Gang of three jailed over 'honour killing'

AN IRAQI Kurd living in Sheffield was set upon in the street and beaten to death by a gang of Asian men in an honour killing because he had been sleeping with a married Pakistani woman, a court heard.

Yesterday three members of the gang - brothers Amjad and Ashraf Latif along with Ishtiaq Ahmed - were sentenced to a total of 20-and-a-half years in custody, after admitting their part in the "mob violence" which broke out in Tinsley last summer.Amjad Latif, aged 27, armed himself with part of a roof rack from his car and hit 42-year-old Ishmail Rashid around the head, knocking him to the ground.A "sustained attack" by others in a gang of up to 20 men then followed. Ashraf Latif, 18, and Ishtiaq Ahmed, 19, both admitted kicking him as he lay on the ground.

Mr Rashid was found on the corner of Lifford Street and Norborough Road and rushed to the Northern General Hospital. He underwent several surgical procedures on his brain but died eight days later on July 4 from his injuries, which a pathologist said were consistent with being repeatedly struck with a heavy, blunt object. Sheffield Crown Court heard that, after the attack, Amjad Latif - who went by the street name 'Baby' - and Ahmed - known as 'Mushy'- visited a man called Wayne Glover at his house in St Lawrence Road, a place where young Pakistani men congregated.Jeremy Baker QC, prosecuting, said: "The group appeared to be out of breath. They clearly were saying they had just done someone over, and they were laughing."The next day Amjad Latif, of St Lawrence Road, Tinsley, returned to the house to set up an alibi with Mr Glover to cover him for the time of the attack.

Despite hearing Mr Rashid was in a critical condition in hospital, he told Mr Glover the victim had "deserved everything that was coming to him".The court heard the gang - the rest of whom have so far escaped justice due to a lack of information - carried out the attack because Mr Rashid had been having an affair with
a local, married Pakistani woman.The "catalyst" had been when a drunk Mr Rashid had spraypainted his nickname 'Rambo' on the front of a local shop owned the Latif brothers' cousin.

He had also pulled out a knife when approached by the gang, but the Recorder of Sheffield His Honour Judge Alan Goldsack QC said Mr Rashid was "hopelessly outnumbered and posed no real threat".Ahmed, of St Lawrence Road - who is already serving custodial sentences for two offences of affray and wounding when he hit a Polish man with a brick just two days after Mr Rashid had died - pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and was sentenced to seven years in a young offenders' institute.Amjad Latif admitted manslaughter and perverting the course of justice and was sentenced to a total of seven-and-a-half years