Man found guilty of murdering former flatmate

Jonathon Austin had claimed he blacked out after he was threatened with a knife

A man has been found guilty of murdering his former flatmate

Neil Lakhani, 38, died at his home in Greengates Court, Cambridge, in September.

Jurors were told Mr Lakhani, who had cancer, had lost a lot of weight in the months before he died.

Jonathon Austin, 23, who also lived in a flat in the Greengates Court complex off Histon Road, was convicted after a trial at Huntingdon Law Courts.

Neil Lakhani and Jonathon Austin had lived in the same flat at Greengates Court

Prosecutor Charles Myatt told jurors that Austin "battered" Mr Lakhani "repeatedly" to the head and strangled him on 17 September.

He intended to kill the victim, he added.

Mr Myatt explained how Austin called 999 and told an operator that the victim was his friend and that they started fighting.

He explained "his mate had got angry and had tried to stab him" with a knife, and Austin had "blacked out".

But Mr Myatt dismissed the defendant's blacking out "story" as a "smokescreen".

Austin admitted to police he strangled Mr Lakhani with his hands but had not hit him with anything, Mr Myatt said.

The victim died from compression of the neck and coronary artery disease.

Neil Lakhani had cancer and had lost a lot of weight in the months leading up to his death, the court was told

Austin, who had no previous convictions, told police that Mr Lakhani was "often abusive" and behaved erratically - the court heard.

He said he had lived with Mr Lakhani but had moved to a nearby flat.

Barrister Nichola Cafferkey, who represented Austin, argued that her client may have thought he had no choice but to defend himself.

Austin was autistic, had a background of trauma, and might have blacked out, she said.

However, jurors returned a unanimous guilty verdict.

Judge David Farrell remanded him in custody and said he would impose a mandatory life sentence at the sentencing hearing on 6 June.