Bournemouth scooter row murder questions raised by police head

The murderer should not have been allowed to enter the UK, Dorset's PCC David Sidwick suggested

A police and crime commissioner (PCC) has raised questions over a murder committed by an Afghan asylum seeker.

Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai was jailed last month for stabbing Tom Roberts in Bournemouth in a row over an e-scooter.

Dorset PCC David Sidwick told a police and crime panel meeting the defendant was a "fugitive from justice" after murdering two men in Serbia.

He said parents had also raised concerns about Abdulrahimzai attending local schools after giving a false age.

Tom Roberts was stabbed to death in an argument over an e-scooter

Mr Roberts, 21, was stabbed twice when he slapped Abdulrahimzai while trying to act as a "peacemaker" in a dispute over possession of the scooter in the early hours of 12 March 2022.

Abdulrahimzai, who was living in Poole, told the court he feared Mr Roberts, from Bournemouth, was an agent of the Taliban trying to kill him.

The defendant, who is thought to be about 21, told officials he was 14 when he entered the UK in December 2019 following a failed asylum application in Norway, Salisbury Crown Court previously heard.

He started at Avonbourne Boys' Academy in October 2020 and moved to Winton Academy in June 2021.

Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai murdered two people in Serbia before arriving in the UK

In a statement, reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, PCC Mr Sidwick said: "I have had parents contacting me concerned that their young daughters would have been taught alongside this man.

"How can we be sure there are no more felons misrepresenting themselves as children?

"And when will common sense prevail and we rebalance the safety of a community versus the rights of an individual?"

Following the murder, police learned that Abdulrahimzai had shot dead two men in Serbia in 2018, firing 18 rounds from a Kalashnikov rifle at close range.

Mr Sidwick added: "[He] was a fugitive from justice in another country. The question I have is how did the UK not turn him away? Norway managed to."

Previously, Home Office minister Robert Jenrick said the government would investigate the "full circumstances surrounding the case".