Home-alone tots’ father in prison

THE husband of a Westhulme woman arrested on suspicion of child neglect is in prison for assaulting a neighbour with a rake.

Jusmna Rani, of Yasmin Gardens, was arrested after she left a pan of food on the cooker and went out, locking six of her nine children inside on Tuesday night.

The 36-year-old has been bailed until December 15 pending further inquiries.

Fire fighters had to rescue the youngsters — aged from eight months to 11 years — from the burning property which was severely smoke-damaged.

The children were taken to Booth Hall Children’s Hospital, Manchester, suffering from shock and the effects of smoke inhalation. Police would not say if they had since been reunited with their mother. Rani looks after the children on her own after her husband, Ashrok Ali, was last month jailed indefinitely, but with a minimum of five years and 302 days, at Burnley Crown Court after he mugged a woman following a night at a Liverpool casino.

At the time, Ali was on bail for attacking neighbour Aflu Miah with a rake in July, 2006, leaving him with a compound depressed fracture of the skull and permanent scarring. The judge said Ali was a danger to the public with previous convictions for violence including beating his pregnant wife with a leather belt and broom handle.