Man admits deadly arson attacks

LONDON, July 13 (Reuters) An arsonist who killed two men in a firebomb attack on a shop was ordered to be held indefinitely in a secure hospital after he pleaded guilty in court today.

Unemployed Robert Torto, 33, from south London, hurled a petrol bomb into a convenience store in April 2006, the Old Bailey heard.

Shopkeeper Khizer Hayat, 40, and his colleague Hamidullah Hamidi, 31, died after being trapped inside as the flames took hold.

CCTV footage played to the court showed the fire engulfing the Price Cutter shop in Kennington within seconds.

Two weeks earlier, Torto threw a petrol bomb into a newsagents in Tulse Hill. A customer inside the shop was seriously burnt and needed skin grafts.

Torto pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and to one count of arson. Two other arson charges were not pursued.

The Recorder of London, Judge Peter Beaumont, said Torto had brought ''terror to the streets''.

''They amounted to repeated firebombing attacks, using petrol as an accelerant, targeting premises and people within them, which you had selected as a result of your deluded beliefs,'' Beaumont said.

Torto, a paranoid schizophrenic, was ordered to be held indefinitely at Broadmoor, the secure psychiatric hospital in Berkshire.

At an earlier hearing, Torto had described himself as the ''son of God''. Voices in his head told him to carry out the attacks to ''free him from Satan'', the court heard.

Outside court, Detective Chief Inspector David Garwood, who led the investigation, said: ''Torto was an incredibly dangerous man. He was paranoid and deluded.

''This led to the attacks on the premises and ultimately the devastation of two families.

''I am convinced that had Torto remained undetected he would have attacked again which may have resulted in the further loss of life.'' REUTERS AKJ RAI2216