A TEENAGE girl texted her mum she had arrived at her boyfriend’s flat two minutes before it exploded and killed the young couple.

Leah Beth Reek and Shane Ragoobeer, 18, died in the explosion in Leicester along with Shane’s mother Mary, 46, and brother Sean, 17, on February 25.

The 18-year-old texted her mum Joanne saying “HERE MAMMY XXXX” at 6:59pm, jurors at Leicester Crown Court heard.

The two-storey flat, above the shop Zabka, exploded at 7:01pm.

Mrs Reek addressed the court in a statement describing how that day was “nothing unusual” to any other Sunday.

She said: "I heard Leah shout 'Goodbye.'

"I said 'Bye love, see you tomorrow,' and that was the last time I saw her.

"When I came back downstairs, Leah's Ford Fiesta had gone off the drive.”

She added: "At 18.59 hrs on Sunday 25th February I received a text from Leah.

"The message simply read: 'HERE MAMMY XXXX.'

"Leah always text us when she went anywhere, to say she'd got there safe."

It was not said in court when Mrs Reek, her husband, and older daughter learned about Leah’s death that night.

Mrs Reek told the jurors it was not unusual for Leah to stay at her boyfriend’s because he lived near LOROS, a hospice where she volunteered.

Leah had been dating Shane since May 2017 and was studying health and social care at Loughborough College.

The shopkeeper Arum Kurd, 34, and two others, Arkan Ali, 37 and Hawkar Hassan, 33, all deny five counts of murder or manslaughter.

Ali’s 22-year-old girlfriend Viktorija Ijevleva, who was in the shop at the time, was also killed.

Ali hid in the dark before lighting petrol to blow up his 22-year-old partner and four others in an insurance scam explosion, a court heard.

Leicester Crown Court was told Ali was a "prime candidate" for having doused the basement of a Polish supermarket with petrol before the blast and ensuing fire in February.

The jury also heard co-defendant Hassan remained nearby in a white Audi and was "in reality... up to no good" as he acted as a getaway driver.

The prosecution said shopkeeper Kurd had been communicating with Ali on alleged victim Ijevleva's phone to tell him "all was ready" so he could "light the petrol himself".

The trio allegedly hatched their plan for the explosion in an 80-minute meeting in a coffee shop as Ali's partner Ms Ijevleva was helping in the store, called Zabka.

Kurd, of Hillary Place, Braunstone, Leicester, Ali, of Drake Close, Oldham, and Hassan, of Eld Road, Coventry, also deny conspiring together, and with Miss Ijevleva, to commit insurance fraud - allegedly relating to a deliberate fire at the shop, which was expected to pay out up to £300,000.

The trial continues.