Following their conviction for the murder of a 38-year-old man who had been stabbed with a knife that was almost a foot long, two teenage drug dealers were sentenced to prison.
On September 16, Omar Khan passed away at the scene of the incident in the Sundon Park neighbourhood of Luton.
At St. Albans Crown Court, Umer Choudhury, 18, of Tulip Close, Luton, was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years in custody.
The minimum sentence for the 17-year-old boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons and possessed over 60 bladed weapons, was 20 years.
Earlier this year, at Guildford Crown Court, jurors convicted the two guilty.
Cheyenne Barnes, 38, Mr. Khan’s companion, was stabbed severely and had significant injuries; the two youths, who were 16 and 17 at the time of the killing, were also found guilty of her wounds.
The teens, according to Mrs. Foster, would remain in custody at His Majesty’s Pleasure until a parole board determined that they could be freed under licence.
‘Familiarity’ with knives
The two teens acknowledged to supplying cocaine and heroin, and the jury heard how they met Mr. Khan of Leicester Road in Luton and his partner to sell them drugs.
The 17-year-old boy used a hunting knife that was 28 cm (11 in) long and had a bayonet-like design to carry out the attack. The main arteries and spine of Mr. Khan were sliced through, a pathologist testified at the trial.
There has never been a recovery of the murder weapon.
Jurors were informed that in the months preceding the attack, he had purchased over sixty knives and machetes.
It was the judge’s opinion that Choudhury was “sure” the young person possessed the hunting knife.
She said the two had been friends since they were 14 years old, and the court heard that both of them had had challenging upbringings that included being taken advantage of by their elders, experiencing loss, and interacting with social services.
Their “close familiarity” with blades belied their intimate association in the narcotics trade.
Joe Stone KC, who is the youth’s representative, stated that Mr. Khan and his accomplice were armed and had “planned a knife-point” robbery. According to the two defendants, they were defending themselves.
He stated there had been no planning behind the attack on Mr. Khan and his partner, but rather it had been a “reaction”.
In a victim impact statement, the deceased man’s mother Yasmeen Khan stated that she found it difficult to put her “pain and anger” into words.
The court declared she would make a judgement soon about identifying the 17-year-old and lifted the ban on identifying Choudhury in the media.
