Amine Laouar: Minimum 38-year jail term for random knife killer

A student has been jailed for at least 38 years for killing one man and injuring two others in a series of "inexplicable" knife attacks.

Amine Laouar, 21, who did not know any of his victims, murdered Leon Street on Neasden Lane North, north London, minutes after he stabbed Mirvais Khan.

Six days later he attacked Mitul Karaniya at the same location.

Mr Street, 48, managed to get to his home on Neasden Road North but paramedics could not save him.

In addition to a life sentence for the murder, Laouar was given concurrent sentences having previously been found guilty of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm with intent.

Judge Martin Picton said the defendant's crimes were "as inexplicable as they were terrible" and had caused irreversible suffering.

He told Laouar: "Your attack on Mr Street was brutal and remorseless. The dashcam footage that emerged part-way through this trial leaves no doubt as to your murderous intent.

"Even a passing motorist sounding their horn could not distract you from the act of repeatedly stabbing your victim."

Mr Street had left his Neasden home to go to the shops at about 21:30 GMT on 11 January last year when he was attacked and stabbed repeatedly, both where he was standing and then after he fell to the ground.

Just 150 metres away and a few minutes earlier, Mirvais Khan - who had also been on his way to the shops - had been stabbed in the back. The Old Bailey heard he was "very fortunate" to have survived.

A week later, Mitul Karaniya had gone out to buy breakfast and was caught unawares by Laouar who stabbed him in the back, breaking his ribs and puncturing his lungs.

During the trial, prosecution barrister Bill Emlyn Jones QC told the court: "In each case, the victim appears to have been chosen completely at random.

"The victims did not know each other, and they were not connected to each other in any way. The only thing they appear to have had in common is that they happened to be walking along the same stretch of Neasden Lane North at the time when they were attacked.

"None of them knew their attacker. None of them had done anything which might explain what happened to them."

Laouar, who lived in nearby Press Road, was identified as the attacker by DNA evidence.

Two knives were found at the scene of the first two stabbings, each with a victim's DNA on the blade and Laouar's DNA on the handle.

The third knife was found in the student's wardrobe with a blood-stained jacket.

Giving evidence, Laouar claimed he had been framed by the real killer and the prosecution had the wrong man.

The jury deliberated for an hour and 15 minutes to reject his version of events and find him guilty of all the charges.

In a statement read to the court during sentencing, Mr Street's fiancée Natasha Anodin described him as her "soul mate", as well as "a doting father and a loving brother and son".

She wrote: "After so many years together, we got engaged on Christmas Day in 2019 and planned to get married in July 2022, but instead of being at our wedding, I have had to sit through his murder trial.

"The harrowing images of that night are burnt into my mind and I am haunted by them every day."

His daughter, Rian Anderson, added: "I remember the times he would pick us up from school in his van playing loud Abba music to embarrass us. I will cherish those moments forever.

"This has altered our lives in so many ways. The pain of losing him will never be mended and I will continue to miss him every single day."