'Cold-blooded' teens who doused Indian restaurant diners in petrol and set them on fire are jailed for ten years

From the Newshound archive · first published 3 October 2026.

Two 17-year-olds were sentenced to ten years at the Old Bailey on Friday for their roles in an attack on Indian Aroma in Gants Hill, east London, in which they brandished machetes and blocked the exits while an accomplice doused diners in petrol and set them alight. A married woman in her 20s sustained burns across 50% of her body — her clothing fusing to her skin — and had to be put into a medically-induced coma; her husband fled the restaurant ablaze, with mixed-depth burns covering more than half his body. Judge Michael Grieve KC described the attack as a 'sophisticated and professional operation' carried out 'with cold blood' on the orders of an unidentified older criminal.

The judge said the teens were 'fully aware' their actions were 'almost inevitably' going to inflict grievous harm — potentially fatal — on people they had never met.

The pair received an extended sentence of 10 years' custody plus a further three years' extended licence period.

Prosecutors told the Old Bailey that eight diners were 'frozen in terror' and 'guaranteed to suffer burns' from the August 2025 attack.