Serpo
24th March 2011, 04:50 PM
No one could make this stuff up as no one would believe them.......
A BRITISH gang leader faces jail for murdering a man whose severed thumb dropped out of the sky, apparently from a bird's beak.
Mohammed Riaz, 33, was convicted in court yesterday of murdering his brother-in-law, Mahmood Ahmad, 41, whose body has never been found.
Riaz waged a campaign of terror against Mr Ahmad and his family after his wife, Nahid, the dead man's younger sister, walked out on him with their children, claiming he had raped her.
He recruited other family members in an attempt to hunt her down as she fled initially to Blackburn and later to Burnley.
She changed her name and even divorced him under Sharia but her former husband then turned his attention to her relatives.
Mr Ahmad was kidnapped outside his home in Watford in March last year as he returned from work at a kebab restaurant in East London.
He was taken to a flat in Ilford, Essex, and tortured in an attempt to force him to disclose Nahid's whereabouts. Mr Ahmad is said to have refused to divulge the secret and paid with his life. His screams were heard by other residents in the flats.
The jury was told that Mr Ahmad's body was dismembered using butcher's tools.
Although Mr Ahmad's disappearance led to a major search it was only after his thumb appeared to fall out of the sky that police were able arrest Riaz and his gang.
CCTV footage of an office car park in Caxton Place, Ilford, captured the moment when the object hit the ground. A cleaner, who had been standing outside the offices smoking a cigarette, thought at first that it was a discarded piece of chicken thrown from an upstairs window.
Stuart Trimmer, QC, for the prosecution, told the court: "There is a CCTV image of this item falling from the sky because that is what happened. How it came to be in the sky is unknown. It fell from the sky and fell into a car park."
Detectives believe that the thumb, cut cleanly by a bandsaw, was found by a bird that flew off with it in its beak.
When police realised that the thumb belonged to Mr Ahmad, they searched local landfill sites and even studied flight paths of local bird colonies.
Forensic officers were later able to link bloodstains found at the flat in Ilford with Mr Mahmood's DNA.
Riaz, of no fixed address, and his brother Sharif Mohammed, 37, of Ilford, were both convicted of murder. Faisal Chowdhury, 18, and Arnold Yousaf, 19, both of East London, were convicted of conspiracy to kidnap and Amirzada Hussain, 37, of East London, was found guilty of manslaughter.
Sabra Sultana, 36, Riaz's sister, of Ilford, was convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Police said that they are determined to find Mr Ahmad's remains so that his family can give him a dignified burial.
Detective Chief Inspector Melanie Burn appealed for information about the whereabouts of the rest of Mr Ahmad's body.
She said: "This has been a challenging case, not least because we have been unable to locate Mahmood's body. Our search to find Mahmood continues and we will not give up in the hunt to repatriate him to his family."
The Timeshttp://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/british-man-jailed-for-murder-after-bird-drops-mans-thumb/story-e6frg6so-1226027442723
A BRITISH gang leader faces jail for murdering a man whose severed thumb dropped out of the sky, apparently from a bird's beak.
Mohammed Riaz, 33, was convicted in court yesterday of murdering his brother-in-law, Mahmood Ahmad, 41, whose body has never been found.
Riaz waged a campaign of terror against Mr Ahmad and his family after his wife, Nahid, the dead man's younger sister, walked out on him with their children, claiming he had raped her.
He recruited other family members in an attempt to hunt her down as she fled initially to Blackburn and later to Burnley.
She changed her name and even divorced him under Sharia but her former husband then turned his attention to her relatives.
Mr Ahmad was kidnapped outside his home in Watford in March last year as he returned from work at a kebab restaurant in East London.
He was taken to a flat in Ilford, Essex, and tortured in an attempt to force him to disclose Nahid's whereabouts. Mr Ahmad is said to have refused to divulge the secret and paid with his life. His screams were heard by other residents in the flats.
The jury was told that Mr Ahmad's body was dismembered using butcher's tools.
Although Mr Ahmad's disappearance led to a major search it was only after his thumb appeared to fall out of the sky that police were able arrest Riaz and his gang.
CCTV footage of an office car park in Caxton Place, Ilford, captured the moment when the object hit the ground. A cleaner, who had been standing outside the offices smoking a cigarette, thought at first that it was a discarded piece of chicken thrown from an upstairs window.
Stuart Trimmer, QC, for the prosecution, told the court: "There is a CCTV image of this item falling from the sky because that is what happened. How it came to be in the sky is unknown. It fell from the sky and fell into a car park."
Detectives believe that the thumb, cut cleanly by a bandsaw, was found by a bird that flew off with it in its beak.
When police realised that the thumb belonged to Mr Ahmad, they searched local landfill sites and even studied flight paths of local bird colonies.
Forensic officers were later able to link bloodstains found at the flat in Ilford with Mr Mahmood's DNA.
Riaz, of no fixed address, and his brother Sharif Mohammed, 37, of Ilford, were both convicted of murder. Faisal Chowdhury, 18, and Arnold Yousaf, 19, both of East London, were convicted of conspiracy to kidnap and Amirzada Hussain, 37, of East London, was found guilty of manslaughter.
Sabra Sultana, 36, Riaz's sister, of Ilford, was convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Police said that they are determined to find Mr Ahmad's remains so that his family can give him a dignified burial.
Detective Chief Inspector Melanie Burn appealed for information about the whereabouts of the rest of Mr Ahmad's body.
She said: "This has been a challenging case, not least because we have been unable to locate Mahmood's body. Our search to find Mahmood continues and we will not give up in the hunt to repatriate him to his family."
The Timeshttp://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/british-man-jailed-for-murder-after-bird-drops-mans-thumb/story-e6frg6so-1226027442723