The family of two Tooting sisters who were murdered in an arson attack on their home have described the horror of the fire and the devastating impact the double murder has had on their family.

Maleha Masud, 15, and Nabiha, 21 were killed after petrol was poured through the letterbox of their Lessingham Avenue home at 4.30am on June 21 last year.

Maleha died four days after the arson attack from burns and smoke inhalation, while Nabiha - who was to be married four months later - died a month after her sister from organ failure.

Their brother Junaid, 18, spent 45 days in intensive care following the attack, while eldest brother Zain, 24, and the family’s mother Rubina, 55, both escaped by jumping out of a bedroom window.

In the Wandsworth Guardian next week you can read a special investigation into the fire:

• How Tooting’s youths helped solve the horrific murder.

• More family reaction and a tribute to the sisters. “I was too ill to be told my sisters had died”.

• Policeman leading the investigation describes how they got their man.

Akmol Miah, who is from Thornton Heath and attended Chestnut Grove school in Balham, and his cousin Shihabuddin Choudhury, 21, were found guilty of two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder.

The murdered girls' mother Rubina Masud, 55, said “I miss them a lot” as she wept as Zain and Junaid described the fire and the evening. She said she had struggled to cope with the loss.

She said: “The boys take me out but the house is quiet, it is not the same. My daughters were very close to me, they knew me.”

Zain Masud, a 24-year-old banker, said Miah’s conviction for murder was the expected verdict but could not “change the reality” of what happened.

“The trial ends and he ends up wherever, but we have got to live with it for the rest of our lives so it doesn’t really end for us,” he said. “It is a life sentence without parole.”

Zain, who works in the City for Nomura bank, told how he tried to rescue his sisters but was beaten back by thick smoke.

Junaid, an A level student at Trinity School, Shirley hopes to study medicine at university, must now wear protective gloves on his hands and may have to have skin grafts.

He told how on the night of the fire he got out of bed after being woken up by the sound of screaming.

“I looked back and saw flames and smoke. My instinctive reaction was to open the window. It wouldn’t open,” he said. “I kept on looking back to see the fire. I am not sure whether I saw Maleha or not.”

Junaid passed out before being rescued by firefighters. “The next thing I remember was being outside the house being comforted by my mum,” he said.

Zain said: “I remember mum screamed something and I woke up and I shouted ‘fire’.

“I instinctively went to get my brothers and sisters but when I got out of my room the smoke was too thick and hot.

“I couldn’t go into the hallway. I opened the window, looked down, and just jumped out.”

A neighbour tried to help by smashing through double glazing at the back of the house with a hammer but it was only when firefighters arrived that those in the house could be rescued.

Zain said: “All I knew was my brother and sisters were inside. It was quite a desperate situation. All you could do was scream.”

He said he was still in hospital when he was told about Maleha’s death but when Nabiha died a month later he was with her. “It is really strange,” he said. “One moment you are planning your sister’s wedding and the next minute you haven’t got much to look forward to.”

Junaid said: “You go to sleep on a normal Saturday evening, you wouldn’t expect that you’d never see her again.

“I don’t know what type of sane person would imagine it - even if you hate someone.”

He said of Miah: “I saw no remorse throughout the trial, no emotions whatsoever. He sat there blank as though he’s convinced himself nothing’s happened. To see him cry after his own verdicts shows his selfishness - he is crying for himself.”

The family did not realise initially how “ferocious” the fire had been and had no idea it had been started deliberately, thinking it “could be a cooker left on”, Zain added.

“When I woke up in hospital my cousins told me it was someone who had set the house on fire. I was thinking: ‘Why on earth?' We don’t have enemies. It is hard to contemplate why anyone would do such a thing. It is hard to get your head around such a shock.”

Zain said the family had been “halved” in two years after father Nadir died of a stroke two years ago.

“We have gone from a big family of six to a small family of three,” said Zain.

He said his employers Nomura had been a “pillar of strength”.

Junaid, who still has intense pain in his hands and had to learn to walk again after spending so long lying in hospital, has received three offers to study medicine at university after his A levels - which start in two weeks.

The family described Nabiha as a homely girl who got engaged in March. Junaid said: “She was looking forward to her marriage and there were wedding magazines scattered around the house.” Her fiance, Abdul Jabbar, comforted Rubina when all of her family were in hospital. Nabiha, a former South Thames College student, hoped to go to university one day.

Maleha was described as a bubbly and popular girl. The baby of the family she wanted to be a lawyer. “She got away with a lot because she was the youngest,” Zain said, “and she could prove she would be a good lawyer when she wanted to.” Her family said she was a very neat girl who liked the colour pink and was very into fashion.