'The most appalling crime I've ever been involved with': Judge condemns pair who murdered father and two children in arson attack on their home as he jails them for life

Two men who murdered a father and his two children in a blaze at the family home have been jailed for life.
Scott Snowden, 38, will serve at least 33 years in prison for ordering the fire that killed three members of the Sharkey family.
His henchman, Robert Jennings, 50, who set the lethal blaze, was sentenced to a minimum of 29 years.

Scott Snowden (right) and Robert Jennings (left) have been jailed for life after their blaze killed a father, his son and his daughter

The pair were convicted of the triple murder yesterday after an 11-week trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
Thomas Sharkey, 21, and his eight-year-old sister Bridget died when the blaze engulfed their home in Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute, on July 24 2011.
Their father, Thomas Sharkey Snr, 55, died in hospital six days later, while mother Angela, 48, survived.
Sentencing the pair, Judge Lord Matthews said: 'You have been convicted of what is without doubt the most appalling crime I’ve ever been involved with in my professional career.'
Mr Sharkey Snr suffered a long and painful death and his children had been 'cruelly deprived' of any chance in life, he said.
Thomas Jnr had been a promising golfer and Bridget a 'typical, smiling, innocent young girl', who, had things gone as they should, would not have been in the house that night.

Thomas Sharkey Snr, 50, pictured with his wife Angela, who died in blaze in his home in Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute

Thomas Sharkey Jnr, 21, and Bridget Sharkey, 8, pictured when they were younger, succumbed to gas and smoke

She had come home early from a sleepover to be with her family and tragically succumbed to the smoke and gas along with her brother, the judge said.
The pair were also convicted of attempting to murder clerical assistant Mrs Sharkey.
After the verdict, she said she would never understand why they had killed her innocent children.
At the time of his death, Thomas Jnr was on a golf scholarship to Georgia Southern University in the US and had just finished his second year studying accountancy.
Bridget, described by an aunt as a 'bubbly, cheeky and extremely popular' girl, attended St Joseph's Primary School in Helensburgh and liked dancing and going to the Brownies.
Mrs Sharkey said 'justice had been done' and Snowden and Jennings could not put any other family through what she had experienced.
The jury heard that, on the morning of the fatal blaze, Jennings poured petrol through the letterbox at Scott Court on the instructions of Snowden, who was in Mexico at the time.
Mr Sharkey Snr had intervened over a drug debt and Snowden was said to have hated him.

The judge described the murders as the most appalling crime he had ever been involved with in my professional career

Thomas Sharkey Snr suffered a long and painful death and his children succumbed to the smoke and gas

A pub he planned to renovate and run was burned down weeks before it was due to open.

Snowden was found guilty of six other charges of fire-raising, three assaults, one breach of the peace and supplying cocaine.

Jennings was convicted of two assaults, one charge of fireraising and one of supplying cocaine. He faced three further charges of fireraising, which the jury found not proven.

The pair had denied the charges, claiming prosecutors had failed to produce a motive and that several witnesses had lied when giving evidence.

Mrs Sharkey now has to face the 'anguish' of going through the rest of her life deprived of the love and companionship of her family, he added.
The judge said Snowden and Jennings had waged a campaign of 'violence, revenge, intimidation and cowardice'.
Terrible revenge was exacted on anyone who crossed Snowden, he said.

The blaze engulfed the Sharkey's family home in Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute, on July 24, 2011

Snowden and Jennings will serve at least 33 and 29 years in jail respectively for their evil crime

A string of other attacks perpetrated by him had the potential to cause devastation and loss of life.
Snowden had 'cowardly' recruited others to do his dirty work for him, making sure he had a 'cast-iron' alibi.
If he thought he was safe from prosecution as others would not go to the authorities, he was wrong, the judge said.
'Those who failed to speak up at crucial stages before the events of July 24 bear a heavy burden of responsibility,' he added.
The judge said that, by setting the fire, Jennings had perhaps not intended the full consequences of his actions.
But by doing so he had 'virtually guaranteed' the result would be as terrible as it turned out to be.
Snowden and Jennings will serve at least 33 and 29 years in jail respectively before they are eligible to apply for parole.
The sentences were backdated to June 2012.
Snowden is already serving a 19-month sentence imposed in December 2011 for drugs offences.
Speaking before the sentence, Jennings’ defence counsel, Ian Duguid QC, said there was nothing that could mitigate the consequences of the fire at Scott Court.
'I think it can only be viewed as a terrible atrocity in the first place and a terrible tragedy for the Sharkey family,' he said.

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