asylum seeker Uber driver murdered his two young children with a petrol-soaked cloth and tried to kill himself by setting fire to his car

• Endris Mohammed killed his two young children using a petrol-soaked cloth
• The bodies of Saros, eight, and Leanor, six, were found by emergency services
• Mohammed drove off in his car and set fire to the vehicle to try and kill himself
• He was treated at Sandwell General Hospital and Birmingham for severe burns
• The father claimed he was not guilty of murder due to diminished responsibility
• But he was found guilty just 30 minutes after the jury retired to deliberate  

This is the chilling moment a warped father entered a garage to buy petrol that he would later use to murder his own children. 

CCTV shows twisted Uber driver, Endris Mohammed, purchasing a jerrycan full of fuel which was poured over a cloth and used to smother Saros Endris, eight, and Leanor, six.

The 47-year-old Ethiopian asylum-seeker then set fire to his home in a bid to kill his wife and fled in his Uber taxi — driving 40 miles before attempting to kill himself by setting the Vauxhall Insignia alight.

His devastated wife, Penil, 37, was woken by a smoke alarm and stamped out a small fire by the front door before finding the bodies of their children.

Today, police released a mugshot showing how his skin had melted from his face in his failed bid to burn himself alive. 

Endris Mohammed, pictured right after setting his car on fire in a suicide attempt, was 'the perfect dad' according to his wife Penil Teklehaimanot despite the Uber driver admitting killing their two young children

A court heard Mohammed claimed he killed his children because he had 'no money', that he did not want to leave them fatherless and 'felt financially pressured' by his partner.

Just hours earlier he played on an Xbox with their son during a 'sleepover' in the lounge before he callously smothered him and their daughter.

Emergency services rushed to the couple's home following the blaze on Holland Road, in Hamstead, Birmingham, at around 3,30am on October 28 last year.

The lifeless bodies of the children were dragged outside by their mother who thought they were asleep when they were actually in cardiac arrest.

Mohammed denied murder and attempted murder and went on trial at Birmingham Crown Court last week.

Today, he was unanimously found guilty on all three counts after half an hour of deliberation by a jury of seven men and five women.

The badly scarred defendant, wearing a black sweatshirt and a white bandage wrapped around his head, remained emotionless as the verdicts were read out.

Taxi driver who smothered his children jailed for at least 33 years

FATHER HAD 'NO HISTORY OF MENTAL ILLNESS'

Mohammed was captured on CCTV buying a jerrycan of fuel 

Inquiries conducted after Endris Mohammed killed his children showed he had no history of mental illness and contradicted his claims of being under intense financial pressure.

Detectives say only Mohammed himself knows the true motive for the horrifying killings - which followed an apparently ordinary day driving his taxi.

Commenting on the inquiry, Detective Inspector Justin Spanner said the killer's wife, Penil Teklehaimanot, last saw her children at about midnight in the lounge as they started a downstairs 'sleepover' with their father.

The officer said: 'There is no previous history, known to anybody, of any mental health illness with Endris Mohammed.

'As part of our investigation we spoke to people who were in his taxi on that day and they say he was happy, chatting and he seemed very normal.

'Penil also said there had also been no change in his behaviour in the events leading up to that evening.

'The only person who can give a true answer about the motive for what happened is Endris Mohammed himself.

'However, sometimes it's what they don't say that's important. He has never mentioned trying to kill his wife and has not acknowledged the fact that he has tried to kill her, whilst acknowledging that he has unlawfully killed his children.

'They have separated on two previous occasions and on one of those occasions it was about him not pulling his weight at home, not working and therefore not contributing to the home.

'We have carried out financial inquiries. We found that his bank account was not overdrawn, Penil was working full time and bringing good money into the house.'

Praising Penil for her bravery in using her bare hands and feet to put out the fire as she was joined by a neighbour, Mr Spanner added: 'They went into the lounge and they actually thought the children were sleeping at that point.

'They carried the children out to the front lawn and at that point they realised the horrific circumstances.'