Jamie Barrow: Nottingham man jailed for 44 years after murdering mother and two children in Clifton flat fire

A Nottingham man who murdered a mother and her two daughters by setting fire to their flat has been jailed for life.

Fatimah Drammeh, three, and Naeemah Drammeh, one, died in the blaze on November 20 last year, while their mother Fatoumatta Hydara, 28, died two days later, with all three succumbing to smoke inhalation.

Their neighbour, Jamie Barrow, torched the front door of the block of a block of flats on Fairisle Close in Clifton and watched it burn as the family slept.

Barrow was convicted of three counts of murder on Tuesday after deliberately starting the fire with a bottle of petrol from his motorbike, which he poured through the family’s letterbox before lighting it.

The 31-year-old was sentenced to a minimum of 44 years in prison at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday, July 7.

He had admitted manslaughter but denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility, claiming he thought the first-floor flat was empty.

Prosecutor Simon Ash KC told the court Barrow voluntarily stopped taking prescribed medication for Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD), which he was diagnosed with in 2013, and chose to drink around ten cans of lager in the hours leading up to the fatal fire, despite knowing the negative impact alcohol had on his mood.

Christopher Henley, mitigating, said Barrow had struggled his whole life with his mental health and was going through a “particularly bleak period” at the time of the fire.

Sentencing, Judge Amanda Tipples said Barrow heard the flat’s fire alarm and Mrs Hydara’s screams but did nothing to help.

She said she was sure Barrow knew the family were inside the flat but instead “stood there watching the fire develop and spread for five minutes”.

Mrs Justice Tipples said she did not accept Barrow had shown “any genuine remorse”.

She told Barrow: “You have sought to minimise responsibility for what you have done. You have, throughout this trial, maintained you did not know your neighbours were home. That was a lie.”

Barrow was also sentenced to 10 years for one count of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered, which will be served concurrently.

‘Why?’

Mrs Hydara’s husband Aboubacarr Drammeh addressed the court and described how he had to identify the bodies of his wife and children on his 40th birthday.

Addressing Barrow, Mr Drammeh told the triple killer: “The impact of your actions span across three continents – Africa, America, and Europe.

“As a husband and a father, you have ruined me. I am irreparable. Your actions are slowly eating me up, and that will continue perhaps until I die. Slowly I am decaying. That is how I feel.”

He added: “Most days it feels like I am serving a life sentence. You, Jamie Edwin Barrow, you acted like the judge and jury that night and you sentenced me to whatever this is.

“I have no hatred for you. Your actions I hate. You as a human being? No. I won’t hate you.

“One question remains – why. Why her and the children? I just want to know the real why.”

‘Calmly walked away’

During the trial, jurors heard Barrow may have been “frustrated” at living next to noisy young children and bags of rubbish from the flat.

However, in court, prosecutors said Barrow’s motive may never be known but suggested several theories for why he started the fire, including his desire to be rehoused by the local authority to be closer to his son.

A fire investigation found the blaze was contained to the bottom of the stairs, but smoke had billowed up into the rest of the home.

As the flames took hold, Barrow was captured calmly walking away from the blaze with his dog whilst smoking a cigarette.

A short time later he returned and spoke to officers, asking how “bad” the fire was.

He then went to an evacuation centre at Nottingham Trent University’s Clifton campus, where he spent time with other evacuated residents who were unaware of his involvement.

‘A pure heart’

Before they died, Ms Hydara and her children had been planning to move to the USA with her husband Aboubacarr Drammeh, where he was working as a biomedical technologist.

Fatoumatta was described as a “caring” daughter, wife, sister, mother and friend, with a “pure heart”, who was “greatly loved for her personality and qualities” by her family.

In a statement, they added: “Words cannot quantify how much our family have suffered because of the horrific actions of one man.

“His actions were utterly heartless and cruel – and have caused a multigenerational trauma that we will never understand.

“[Fatoumatta] was the most incredible mother to Fatimah and Naeemah, two angels who deserved a beautiful childhood and a full life.

“They lived a short but meaningful life, such was the joy and happiness they brought to us all.”

‘Senseless’

Det Ch Insp Clare Dean, of Nottinghamshire Police’s Major Crime Unit, said: “These were the cruellest of murders.

“They happened at night and at the family’s home, where they were entitled to feel safe and secure.

“It is testament to the reverent nature of the family that – despite their monumental loss – hatred is not what they feel towards Jamie Barrow. Instead, they just want to know why this happened.

“Barrow wasn’t brave enough to admit these murders, but I hope he does one day find the courage to explain why he committed such an atrocious crime.”