Asian Gangs | The Revival

Asian gang who got out of control

Three British-born Pakistani men are facing life sentences after being convicted of murdering a white graduate in London while drunk. BBC News Website looks at the case in detail.

Three young men get very drunk, shout racist abuse, assault a waiter in a curry house and get involved in a series of brawls, climaxing with an attack on a innocent man who crosses their path.

It sounds like an all too familiar night of violence of the type which blights many city centres in Britain.

Except that the victim, 30-year-old graduate Christopher Yates, was white, the killers were all British-born Pakistani men from devout Muslim families and the attack happened in the middle of Ramadan.

Binge drinking

On Tuesday Imran Maqsood, 21, and his friends Zahid Bashir, 23, and 25-year-old Sajid Zulfiqar were found guilty of murder.

They will be sentenced on Thursday and Judge Martin Stephens QC told them they could each receive a minimum 30-year sentence if he decides the killing was racially motivated.

Maqsood, Bashir and Zulfiqar eschewed their parents' religion and culture - although they paid lip service to it - and chose instead to imitate their white English peers with binge drinking, sex and consumerism.

The Old Bailey heard that on 7 November last year the three men got drunk on beer and brandy in the West End before heading back towards their homes in Ilford, east London.

Around 4.30am Mr Yates, a data inputter, dropped a female friend off at a bus stop and then took a short cut through the car park of the University of East London in Barking.

There he found Zulfiqar, Bashir and Maqsood, who were still drinking.

Without provocation they knocked him to the ground and began kicking and stamping on his head.

Afterwards one witness said she heard Zulfiqar saying in Urdu: "We killed the white man."

Another witness overheard them say: "That will teach the white man for interfering in Paki business."

'Ferocious attack'

Mr Yates died of extensive fracturing of the facial bones, caused by multiple kicking and stamping.

Anthony Leonard QC, prosecuting, said: "It was a ferocious attack...In particular his head was stamped on with some force...When the assault was over the defendants moved to a nearby road where they damaged several vehicles and set off car alarms as well as threatening householders."

They racially abused a black resident and then moved on to a curry house where they assaulted an Asian waiter.

Giving evidence, Maqsood said: "We were all drunk and acting like idiots in the City. I had a few fights in the City. I acted like an idiot at the Ali curry house but the bottom line is I didn't hurt Mr Yates."

They posed a "cut-throat" defence, all seeking to blame each other for Mr Yates' murder.

The trial painted a picture of three men whose drinking and womanising was kept secret from their families.

Secret girlfriend

The Old Bailey heard Maqsood's parents had no idea he drank alcohol and he even had a secret girlfriend, Sophie Shah.

Defence counsel, David Nathan, asked: "Were your parents aware of the relationship you had been having with Sophie Shah?"

Maqsood, who was born in Burnley, Lancashire, replied: "No. It's something I wouldn't do (tell them). In our religion you don't tell your parents. They might get upset."

Mr Nathan asked: "Was the relationship you were having something which was approved of in your religion before marriage?"

"No," Maqsood replied.

Ms Shah broke up with him while he was on remand at Belmarsh prison and she gave evidence at his trial, claiming he had confessed to his involvement in the killing of Mr Yates.

Fled to Yorkshire

After the killing the men fled to Yorkshire and stayed at a friend's hotel in Pontefract.

Police believe they were planning to flee the country from Manchester Airport, which has daily flights to Pakistan.

Mr Leonard said: "All three men were concerned that this would be made out to be a racist incident."

The court heard that a hotel porter overheard them discussing the reaction in the Muslim community, which would be outraged because they had been drinking alcohol during Ramadan.

A fourth man, Junaid Khan, who admitted stealing Mr Yates' mobile phone while he lay on the ground, was sentenced earlier this year.

[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4416988.stm]BBC NEWS[/url]

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