An arsonist who murdered two people by setting fire to a block of flats in Reading has been jailed for life without a minimum term at Reading Crown Court today (October 7).

Hakeem Kigundu, 32, is one of just 60 people in the UK handed this rare whole-life order, Justice Holgate said, meaning he will never leave prison.

He previously pleaded guilty to two counts of murder, two counts of grievous bodily harm and one count of arson with intent to endanger life.

Sentencing the murderer, Justice Holgate called it a “horrifying attack” and that “he intended to cause as much damage and harm as possible and in particular he intended to cause the deaths.”

Justice Holgate said: “He planned to commit the attack at night because that would reduce the chance of residents discovering the huge amount of petrol.”

READ MORE: Hakeem Kigundu apologises for murder and arson

He continued: “I do not accept that any real remorse has been shown, the acceptance of guilt, yes, but not remorse.”

Kigundu made a voicenote of his intention to cause death, bought 50 litres of petrol and poured it on the ground floor of his former home before igniting the fire on December 15.

The two-day sentencing, which started on Thursday, comes almost 11 months after Kigundu committed arson and handed himself in to Reading Police Station the same day.

While he expressed his anger at ‘everything’ to an officer on the station phone, Richard Burgess and Neil Morris were dying in the fire and other residents hurled themselves from Rowe Court.

The prosecution and defense disagreed over the extent to which Kigundu premeditated his crimes and whether a whole-life sentence was necessary.

“What I’m trying to stress is that this isn’t a calm, linear set of decisions taken by the defendant leading inextricably to a specific date and a specific time,” said Rosina Cottage QC, defending.

She said: “It is clear that he is not thinking in a way that right minded, calm, rational people do.”

READ MORE: Murderer's twisted voicenote before setting fire to flats heard by court 

On November 28, Kigundu purchased two 20 litre jerry cans on Ebay and on December 9 he recorded a voice note outlining his desire to kill people.

Two days after recording the voice note, December 11, he hired a car and filled the cans at BP Garage in Oxford Road and Shell in Basingstoke Road, the prosecution told the court on Thursday.

But the defence argued the voicenote Kigundu recorded on December 9 did not clearly indicate that he was contemplating burning down Rowe Court and murdering his neighbours.

“It is more chaotic, his thinking than that,” she said.

In the end, the judge said he was sure it was a substantially planned and premeditated attack.

He gave Kigundu five concurrent prison sentences: Life without a minimum term for each of the two counts of murder, 20 years for each of the two counts of grevious bodily harm with intent, and 15 years for arson with intent to endanger life.