Nottingham flat fire: Jamie Barrow jailed 44 years for murdering his neighbour and her two daughters

A man has been jailed for at least 44 years for what was described as the “hateful” murder of his neighbour and her two young children - after he set their Nottingham flat on fire.

Jamie Barrow was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 44 years behind bars at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday (7 July), after being found guilty earlier in the week of three counts of murder and one count of arson - being reckless as to whether life was endangered. Barrow had earlier denied murder, claiming he thought the flat was empty when he lit the fire.

Fatoumatta Hydara, 28, and her children, Fatimah and Naeemah Drammeh, three and one, died after Barrow poured petrol from his motorbike through his next door neighbours’ letterbox in Fairisle Close, Clifton, and set it alight with tissue paper.

He then watched the fire take hold for several minutes before walking away, the court heard, later being seen on CCTV walking his dog with a cigarette in his mouth in the early hours of 20 November, 2022.

In her sentencing remarks, Justice Tipples described Mrs Hydara as a young woman "full of compassion and love".

“She was a caring and devoted daughter, wife, mother, sister and friend," the judge continued. “She was 28, married to Aboubacarr Drammeh and the mother of two beautiful little girls, Fatimah who was three, and Naeemah who was one.

“Their short lives were full of joy and happiness, and they brought joy and happiness to all those who knew and met them.”

To Barrow, Justice Tipples said: “Fatoumatta and her two small children were asleep in their beds in their own home... You knew they were all home, asleep, and you knew they would have no chance whatsoever.

“Seconds after you lit the fire you heard the fire alarm in the flat go off. You did nothing," she continued. “Seconds after that you heard Fatoumatta screaming from the flat. You did nothing. Rather, you stood and watched the fire take hold, and you stood there watching the fire develop and spread for five minutes, which was an enormous length of time in the circumstances.”

Justice Tipples described Barrow as “very angry", with urges to harm others. “By the early hours of November 20 you had drunk 10 or 11 cans of beer. Your consumption of that amount of alcohol was entirely voluntary."

She said based on evidence from a forensic psychologist, she believed his alcohol consumption of "was the main reason for what you then did". She added that she was sure that Barrow saw a pram belonging to his victims prior to setting the fire. “You were well aware of what you were doing and I am quite sure from what you did that you wanted to kill Mrs Hydara and her children.

Aboubacarr Drammeh, Mrs Hydara’s husband and father of Fatimah and Naeemah, read out a harrowing victim impact statement at the sentencing, which said Barrow was: “a coward who knew exactly what he was doing and exactly when to do it”.

Mr Drammeh, who was working in America at the time of the blaze, was due to return to the UK a week later so the family could attend an interview for their visa application at the US Embassy in London, as part of their plans to emigrate.

Instead, he flew back to the UK and spent his 40th birthday identifying his children’s bodies in a hospital mortuary. “Two little angels, their lifeless bodies laying next to each other. I held their whole hands. I wished I could switch with them.

“All I can say is I am sorry," he continued. "I was not there, I should have been... I had a responsibility as a father and a husband to protect, that was my basic responsibility. I make no excuses.

“Because of you, and only you, I failed in my only responsibility as a father,” he told Barrow. Mr Drammeh also told of how his wife had still been alive when he arrived in the UK the day after the fire.

“My trip to the UK that rainy afternoon on November 21 was unplanned. I was escorted to the ICU and Fatoumatta was in an ICU bed. I stood there, I watched the movement on the monitor," he told the court. “I was hopeless, and I was left helpless, because I didn’t have a family, and it was the people who mattered most to me.

“Since then, it has been a downward plunge into darkness and the unknown... It was unthinkable, it was unplanned, and I wish this on no one else, including you.”

The judge also heard from lawyers for both sides before passing his sentence. Prosecutor Simon Ash KC said that Barrow had “taken a series of preparatory steps”, such as siphoning petrol from his motorbike, and was acting “thoughtfully and deliberately in a calculated way”.

He also told the court: “At about 5am in the morning on November 20, when speaking to the Housing Officer, (Barrow) asked whether he could claim compensation from Nottingham City Homes if any of his belongings were damaged by smoke.

“That conversation happened at a time when Mrs Hydara and the children had been brought out of the flat and were at the Queen’s Medical Centre and were either dead or in a very serious condition," he added.

Christopher Henley KC, mitigating on Barrow’s behalf, said: “Jamie Barrow is realistic that anything I say on his behalf about his remorse and his regret will sound pretty hollow and will provide precious little, if any, comfort to anyone who loved Fatoumatta Hydara, Fatimah Drammeh and Naeemah Drammeh.

“Jamie Barrow’s focus was principally on himself, his own struggles. His mental health was in crisis, it had been in the days following the time he spent with his son," he said. "He was going through a particularly bleak period.”