Raheem Hanif: Four jailed over ambush killing

Raheem Hanif died from a stab wound to his chest

Two men who stabbed a man to death in an ambush in a residential car park have been jailed for his murder.

Raheem Hanif died after being attacked with a machete outside his family home in Tilehurst, Reading, in 2021.

Abas Khan, 24, and Kamran Chowdary, 18, were found guilty of murder at Reading Crown Court.

They were ordered to serve minimum sentences of 26 and 14 years respectively. Two other defendants were jailed for manslaughter.

Humzah Sikander, 18, and Shekuh Conteh, 17, were sentenced to six and four years detention in a young offender institution, respectively.

During their trial, the prosecution said the four defendants committed the "joint enterprise attack", and planned for "revenge".

Abas Khan was found guilty of murder...

...as was Kamran Chowdary, who was 16 at the time of the attack

The dispute initially started when Mr Hanif revealed his girlfriend had been having an affair with his friend Khan.

Khan used his Range Rover to block a van, containing Mr Hanif and his father Abdul, on 6 February 2021, to stop them from escaping.

Sikander and the two 17-year-old defendants then ambushed it, armed with knives and a baseball bat, the court heard.

Mr Hanif was fatally stabbed through the window of the van, and his father suffered a broken arm.

Humzah Sikander was found guilty of manslaughter

Shekuh Conteh was also found guilty of manslaughter

Kamran Chowdary, who was aged 16 at the time, struck the fatal blow. He was also found guilty of being in possession of an offensive weapon and inflicting grievous bodily harm, and sentenced to 12 months and 16 months, to run concurrently.

Khan and Conteh were also convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm and given six-year and 16-month concurrent sentences. Sikander previously pleaded guilty to the same charge and was sentenced to a concurrent nine months.

Passing sentence Her Honour Judge Norton told Khan: "You were the adult. You were the driver. The weapons were in your car. If it hadn't have been for you, these offences wouldn't have happened.

"You could have stopped this, you didn't."

She said involving juveniles in the attack was a further aggravating factor.

A loud altercation took place for several minutes at the back of the courtroom following the verdicts, causing the judge to depart the courtroom for about 10 minutes.

Reading his victim impact statement to the court Abdul Hanif said he and his son had been "best friends".

"He was my support, I was his support.

"My whole life is never going to be the same without him," he told the court.

Following sentencing, senior investigating officer Det Supt Stuart Bosley called it a "needless and tragic murder [that] occurred amidst a background of animosity".

He added: "Although not all four would have inflicted the fatal wound to Raheem, we were able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that all four were involved in the attack in some capacity, and, in the case of Khan and Chowdhary, arrived at the scene intent on causing really serious harm."