A man has been convicted of killing his elderly father and a 29-year-old man in an arson attack on a maisonette in Tower Hamlets.

Aaron Bhasin, 53, of Chapman Street, E1 pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey yesterday, to two counts of manslaughter.

The Police, London Fire Brigade and London Ambulance Service were called to the maisonette in Chapman Street E1 on March 7, following reports of a fire. The 82-year-old Ram Bhasin and 29-year-old Sunil Koosuru, an Indian national believed to have been a lodger at the address, were both pronounced dead at the scene.

Post-mortem examinations at Poplar Mortuary gave the cause of death for both men as smoke inhalation.

Officers from the MPS Homicide and Serious Crime Command investigated the deaths.

Aaron Bhasin was arrested on the day of the fire and was subsequently charged with two counts of murder prior to pleading guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

London