hussain Hussain (19), of no fixed abode, and Abdul Hakim (19), of Wood Hill, Spinney Hills, Leicester, pleaded not guilty to murdering 20-year-old Mr Akpom on the night of 12th September.

All seven defendants were remanded back into custody.

The five men charged in the Wood Hill case are due to be tried at Nottingham Crown Court in April.

Hussain and Hakim will be tried at Stafford Crown Crown, also in April.

Three other people have been charged with murder in relation to the Wood Hill deaths. They are: Aaron Webb (19), of Saltersford Road, North Evington, Leicester; Nathaniel Mullings (19), of Farrington Street, off Humberstone Road, Leicester; and Kemo Porter (18), of Browning Street, West End, Leicester.