Deliveroo driver murder: Man jailed for life for road-rage killing

Takieddine Boudhane worked as a delivery driver for companies such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats

A man has been jailed for life for murdering a Deliveroo moped rider who he stabbed to death in a road-rage attack in north London.

Takieddine Boudhane, 30, died following the confrontation in Finsbury Park on 3 January 2020.

Van driver Nathan Smith, 28, of Archway, denied murder but was found guilty last week at the Old Bailey.

Smith, who fled the UK for Austria after the killing, was handed a minimum 21-year term.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Boudhane's mother told the court a "minor road traffic incident" had led to their lives being changed forever.

"He did not just kill my son, he killed my entire family," Saida Boudhane said.

Nathan Smith was found guilty of murder

Ms Boudhane said her husband had passed away before he could see justice, adding the family had had to endure "17 months of limbo" until Smith was arrested at Heathrow Airport in June.

Smith had been the subject of a European Arrest Warrant and the court heard he had spent time in Salzburg, Zurich and Lisbon.

During the trial, jurors were told both men had turned right into Lennox Road when something happened that upset Mr Boudhane who drove alongside Smith's van.

Prosecutor Julian Evans QC said from CCTV footage, it appeared the men had exchanged words and the encounter was "not a friendly one".

Mr Boudhane was stabbed to death on 3 January 2020

Jurors heard that seconds later, Smith stopped in Charteris Road where Mr Boudhane and another moped rider had parked.

Smith then acted "aggressively" and emerged with a knife in his hand, Mr Evans said, adding Mr Boudhane had a screwdriver and swung his crash helmet in defence.

Mr Evans said: "As Smith stepped on to the pavement, he ducked below the swinging crash helmet, and swung his knife twice, in quick succession, towards Takieddine's upper body.

Takieddine Boudhane's family were in court to see Nathan Smith be jailed

"It is the prosecution case that one of those two rapid blows with the knife, each delivered with force, entered Takieddine's chest."

In his sentencing remarks Judge Mark Lucraft said: "After the incident, you go home and then, in the early hours of the following day, travel to the Bedford area and then the next day you fly to Salzburg using your brother's bank card.

"You also took your brother's passport.

"Despite being called by your father and told the police were looking for you, you remained at large until you contacted the British authorities in Portugal and travelled back to this country in June 2021 some 17 months after the murder."

In the courtroom

BBC London's home affairs correspondent Sonja Jessup

Takieddine Boudhane's mother wiped away tears in court as she watched her son's killer be sentenced.

Saida Boudhane was supported by other family members and friends as her witness statement was read out.

In it, she accused Nathan Smith of "playing the victim", after fleeing the country and evading justice for 17 months.

She described the family's pain of having to sit through the trial and watch her son's murder "frame by frame" on CCTV footage.

Outside court, she told me her son had planned a new life in Algeria together with her, which he had had been working hard towards.

She said the loss of her son, and the death of his father before the trial, meant that she was now alone.

Smith did not appear to show any emotion as he was sentenced but looked up briefly towards the public gallery as he was led out of court.

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