Three Asian men who kicked a white computer expert to death and bragged: "That will teach an Englishman to interfere in Paki business" were found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey yesterday.
Christopher Yates, a 30-year-old data inputter, was attacked by the gang in November last year. He had seen a friend on to a night bus after celebrating her birthday when he was set upon by Sajid Zulfiqar, Zahid Bashir and Imran Maqsood, who had been drinking in the grounds of the University of East London.
Mr Yates was knocked to the ground and his head was stamped on and kicked like a football, the court heard. Anthony Leonard QC, prosecuting, said a teenage girl nearby heard Zulfiqar boasting in Urdu: "We have killed the white man. That will teach an Englishman to interfere in Paki business." He added: "She did not take much notice of this because she could not at this stage see any white man."
Later the girl told police she saw Zulfiqar and the others in a road nearby. She said he told her they were having an argument, and that "no white boy should come near their business", said Mr Leonard. "She heard them describing how they had punched the deceased and he was knocked out before he reached the ground." A fourth man looked through Mr Yates's pockets and stole his mobile phone. Mr Leonard said the reason for the attack was unclear but the defendants had been drinking and it was unprovoked. "It was a ferocious attack," he said.
The court heard that the three had been drinking all evening in the West End before returning to east London to drink vodka and smoke cannabis. After attacking Mr Yates they moved on to Ilford, where they shouted racial abuse at a black resident who remonstrated after they damaged vehicles and set off car alarms. They then went to a curry house where they assaulted staff and a black passerby.
They were arrested a week later at a hotel in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, where they were making plans to flee the country. A hotel porter overhead them discussing the reaction in the Muslim community as they had been drinking alcohol during Ramadan.
Zulfiqar, 25, Bashir, 23, and Maqsood, 21, all unemployed, of Ilford, east London, were remanded in custody for sentence tomorrow. Judge Martin Stephens QC told them they could each receive a minimum 30-year sentence if he decides the killing was racially motivated.
Outside court, Detective Chief Inspector Tony Boxall said the motive for the attack on Mr Yates was not clear. "The mere fact of him walking a female friend to the bus stop and waiting for it to arrive paints a good picture of what sort of a person he was. It was a horrific attack. Mr Yates was in the wrong place at the wrong time."