HeadLine: ‘FREED MAN IS KILLER’

The Mirror, 30/11/2000, p17
by SHAUN MILNE

A TEENAGER cleared by a jury of a Christmas Day murder was branded
“guilty” by a judge yesterday.
Akhtar Hussain, 19, walked free from his trial earlier this month
having denied stabbing student Pervinder Ryatt.
But Judge Michael Coombe said in court that he believed Mr Hussain,
from Walthamstow, East London, should have been found guilty.
Jailing the other gang members the judge said: “It’s fair to assume the
jury got it wrong.”
He said: “Mitigation speeches by barristers for the five other accused
all pointed the finger of guilt at Akhtar Hussain.”
The court heard that Pervinder Ryatt, 19, was hunted down in London’s
West End on Christmas Day and stabbed in the back by Akhtar Hussain.
His cousin Safdar Hussain, 21, admitted murder, brothers Feroz, 18, and
Shahbaz Khan, 20, pleaded guilty to affray and Tariq Bokhari, 22, and
Surfaz Ghaffar, 20, admitted violent disorder.

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