A MAN in dispute over the custody of his children gave an asylum seeker two cans of petrol and promised him £5,000 if he set alight homes belonging to his wife's relatives, a court heard.

Kamran Afshar denies two counts of encouraging or assisting the 19-year-old to commit arson, being reckless as to whether life would be endangered, between April 1 and May 6 this year.

Teesside Crown Court was told that Mr Afshar hatched his plan after befriending the teenager, who he would take home and buy food for.

Prosecutor Deborah Smithies said that the defendant drove the other man to the two homes in Consett, County Durham, telling him to remember the street numbers.

Then on April 26 this year she said he gave him a bag full of clothes and two plastic cans containing petrol, telling him he would pay him £5,000 if he poured the accelerant around the front doors and set alight to them.

It was alleged Mr Afshar, 43, of Cobden Street, Consett, then planned to travel to London in a bid to make sure he could not be linked to the crimes.

But the teenager did not go through with the acts, despite fearing repercussions, and instead told the pastor at a Baptist church he attended in Newcastle, who contacted the police.

Ms Smithies said the defendant, who is separated from his wife and mother of his children, had claimed in conversation that the “Government had taken his children”.

When police were alerted they warned those involved as to their safety and also had the asylum seeker identify the properties he had been told to target.

Mr Afshar had an interpreter with him in the dock to assist him with some of the evidence, although it was agreed he did not need a verbatim translation.

The jury was told that when he was arrested, he gave police a short statement, but then declined to answer any more questions.

He claimed that the teenager, who gave evidence from behind a screen, had stolen a large amount of money from him.

He had then offered to make amends by scaring his wife – it in fact being his own idea to bring petrol and carry out the planned arson.

The trial continues.