Two men have been jailed for life for murdering a father and his two children in a blaze at their family home.
Scott Snowden will serve at least 33 years in prison for ordering the fire that killed three members of the Sharkey family. His henchman, Robert Jennings, who set the lethal blaze, was sentenced to a minimum of 29 years.
The pair were convicted of the triple murder 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 have ever been involved with in my professional career, the murder by fire of three-quarters of a family.”
Mr Sharkey Snr suffered a lingering 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 should not have been in the house that night.
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.
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: “Not only was yesterday the second anniversary of that dreadful crime, it also marked the culmination of a campaign characterised by violence, revenge, intimidation and cowardice.
“The evidence which the jury must have accepted showed plainly that you, Mr Snowden, in the face of any slight or insult or setback, would exact terrible revenge.”
The judge said a string of attacks perpetrated by Snowden, 38, and Jennings, 50, had potential to cause devastation and loss of life or ruinous consequences.
Snowden had cynically recruited others to do his dirty work for him, making sure he had a “cast-iron” alibi.
“Those who failed to speak up at an earlier stage, when they could perhaps have nipped all this in the bud before the events of 24 July 2011, bear a heavy burden of responsibility,” he added.
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 said that, by setting the fire, Jennings had perhaps not intended the full consequences of his actions but had “virtually guaranteed” the terrible result.
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.
Snowden was also found guilty of organising a fire at a pub that Mr Sharkey Snr planned to renovate and run, as well as five other charges of fire-raising, three assaults, one breach of the peace and supplying cocaine.
Jennings was convicted of two assaults, one charge of fire-raising and one of supplying cocaine. He faced three further charges of fire-raising, which the jury found not proven.
The pair had denied the charges, claiming that prosecutors had failed to produce a motive and that several witnesses had lied when giving evidence.
Snowden and Jennings will serve their minimum terms 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.