No motive for fatal Sharkey house fire, court told

Bridget Sharkey with brother Thomas, who both died in a blaze at their family home along with their father Thomas in Helensburgh in 2011. Picture: PA

• No motive for attack on Sharkey home has been proven by prosecutors, lawyers for accused have argued

• Three members of the Sharkey family died when their home was set on fire in Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute in July 2011

Three members of the same family were killed when petrol was poured through the letterbox of their home in Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute, and set alight.

Scott Snowden, 37, and Robert Jennings, 50, deny starting the blaze on July 24, 2011.

At the High Court in Glasgow, Snowden’s defence counsel told the jury that no motive for the attack had been proved during the trial.

Donald Findlay QC said that drug dealer Snowden had not been banned from a bar owned by victim Thomas Sharkey as suggested by the Crown.

He said no commercial rivalry had been proven between the pair.

Mr Findlay said: “The reality is that, try as they might, the Crown has produced no motive. The Crown’s attempts to produce a motive have failed.”

Mr Sharkey’s eight-year-old daughter Bridget and his son Thomas junior, 21, died in the fire at Scott Court.

The 55-year-old father died in hospital six days later. His wife Angela, 48, survived.