A jealous brother who fled the UK after killing a man who was chatting up his sister has been jailed for life.
Mohammed Tabraz, 39, lured 24-year-old Soheil Mumtaz to a meeting then repeatedly hit him over the head with a hammer outside his home in Luton on April 4, 2001.
Tabraz, who was 20 at the time, left his victim fighting for his life and started a new life in New Jersey, America.
Mr Mumtaz died five days later from his horrific injuries.
The Old Bailey heard Tabraz attacked Mr Mumtaz after hearing he had been making advances towards his sister at the biscuit factory where they both worked.
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Tabraz, who was known as Tagga, launched the hammer attack on the man who was only said to have told his sister she was attractive.
Mumtaz was lured from his home and hit on the head at least twice with such forced that the hammer bent.
He was kicked while on the ground during the ferocious attack in Kenilworth Road, Luton on April 4th 2001.
The married father of one , whose wife was pregnant with their second child, staggered to his home nearby. He died five days later in hospital.
Tabraz fled first to his native Pakistan the next day and then lived in New Jersey as an illegal immigrant.
He was jailed for six years in the US in 2017 for his involvement in a heroin supply gang.
Bedfordshire police were notified of his conviction and he was extradited in August this year, St Albans crown court heard.
In October he pleaded guilty to murder and appeared for sentence today, where he was sentenced to life in jail with a minimum term of 20 years.
Prosecutor Stuart Trimmer QC said: “The victim, who was nicknamed Solo, worked in the same factory on an industrial estate in Luton as the defendant’s sister Shahia Zahid.
“Shahia Zahid told a friend Solo spoke to her at the noticeboard saying how attractive she was. She said would tell her brother who would beat the hell out of him.
“The crown have no way of knowing in what the victim said or did. The crown do not accept anything untoward was said. There was a peaceful working relationship at factory.”
That evening Tabraz took a call and told friends someone had “fooled” with one of his sisters. He went home, took the hammer and obtained Mr Mumtaz’s number. At 9.35pm he used a friend’s phone, called him and asked him to meet him outside.
Tabraz had arrived in the area with two car loads of people, but no others were involved. Three others stood by during the assault.
In the attack Mr Mumtaz suffered two significant blows to the head and other injuries consistent with receiving a kicking.
In a victim statement his family said: “Our loving brother, son, father and husband has been taken away from us in evil circumstances.
“This evil person came to murder him a few yards from his family home.
“We are broken as a family. The hardest thing to cope with was Soheil in his grave and Tabraz enjoying life. We have had to suffer this injustice for 18 years.
“We still feel numb, paralysed by grief and pain. He left a widowed wife and two children.”
Ali Bajwa QC, defending, said: “I do not advance there was a sexual interest (in the sister). That is what the defendant was told, but he does not believe that to be the truth. He (the victim) was standing with his mates at work and saying things that upset her. It was not a sexual advance.”
Mr Bajwa went on: “He did not intend to kill. I accept to strike someone in the way he did could lead to the consequence. In his 20 year old mind it was not his intention.”
Jailing him, Judge Michael Kay QC said there had been no evidence of untoward contact by Mr Mumtaz.
DCI Justine Jenkins, from the Beds, Cambs and Herts major crime unit, said: “This vicious attack was orchestrated on a husband and father in retribution for a perceived slight in remarks made, of which there is no direct evidence, to a member of Mohammed’s family.
"These were remarks not heard directly by Mohammed; in fact he didn’t know if they were even true.
"There is no honour in murder and his admission in court will hopefully provide some comfort for Mr Mumtaz’s family, who have spent almost two decades without any closure.
“Mohammed’s cowardly flight out of the country meant he has never been held to account for his actions and only now will he finally face justice.”
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