they saw the writing on the walls.
A jury heard that a builder murdered a doctor and her daughter and then made a “cynical attempt” to blame the teenager.
On October 1, 2020, the bodies of Dr Saman Mir Sacharvi and her daughter Vian Mangrio were found at their fire-damaged home in Burnley.
Prosecutor David McLachlan QC told Preston Crown Court how the words “help me” and “Covid-19 house my mum is evil” were written on the house’s walls.
However, this was “an attempt to put the blame onto Vian for her mother’s death”.
The court was told it was actually builder and part-time Tesco worker Shahbaz Khan who wrote those words.
The Crown said on the evidence “the finger will point fairly and squarely” at the builder as the killer.
Khan had previously carried out work at Dr Sacharvi’s home including a garage conversion.
He was found with tens of thousands of pounds of jewellery, belonging to Dr Saman, after their bodies were found.
On September 30, 2020, he arrived at the house shortly before 11:50 am where he was expected to continue more building work.
Moments later, Dr Sacharvi sent an email to a co-worker and was expected to join a meeting between 1 pm and 4 pm.
However, she did not attend and the Wi-Fi was inactive from about 1:50 pm.
Khan allegedly killed Dr Sacharvi before her daughter returned from school at 3:25 pm. He then attacked her.
The court heard both victims’ mobile phones were detached from the network later that afternoon.
Khan did not return calls to his phone as he left the house at 10 pm.
Several drinks bottles were later recovered from the crime scene, bought by Khan the day before the killings.
Mr McLachlan said when news of the deaths emerged, Khan told a friend he had last seen Dr Sacharvi a few days ago when he put some picture frames up for her.
He told someone else he had not been at the house since the extension work.
Khan was arrested on October 4, 2020.
Police searched his home and found a bag containing gold jewellery that belonged to the victim.
When officers entered the address in Colne Road, they saw the writing on the walls.
Mr McLachlan said: “The writing said things such as ‘Covid 19 house my mum is evil’, ‘Covid home’ and ‘Help me’.
“It is the prosecution case that this was a cynical attempt by Shahbaz Khan to portray the relationship between Dr Saman and her daughter Vian Mangrio as a bitter one in order to steer the blame away from him.
“An attempt to put the blame onto Vian Mangrio for her mother’s death.”
Miss Mangrio’s badly burned body was found in the lounge.
Her mother was found covered in soot, with her clothing doused in petrol, in the upstairs bedroom with a fuel container next to her feet and a fuel cap on the bed.
Post-mortem examinations revealed the doctor died from pressure to the neck and the schoolgirl died of asphyxia.
Khan denies two counts of murder and one count of arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.
His wife Rabia Shahbaz denies doing an act intended to pervert the course of public justice, namely providing a false alibi for her husband.
The trial continues and is expected to last up to four weeks.
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