Restaurant worker detained for killing colleague in Fife

Mohammed Salim Uddin was fatally wounded while working at a restaurant in Fife

A paranoid restaurant worker who killed a colleague because he thought he was being poisoned has been detained at the State Hospital in Carstairs.

Abdul Foyez stabbed Mohammed Salim Uddin, 44, at the Gulshan Tandoori in Inverkeithing, Fife, in September 2021.

He was acquitted of murder and given an interim compulsion order after the Crown accepted he was suffering from diminished mental responsibility.

A psychiatrist said Foyez had limited insight into his mental illness.

Dr Sheila Howitt said the homicide of Mr Uddin was in response to paranoid delusions. He imagined that he was being persecuted by the mafia and that his friend was trying to kill him by poisoning him.

She said he believed he was being persecuted by the Bangladeshi community, of which he was part, and had moved from London to Scotland two weeks before the murder because he thought it would be a safer place.

In the absence of appropriate treatment - specifically anti-psychotic medication, she said - he would pose a risk to others.

'Help me, save my life'

Dr Howitt said Foyez, 28, did not believe he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, the mental disorder with which he had been diagnosed, and did not accept he had to take anti-psychotic medication.

After hearing her evidence at the High Court in Livingston on Monday judge Lord Lake confirmed the compulsion order and made Foyez subject to a restriction order.

He commented: "It seems to me he does present a risk to the public at large. It's a high risk."

The court was told other restaurant workers rushed to Mr Uddin's aid after they heard him shouting: "Help me, save my life".

They saw Foyez clutching a large kitchen knife in his hand with his apron covered in blood.

He appeared angry and ran out of the restaurant while other staff dialled 999 and tried to stop the bleeding.

Mr Uddin was later pronounced dead at the Victoria Hospital.

Prosecutor Alan Parfery told how Foyez had moved to Fife two weeks before the killing and stayed with Mr Uddin, originally from Bangladesh, at a bedsit.

The pair were working that afternoon at the restaurant, along with others. They were said to be in "good spirits" as they helped staff carry in supplies but that suddenly changed.

Mr Parfery said Mr Uddin had died from a single stab wound which damaged his liver.