A SISTER has described to a court how her family was harassed with phone calls in the months leading up to an arson attack which killed two of her siblings.

Annis Akhtar was giving evidence on the third day of the trial at Oxford crown court in which Fiaz Munshi is accused of murdering eight-year-old Anum and Majid, 15.

The brother and sister died after a house fire at the family's home in Magdalen Road, Oxford in August 1997.

Miss Akhtar said there were calls to the house landline continuously and it was believed that Munshi and her sister Riaz were behind them. Riaz was jailed for manslaughter.

She said Anum answered a call the evening before the fire. Miss Akhtar said: "She told my dad 'it's those silly girls again'."

Miss Akhtar also told the court about a fight with the sisters at their house in Freelands Road, Oxford.

She said Riaz shouted at Miss Akhtar and her mother,sister and brother Majid: "You are playing with fire."

Defence barrister Stephen Kamlish said this had been made up as it had not been mentioned in her first statement to police two days after the fire.

He said: "You and your sisters and brother have all thought about the impression you are creating with the jury and you are thinking carefully about how you are giving your evidence."


She replied: "My statement was made a very long time ago and at that time we had an unthinkable and unbelievable loss."

The trial continues.