A MAN WHO killed his love rival in a “ferocious” knife attack was sentenced to 28 years in prison at the Old Bailey today, the Metropolitan Police has confirmed.

Gulam Chowdhury (24) of Barking, east London, murdered 22-year-old Mohammed Yasser Afzal after attacking him inside the cab office where he worked.

The incident took place on 24 March 2014 and Chowdhury was found guilty on 22 April last.

The court heard how Afzal had been in a long-term relationship with a woman who was also in a relationship with Chowdhury.

The woman told Chowdhury that Afzal had a mobile phone containing compromising pictures of her, and that he was threatening to expose their relationship to her parents who did not approve.

Police said Chowdhury plotted to make the incident look like a robbery gone wrong.

At around 8pm on 24 March last year Chowdhury, armed with an eight-inch bladed knife, entered the cab office and confronted Afzal before jumping across the counter and savagely attacking him. He then left the scene.

Afzal never regained consciousness and a post-mortem examination revealed he had been stabbed 20 times during the frenzied attack.

Witnesses at the scene subsequently described to police how Chowdhury, wearing a distinctive shoulder bag, had been seen in the vicinity of the cab office in the minutes leading up to the attack.

Analysis of CCTV and phone records meant officers were able to place Chowdhury at the crime scene at the time of the attack.

Mohammed Yasser Afzal Met Police Met Police

Detective Inspector Euan McKeeve, who led the investigation, said the attack was “a ferocious assault”, adding: “The level of violence used was shocking and ensured that Mohammed would not survive the attack.”

Whatever Mohammed’s motives were for the actions he took in attempting to maintain his relationship with a woman, he did not deserve to be murdered.

“It is thanks to the thorough and meticulous work of my officers who have worked tirelessly since Mohammed’s murder that we have managed to prove Chowdhury planned, and then executed, this vicious assault which ended in the savage murder of a young man,” McKeeve stated.

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