'Son of God' firebomber laughed as his victims were dying

12 April 2012

A deranged arsonist who killed two shopworkers in a firebombing campaign against Hindus and Muslims was detained indefinitely yesterday.

Robert Torto, who claimed to be the "Son of God", hurled a Molotov cocktail into a supermarket before running off chuckling.

Employees Khizar Hayat, 37, and Hamidullah Hamidi, 31, were trapped by the flames and smoke in a store room. They were dragged out unconscious but later died of smoke inhalation.

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Locked away: Robert Torto

Torto, 33, a paranoid schizophrenic with a history of assault, was already known to mental health services but had dropped out of the system just over a year before the attacks after convincing a tribunal to discharge him.

After his arrest, police found a handwritten note declaring his list of targets which included all non-Christian religions, homosexuals, pimps, prostitutes, pagans, witches and wizards.

Prosecutor Edward Brown told the Old Bailey: "This was a continuation of a history of behaviour that had started back in 1996 and continued since then.

"Mercifully this defendant's behaviour had not had such tragic consequences in the past.

"His offending has been a direct result of his paranoid schizophrenia. In that deluded state he believes that all sinners including those who follow other religions should be killed.

"The only possible explanation is that in his deluded state he was putting into action his belief that those of other religions should be killed."

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Petrol terror: the CCTV images show Robert Torto (circled) launching his attack and then running from the newsagents in Tulse Hill, which burst into flames

Last April, Torto lit a bottle full of petrol and threw the bomb into the door of an Asian newsagent in Tulse Hill, South London. One customer's trousers caught fire and he had to have skin grafts on both his legs.

Nearly two weeks later, he hurled another petrol bomb into Pricecutters supermarket in Stockwell, South London.

Owner Riaz Ahmed and his employees Mr Hayat and Mr Hamidi were inside doing stocktaking. Mr Ahmed managed to escape but Mr Hayat and Mr Hamidi could not get out.

The shop in flames

Torto is thought to have become mentally ill around the time of his first offence in 1996 when he confronted two Asian men, hitting one in the stomach before pulling out a handgun and threatening to fire.

The victims managed to overpower him and he ran off but police later arrested him and discovered a revolver at his home.

Torto was jailed for 18 months for possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.

In 1998, he walked into a supermarket and threatened to set fire to the shopkeeper with a bottle of petrol. Four days later he returned but was thrown out as he threatened to blow up the premises. Police later arrested him with a bottle of petrol.

He was jailed for three months for using threatening words and behaviour and common assault.

Torto was seen by psychiatrists and given anti-psychotic medication but he failed to turn up to two appointments and his condition deteriorated so much he was assessed by doctors in February 2001.

He told them he could influence the Ghanaian government and wanted to write to the UN to ban sins.

Torto was seen as an inpatient and given compulsory medication in March 2001 but only a month later managed to fool doctors into letting him out.

He was given a prescription for medication until February 2005 but had no further contact with psychiatric services.

Mr Brown said: "The defendant is able to disguise the true extent of his illness - he was able to convince a tribunal to discharge him."

Torto, from Lambeth, South London denied murder but pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

He also admitted arson with intent to endanger life by setting fire to the newsagent two weeks earlier.

The Recorder of London, Judge Peter Beaumont, ordered Torto to be detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act. He was sent to Broadmoor maximum security hospital where he may stay for the rest of his life.

An earlier hearing was cut short when Torto started ranting that he was the Son of God.

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