A flat fire in Heston in which a woman leapt to her death was caused when a fellow tenant deliberately set himself alight, a court heard.

Samshad Molohoo, 49, died after jumping from the second floor flat in Central Parade, off New Heston Road, in the early hours of July 10 last year.

Two other men were seriously injured after jumping to escape the blaze above a butcher's shop, and the body of Ali Choudhary, 27, was later found inside the flat.

Harrowing details of that tragic night emerged as two landlords were sentenced for breaching fire safety and licensing regulations, which could have contributed to the deaths.

Uxbridge Magistrates Court heard on Friday (December 19) how Mr Choudhary had doused himself in petrol and set himself alight, causing a huge explosion when the petrol container caught fire.

The explosion ripped apart the stairs to the maisonette, leaving the occupants little option but to jump to the pavement to escape the inferno.

The court heard how Jamsheed Rahman and Sajjad Zaman had let the four-bedroom property into which nine people were crammed, sharing a single toilet and bathroom, for £1,100 a month.

The two-storey flat had no fire doors or smoke alarms, and was not registered as a house in multiple occupation (HMO), as is required for homes where three or more unrelated tenants are sharing facilities.

Rahman, 46, of Oxford Avenue, Heston, and Zaman, 42, of Adderley Road, Harrow, were each found guilty on November 25 of failing to register the property as an HMO and breaching fire safety regulations.

On Friday, Zaman was ordered to pay £25,000 and Rahman £15,000. They were also each told to pay costs of just under £6,000 and a victim surcharge of £120.

District Judge Deborah Wright said: "There was scant regard for any kind of fire safety measure (at the property), and on July 10 a tragedy occurred.

"That tragedy was not your fault. A gentleman decided to take his own life and embarked on a course of action with devastating results.

"It caused a fire which burned out the building an d was responsible not only for his life but for the life of another.

"There's no doubt that had proper fire safety precautions been put in place it could have increased the chances of a successful evacuation in the event of a fire. I can't go as far as to say it would have prevented the loss of life but it would have increased the chances."

The defence counsel had argued that the nature of the explosion meant fire safety measures would have done little to prevent the deaths.

Rahman's lawyer also told the court his client had sold the leasehold by the time of the fire, but the lease had not yet been reassigned to Zaman, who the court heard would regularly travel between his young family in the UK and his wife and two children in Pakistan.

The pair were prosecuted by Hounslow Council, which said that had the property been licensed as an HMO it would have been inspected to ensure it met fire safety standards.

Council leader Steve Curran said: "I want to take this opportunity again to offer Hounslow's condolences to the families of those who died in this tragic fire and those who were injured.

"It's outrageous that these rogue landlords played fast and loose with basic health and safety regulations.

"I can assure residents we will relentlessly track-down rogue landlords who are not only ripping vulnerable people off but putting them in peril too."

The prosecution was the latest success in a council crackdown on rogue landlords letting out cramped and potentially unsafe properties across the borough.

Earlier this month, dozens of suspected illegal bedsits were uncovered during a dawn raid carried out in conjunction with police, the Home Office and HM Revenue and Customs

In October, the council's decision to strip a landlord of his licences because he was not a 'fit and proper person' to hold them was upheld in a landmark ruling.