Two teenagers have been detained for life after murdering a stranger in an unprovoked racist attack.

The pair attacked Kamran Aman as he was delivering groceries to his mother’s home in Barry, south Wales.

The 38-year-old was stabbed through the heart and was subjected to further racist abuse as he lay dying on the floor of a neighbour’s house.

Marcus Staniforth, 17, who ran into a nearby house to get a knife, was sentenced to 17 years at Cardiff Crown Court. The second defendant, 16, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to 15 years.

Describing Staniforth as a “very dangerous young person indeed”, Judge Mr Justice Griffiths, said: “You turned a failing attempt at beating a man into murder and you tried to destroy evidence using bleach.

“You are exceptionally violent and showed yourself willing to use lethal force for the most trivial reason”.

Turning to the 16-year-old, who was sentenced on the basis that he was intent on hurting Aman “because he was not white”, he said: “You instigated a deliberate, unprovoked, sustained, violent racist attack.

“You were old enough to know that to cause serious injury on a stranger because of his race was wrong.”

At 23:50 on 30 June, Aman arrived in Barry Road and parked a few doors down from his mother’s home. He had been working during the day before spending time with his wife and four-year-old daughter.

Marcus Staniforth and the second defendant had been drinking alcohol and taking drugs for several hours before arriving at a house on the same road where they continued to drink.

The trial heard the second defendant had behaved in a “volatile and aggressive manner” earlier in the day, “confronting a train conductor” and “later threatening” Staniforth.

It was the younger of the two, looking down from a bedroom window, who noticed Aman in his car in the street below and decided to attack him. Initially he took a hammer from the house but the weapon was taken off him.

The youth started hurling racist abuse at Aman and, after unsuccessfully trying to get in to the passenger side of the car, went around to the driver’s side.

Aman came out of the car and began defending himself against a barrage of punches that were thrown first by the 16-year-old and then Staniforth who had joined the attack.

Several neighbours told the trial how they were alarmed by shouting in the street, in an attack described as “relentless” by one witness, with the boys behaving like a “pack of animals”.

Staniforth was seen running back into the house, returning 15 seconds later armed with a large kitchen knife.

Neighbours, who gave evidence during the trial, said Staniforth swung the knife “multiple times”.

Another neighbour, who said she had known Aman for many years, said he ended up in her doorway and he told her: “I think I’ve been stabbed.”

The neighbour said she was surprised at how much blood was on the floor. She said Aman told her: “I can’t breathe.”

With Aman bleeding to death, the court heard how the boys were still intent on fighting, with the younger defendant bending over Aman shouting racist abuse.

Aman was stabbed once through his heart, a fatal injury despite the best efforts of paramedics who performed emergency open heart surgery.

Staniforth went back into the house and washed the knife and his hands with bleach before both boys fled the scene but they were arrested a short distance away, about 10 minutes after Aman was attacked.

Staniforth’s DNA was later found on the knife and Aman’s blood was found on his shorts and and the other defendant’s shoes.

When interviewed by police that morning, the younger of the two youths blamed Staniforth for the murder, and shouted racist abuse at police.

‘A part of us died with him’

In a victim impact statement read in court, Aman’s wife Khaleela James said it was “heart breaking” to see the impact of his death on their daughter.

“She is understandably traumatised by this and is now suffering with separation anxiety with me because she does not want me to go and not come back ‘like daddy did’.”

Khaleela said she had flashbacks to the night of Aman’s death and suffers from panic attacks as a result of what has happened.

Turning to the defendants in the dock, who showed no emotion, she said: “Life for us will never be the same without Kamran and not a day goes by where we do not think of him.

“There is a hole in our heart that can never be filled; a pain that will never go away. Without Kamran we are incomplete. The day he died, a part of us died with him.

“There is no sentence that would ever be enough for what these two boys have done and the lives they have ruined.”

Kamran Aman’s mother also prepared an impact statement which was read out in court.

Shahnaz Aman said her family were now “terrified”, and her son and his family do not come to Barry as they fear “someone will attack and injure them”.

She said: “I am very sad now and I think that as long as I live, I will be suffering from this grief that my son left this world.”

Gerard Hillman KC, defending the 16-year-old, argued for a reduced minimum term on the basis that his client was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the attack, and has since been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and ADHD, “impacting on matters such as his emotional maturity, perception and intuition”.

Hillman also argued his client was not racist and had only intended to inflict grievous bodily harm on Aman, that there was no intention to kill.

He argued that his client had no idea that Staniforth had brought a knife to the scene of the attack.

Staniforth will have to serve 16 years and 133 days before he is eligible for parole.

The 16-year-old will have to serve 14 years and 133 days before being eligible for release.

Speaking after the sentencing, Aliya Mohammed, CEO of Race Equality First, said she welcomed the court’s recognition that Aman was killed in a racially motivated attack.

“Naming the racial element matters,” she said.

“Racist violence harms not only an individual, but entire communities who feel the impact of that hatred. We know from our current research that it is often difficult to secure successful outcomes on the hate element of cases, so this sends an important message that racism has been taken seriously by the courts.

“Our thoughts remain with Kamran Aman’s family at this devastating time.”

BBC News

Arun Verma was on the air on BBC Radio Nottingham at the time

A racist sent a message to a BBC Radio Nottingham presenter threatening to “stab him 22 times in revenge for the Manchester Arena bombings”.

Nottingham Crown Court heard how Michael James also used highly offensive racist language in the message, which was seen by station staff and the show host, Arun Verma.

The 57-year-old was then found to have deleted it against the terms of an order put in place for past sex offences he has been convicted of.

And his barrister told the sentencing hearing that his client “can’t explain” exactly why he did what he did.

Handing him a 40-week jail term, Judge Rupert Mayo said: “Mr James, I accept your apology and I don’t think anybody but you can explain why you did what you did.

“You sent a highly offensive and racist comment during a broadcast by the BBC which would have come up in the studio and would have been seen by the presenter and those working that evening.

“We have freedom of speech but that does not mean we can say what we like when we like.

“At the time you were the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for past offences against people younger than you and one of its requirements was not to delete any messages, which is exactly what you then did.”

Dawn Pritchard, prosecuting, said the offences took place on the evening of November 20, last year.

She said Mr Verma was presenting a live show when the defendant sent a message in.

The prosecutor said: “During the evening, BBC Radio Nottingham contacted the police because they had received a concerning message from the defendant.

“He was a persistent caller to the radio station and identified himself as ‘Michael from Daybrook’.

“The message that was received read ‘Notts get off the radio you dirty wannabee P*** terrorist b*****d. Allah, Allah, it will be when I stab you 22 times in revenge for the Manchester Arena bombing’.

“At the time the defendant was subject to a SHPO (sexual harm prevention order) under the terms of which he was not allowed to delete messages without express permission and he had deleted the message he had sent to the BBC.

“Mr Verma was on the air at the time and the message was clearly racially motivated.

“Mr Verma read the message but did not make a statement.”

James, of Frobisher Gardens, Daybrook, pleaded guilty to breaching the order and to sending communication threatening serious harm.

He has what the judge called “an extensive criminal record”.

Clarkson Baptiste, mitigating, said his client has been in custody since his arrest in November and has a number of health issues.

He said: “He has a tracheotomy and a spinal tube and his prognosis, he tells me, is 18 months life.

“He wished to apologise to Mr Verma and to the BBC as an organisation.

“He can’t explain his motivation. He does not have any particular views towards Mr Verma or the BBC.”

Nottingham Post

Aaran Barden targeted a number of people in his racist attack

A vile racist thug who told a family a bomb was going to go off and counted down from 10 while a terrified woman was stuck in her car has been jailed.

Aaran Barden, 33, of no fixed abode, first racially abused a taxi driver taking him to Middleton on August 12 last year, telling him: “You p*** b*****, one of you took my money and drove off yesterday.”

Prosecutor Zanisha Herbert told Leeds Crown Court on Wednesday Barden then began to talk about a “bomb” and said he had one in his bag. He then told the taxi driver: “I’m going to blow you up.”

Ms Herbert told the court: “The driver told him he was British and he said, ‘You are not from here.’ He turned his attention to members of the public on the street, shouting out of the car window to a group of Asian women, ‘F*** off you p*** b*******.;

“The family was targeted when he got out of the taxi. A woman was in a charity shop with her seven-year-old daughter and her sister-in-law and when they went outside her daughter was targeted by him. She detailed she left the shop and heard the defendant shouting at her daughter and sister-on-law, ‘F**** you’ and ‘Go back to your f****** country.'”

The court heard Barden was then indicating he was going to kill her. The woman tried to shield her mum, but Barden went up to her and verbally abused her, telling her: “I will kill you, go back to your own country.”

The woman tried to protect themselves by going into a shop but was followed by Barden. Shop workers took them to the back for their own safety and other customers tried to intervene before Barden attempted to enter through a side door.

Ms Herbert said: “He said he had a bomb and would blow them up. He sprayed an inhaler into the shop.”

Barden later went on to follow one of the women, who got into the passenger seat of her car as it was the nearest available to her. The prosecutor said: “He kicked the doors and he said: ‘Get out of the country, why are you here?’

“He crouched down and said, ‘In 10 seconds, it’s going to bomb’ and began to count down. She was afraid of him. The police were called and officers checked the shop’s CCTV and recognised this defendant and he was arrested.”

Barden – who had previous convictions for failing to comply with court orders and racially aggravated harassment – went on to admit communicating false information with intent, in relation to him claiming he had a bomb, and three counts of racially aggravated disorderly behaviour intended to cause alarm or distress.

Mitigating, Anastasis Tasou, told the court Barden is prescribed Olanzapine, which he had not taken at the time of the offence. He said: “It must have been a significant effect due to the lack of that medication. A psychiatrist has stated various controlling influences and these were absent.

“He has continued to improve remarkably since he has been in custody. At the plea, trial and preparation hearing, he was still in the early days of receiving treatment and the difference in presentation between then and today’s sentencing hearing has been improved. He has had the opportunity now that his mind has been calmed by that medication and is no longer experiencing auditory and visual hallucinations.

“He is able to realise the impact his behaviour had on that particular day. He is, I submit, genuinely remorseful. Beyond that, he is a defendant that, having gained that insight, now knows what he must do to keep himself on that level. He has engaged with services while in custody.”

Mr Recorder Baird jailed Barden for 16 months.

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