Reading flats fire: Rowe Court flats rebuild approved

Plans to rebuild a block of flats devastated by an arson attack that killed two men have been given the green light.

Evicted tenant Hakeem Kigundu, 32, set the blaze in Rowe Court, Reading, on 15 December 2021.

He was jailed for life in October last year after pleading guilty to the murders of Richard Burgess, 46, and Neil Morris, 45, who died in the fire.

The building was later demolished after it was deemed structurally unsafe.

Under the plans, unanimously approved by Reading Borough Council, the 24 studio and one-bedroom flats would be reinstated to provide "leaseholders with their lost homes".

The properties would be contained in a new four-storey building with dormer windows in the roof.

The developers provided two options for balconies on the new building, with the first including front and rear balconies, the second option specifying balconies to the front of the building only.

Residents in nearby Osborne Road raised concerns about loss of privacy from rear balconies but planning committee chair Councillor Jo Lovelock said all the flats should have balconies so the committee agreed to go ahead with option one, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Ms Lovelock added the proposal had come forward in the "most tragic circumstances".

During a sentencing hearing last year, Reading Crown Court heard Kigundu had regularly made his neighbours' lives a misery by slamming doors and having his music and TV on full volume all night.

This led to him being served with an eviction notice shortly after he lost his job as a BT engineer because of his "erratic behaviour in the workplace".

The Ugandan national, who entered the UK illegally, recorded a voice note six days before the attack in which he appeared to suggest his neighbours deserved to die.

He bought 50 litres of petrol from three different fuel stations around Reading that he went on to splash around the communal areas of the building he had been living in.

As residents desperately tried to escape the burning building, Kigundu drove to Reading police station where he confessed, claiming he had been "full of fury" but now regretted his actions.

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