A Bangladeshi restaurant boss who hacked a rival takeaway owner to death during a violent London curry house feud nearly 20 years ago is facing life in prison.
Abdul Samad, 25, was lured to the home of then-solicitor general Lord Falconer, in Canonbury, Islington with a bogus food order on May 21 1997.
The delivery was part of a carefully orchestrated plot for revenge after Samad refused to mediate in a dispute between two curry houses which were locked in a dispute.
Samad was pounced upon by masked men armed with a meat cleaver, knives and a baseball bat, who chased him along the quiet residential street before hacking him to death on the pavement.
One of the killers, Moheuddin Bablu, 41, is already serving at least 18 years of a life sentence for the murder, having been convicted in March 2012.
His accomplice, Foyjur Rahman, 44, today joined him behind bars after being convicted after a two week trial of the murder.
Rahman fled the UK shortly after the 1997 killing but remained on an international wanted list.
He was eventually snared by the FBI in December last year outside the computer store he managed in Odessa, West Texas.
The Old Bailey heard how Samad, a married father-of-two who ran Putney takeaway Curry-in-a-Hurry, shouted out: “He’s got a knife. He wants to kill me. Be careful,” just moments before the fatal attack as he ran down the street.
The violence stemmed from a dispute between the Stoke Newington Boys and a rival gang of curry house owners.
Samad was caught in the middle when he refused to get involved.
“The victim had resisted the pressure and declined to get involved and he had been threatened with violence, but still he refused to get involved”, said prosecutor Mark Ellison QC.
“He said he had already declined to help and he wasn’t going to change his mind, he said he couldn’t and wouldn’t help and he didn’t want to help.
“He was told he would ‘get it’ if he didn’t help.”
The year before the murder had been punctuated by street fights and violence acts of retribution between the two rival groups. Both Rahman and Bablu were caught by DNA they left on masks which had been hurriedly abandoned after the attack, which was witnessed by several neighbours and passers-by in Alwyne Road.
Samad suffered 18 separate chopping and knife wounds in the attack and died in the early hours of the following morning from a heart attack during emergency surgery.
A doctor described his injuries as “horrific – the like I have never seen before in my career”, jurors were told.
Judge Peter Rook QC will impose a life sentence on Rahman later, deciding how long he should serve behind bars before being considered for release.
lA violent sex attacker assaulted a woman up against a parked van before dragging her into a garden and trying to rape her in north London.
Radu-Ionut Vilculescu, 26, followed his victim as she walked alone along Kentish Town Road in the early hours of the morning, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.
He pushed the woman, aged in her 30s, up against the van and sexually assaulted her before dragging her into a nearby garden to try to rape her.
Vilculescu ran off when the victim managed to get her phone out to call for help.
She was left bruised and shaken but was not seriously injured after the attack on December 5 last year.
Police caught Vilculescu following a CCTV appeal.
Detective constable Arif Sheikh, from Camden CID, said: “This was a calculated and planned attack on a lone woman who was subjected to a violent and serious sexual assault.
“Vilculescu is a dangerous man who is now off our streets. Only the bravery of the woman prevented her being exposed to any further harm.”
Vilculescu, of Fortress Road, who was found guilty of one count of attempted rape on Thursday, will be sentenced on Friday, August 12.
l A 58-year-old woman is being treated for serious head injuries after she was set upon in a vicious sexual assault as she walked her dog.
Police said she was targeted shortly before 10.30pm on Friday night in a grassed area near Church Street in Workington, Cumbria.
Yesterday detectives appealed for information as they launched an investigation following the attack.
An 18-year-old man from Workington has been arrested and is being questioned in custody, Cumbria Police said.
Detective Dave Pattinson said: “It is believed that the attacker may have been disturbed by a person walking in the area, so we are urging anyone in the area at the time, or anyone who may have any information to call us - no matter how trivial the information may seem it could be important for our investigation.
“This is a serious assault, and I am appealing to the local community to help us with our ongoing investigation. The victim is being supported by specially trained professionals at this difficult time.”
Abdul Samad, 25, was murdered in Islington in 1997
