Three men have been convicted of fatally stabbing an Indian-origin man outside a pub in south-west London last year and will be sentenced at a later date, the Metropolitan Police said on Thursday.
Karamjeet Singh Reel, 31, was found collapsed in the doorway of a pub on Staines Road in Hounslow on June 25 last year where staff and customers provided first aid until the arrival of the London Ambulance Service and police.
However, Karamjeet - known as Kam - died at the scene and a post-mortem examination later confirmed his cause of death as a stab wound to the heart.
Following a trial at Wood Green Crown Court in London, which concluded on Wednesday, 33-year-old Wesley Angel was found guilty of his murder.
His brother Nathan Angel, 24, was found not guilty of murder but had already pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter and conspiracy to rob - same as Bobby Dunleavy, 26.
"This was a pre-planned and brutal attack on a man who was lured out of his flat by a group of men intent on causing serious harm in order to rob him," said Met Police Detective Chief Inspector Jim Shirley.
"Karamjeet's life was suddenly taken away, leaving his family and friends understandably devastated. Our thoughts are with them at this time. We are pleased the jury recognised the strength of evidence against Wesley Angel and we now expect all three men to be handed significant custodial sentences," he said.
Met Police detectives launched a murder investigation and established that Kam lived just across the road from the pub.
On visiting the building, they found a trail of blood starting in one of the corridors and leading out of the fire exit and onto the street.
On entering his flat, they found GBP 25,000 in cash and a large quantity of cocaine. The police said it was clear that Kam had been a target by an individual or group who knew he was dealing drugs and intended to rob him.
Their CCTV enquiries showed two men with their faces covered entering the building and leaving again a few minutes later.
The corridor itself was not covered by cameras but officers established that Kam had come out of his flat and been "ferociously assaulted" by those lying in wait.
Karamjeet's mother Jasbir Kaur Reel said in a statement: "To the three defendants, you took away Karamjeet's hope, his life, his dreams. You took away my hopes and my dreams of growing old and seeing Karamjeet happy with a partner and children.
"Every bone in my body misses Karamjeet. We are now serving a life sentence without Karamjeet. No sentence for them will be enough." Enquiries led police to identify the Angel brothers and they were arrested days later in June last year.
Wesley admitted their plan to rob Kam and accepted he had stabbed him during the struggle, but said they had only brought the knife to scare him rather than with the intention to use it.
Analysis of mobile phones showed numerous calls had been made both immediately before and after the attack to a number linked to a man named Bobby Dunleavy, who was then arrested.
The Met Police said it then established that Dunleavy was one of Kam's customers and had shown the brothers where he lived.
He also phoned Kam in the minutes before the murder on the pretence of meeting him for a drug deal - in fact he was luring him out of the flat so he could be robbed.
Using CCTV and mobile phone data, Met Police officers were also able to show that prior to the attack, the three men had met in a nearby pub. Footage showed them in deep conversation and at one point, Dunleavy was captured feigning punches, mirroring the planned attack on Kam.
Following the stabbing, the Angel brothers abandoned their car, dumped the knife and burned the belongings they had taken from their victim.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
