Father who killed sons is jailed for life

A father who stabbed his two young sons to death before trying to set their bodies alight was today jailed for at least 21 years.

Ashok Kalyanjee, 46, admitted murdering Paul Ross, six, and his brother Jay, two, at an earlier hearing and was sentenced at the High Court in Paisley today.

There were shouts of "yes" from family members sitting in the court as Lord Brailsford jailed Kalyanjee for life and told him he would have to serve a minimum period of 21 years behind bars.

Kalyanjee lured the reluctant boys into spending the day with him and drove them to a secluded spot and cut their throats last May.

He then poured petrol over his sons and himself and tried to set the silver Mercedes on fire.

Police found the blood-soaked bodies of the two boys in the car with their father slumped unconscious in the front seat of the vehicle, which was parked in a lay-by in the Campsie Fells near Lennoxtown, East Dunbartonshire.

Lord Brailsford said: "It is clear from what I've been told that this crime was premeditated, planned, organised.

"You used deceit and lies to persuade both the children's mother and the children themselves to go out with you that afternoon.

"You purchased the murder weapon in advance and acquired petrol.

"The victims were defenceless and no doubt they trusted you and assumed you would take care of them as a father should.

"One of the victims witnessed what happened to his brother.

"I cannot imagine the suffering he must have endured.

"This is as grave a crime as can be imagined."

Lord Brailsford said he would have ordered Kalyanjee to serve a minimum of 28 years, but reduced it to 21 years because of his early guilty plea.