Newcastle mayor Habib Rahman has no hate for father's racist killer

Habib Rahman (left) and his family visited the site of his father's killing for the first time

Newcastle's first BAME mayor says he has "no hate" for the man who killed his father 44 years ago in a "racist" attack over a curry.

Habib Rahman's father Azizur was stabbed at a restaurant in Wallsend in 1977 10 days after arriving from Bangladesh via London.

Mr Rahman and his family visited the site for the first time this week.

The new mayor said they have forgiven killer Norman Patterson, who was jailed for eight years.

A murder trial at the time heard Patterson had been unhappy at the size of his meal so returned to the restaurant owned by Azizur's brother armed with a knife.

Azizur Rahman was killed in 1977

He stabbed Azizur to death and was jailed for manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.

Mr Rahman, who was three when Azizur was killed, told the BBC North East & Cumbria Impact Team he was "outraged" by the hatred shown towards his father in a "cold and calculated" attack of "brutal racism".

But speaking outside the restaurant more than four decades later, Mr Rahman said: "We've got no hate for the person that did that.

"He has served his punishment, if I may add perhaps not the punishment he should have deserved but that was back in '77 where, if I'm brutally honest, institutional racism was at the forefront of it, but nonetheless the law of the land spoke, he has served his sentence.

"We've got no animosity or ill-feeling or hate for him or his family."

Mr Rahman is Newcastle's first BAME mayor in 800 years

Mr Rahman said visiting the site of the killing was "very raw", adding: "All of us are so sadly and dearly missing him but at the same time all of us are saying to dad sitting above 'hey look, we are here, this is a lot better place than when you departed and this is the closure'."

Mr Rahman, who moved to Newcastle when he was 12 years old, praised his mother for being a "tower of strength and a true symbol of humanity" who had led the family in forgiving the killer in accordance with their Islamic faith.

The mayor said he had suffered racist abuse when he was growing up in the city but now, returning to the spot of his father's killing, feels safe.