A PHONE call at 4am woke a leading Kirklees councillor to the ghastly reality of a mass murder in his ward.

A senior police office phoned Labour group leader Clr Mehboob Khan and told him an entire family had been killed in a fire.

He said: "My first reaction was disbelief and total shock.

"I just could not comprehend the enormity of it."

Clr Khan's ward includes Osborne Road and he spent that harrowing Sunday at the scene.

Over the next few weeks he played a pivotal role in trying to eke out information from the stunned community.

"Many were afraid to talk, fearful that they would be the next target," said Clr Khan.

"Myself and Clr Annie Smith held numerous meetings with indiv- idual young Asian men to reassure them and eventually they started to come forward with information."

He then organised professional couns- elling sessions for friends and neighbours of the murdered family to help them come to terms with the tragedy.

But Clr Khan remains haunted by an image of the fire he can't get out of his mind.

"The bodies of the children were found surrounding their mother," he said.

"They must have been so terrified in those final few moments they rushed to her and clung on for comfort."

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