Two men have been found guilty of murdering a family by setting fire to their home in a seaside town.
Scott Snowden and Robert Jennings were on trial accused of killing Thomas Sharkey, 55, his 21-year-old son Thomas jnr and eight-year-old daughter Bridget in Helensburgh, Argyll.
On Wednesday, the jury at the High Court in Glasgow found Snowden, 37, and Jennings, 50, guilty of murdering the family members on what was the second anniversary of the flat fire.
Mr Sharkey's children died in the blaze at their home in Scott Court on July 24, 2011, while he died of his injuries six days later in hospital.
Snowden and Jennings were also convicted of attempting to murder Mr Sharkey's wife, Angela, 48, who survived the fire.
The trial had previously heard that Snowden, who was in Mexico at the time of the deaths, had shown "wicked recklessness" by ordering the murder.
Jennings was caught on CCTV in the area around where the blaze was set in the early hours, after he had poured petrol through the Sharkey's letterbox and set fire to it.
The jury of ten women and five men found them guilty of murdering the Sharkey family following an 11-week trial.
When the verdict was announced Snowden shook his head and there was no reaction from Jennings. Mrs Sharkey and Richard Sharkey - her husband's son from a previous relationship - and other family members and friends shouted "Yes" as the guilty verdicts to the triple murder were read out.
After the verdict, Angela Sharkey released a statement. She said: "For almost two years my life, and the lives of many others affected by the tragic events in July 2011, have been on hold. We have all had to do our best to come to terms with the fact that we have lost three very special people in a horrific way.
"Personally, knowing that the people responsible are being prevented from carrying out such a crime again will help. I still struggle to understand why they felt it necessary to do what they did to my innocent children but I will have to learn to live with that."
She also thanked her family, friends and colleagues for support, as well as the police, emergency services and the Crown Office for their work in the case.
Killers: Scott Snowden (l) and Robert Jennings were found guilty of murder
Jurors found charges against Snowden for a fire at a house at Shandon, Helensburgh, in July 2008, not proven. While charges against Jennings of fire setting at The Steep house in Rhu in September 2009, at the Garth Inn in Helensburgh on June 2009 and at the Mariners pub in the town in April 2010 were also found not proven.
The Crown's case was that Snowden instructed or instigated the fire and expressed satisfaction at it having been carried out. Advocate depute Alex Prentice, prosecuting, told the jury of the "terrible effects" of the blaze and Mr Sharkey's "desperate" attempts to get out.
Thomas Sharkey Jnr and his sister "succumbed pretty quickly" as a result of inhaling fire gases and smoke, he said. The advocate added: "This was a fire set in the early hours of the morning with the introduction of petrol into the only door access and egress to the property, and no means of escape," he told them during his closing speech last week.
The case had a "background of involvement in drugs", the court heard. There was evidence that Mr Sharkey Snr "intervened in connection with a debt" and that Snowden had a "hatred" of him, the jury was told.
Both men denied involvement, claiming prosecutors failed to produce a motive and that various witnesses lied when giving evidence. But the jury, which began deliberating on Monday afternoon, convicted both of murder.
Jennings was said to have acted as Snowden's hired hand to exact revenge when something annoyed him. The two men carried out a "campaign of violence" in Helensburgh, Mr Prentice said.
Witness Lee McCarthy, 31, said Snowden told him he planned to get Mr Sharkey shot during a conversation in the pub and later, in the aftermath of the fatal fire, confided "it went wrong". Mr McCarthy said Jennings told him that he set the Mariners pub in Helensburghon fire after Snowden told him: "You know what to do."
Mr Sharkey planned to renovate and run the pub but it was burnt down weeks before it was due to open. In his evidence, Simon Fraser, 47, said Snowden told him that Mr Sharkey Snr "got what he deserved" in the fire and shrugged his shoulders when the children's deaths were mentioned.
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