Torture gang who sadistically beat man to death and left his body in a street are jailed for life

Raheel Khan, Robert Wainwright and Suleman Khan lured Mohammed Ayaz to an industrial unit in the city, on the night of June 30 last year.

A court heard how the trio stripped Mr Ayaz naked before inflicting brutal levels of violence upon him - including stamping on his head and urinating on him - into the early hours of July 1.

Parts of the attack were filmed by the three men, including one moment where the victim appeared to be begging to "just let him die".

The three received mandatory life sentences this morning (Wednesday), after being found guilty of murder by a jury yesterday.

Raheel Khan, of no fixed address, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 30 years for the murder. He also received a four-year sentence to run concurrently after earlier pleading guilty to possession with intent to supply Class A drugs.

Both Wainwright, 26, of Mannville Terrace and 20-year-old Suleman Khan of Sandford Road received life sentences with a minimum of 25 years.

A fourth man Shaoib Shafiq, 20, of Gladstone Street, and a 17-year-old youth were also convicted of assisting an offender yesterday.

Shafiq was sentenced to 21 months in a young offenders' institute for his role in the crime.

The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will be sentenced tomorrow.

The murder was motivated by 27-year-old Raheel Khan feeling "humiliated" after the victim had allegedly taunted him over mobile phone footage he had been shown of the defendant having sex.

Mr Ayaz was tricked into going to the building thinking he was meeting Raheel Khan to sell him cannabis, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Instead, he was kicked, stamped on and suffered multiple force blows to his head, the latter of which was found to be his cause of death.

A post-mortem examination found 70 separate injuries to his body.

After killing Mr Ayaz, the three men wrapped his body in a shower curtain and drove to Saffron Drive in the Allerton area of Bradford, leaving it in the street.

West Yorkshire Police said following the conviction that there remained "other suspects" in the case which they believed had "left the country shortly after Feazan was killed".

Senior Investigating Officer Detective Superintendent Mark Swift said: “Our sympathies remain with Feazan’s family at this time and I hope they can now have some closure, knowing that three men who caused his death have been jailed for many years.

“There are other suspects we wish to trace in this investigation who we believe left the country shortly after Feazan was killed and we continue to make extensive enquiries to locate them.

“We have had recent successes in locating people who fled abroad after serious crimes in West Yorkshire and we are working with partners to find these individuals and bring them before our courts.”

Following Tuesday's conviction, Michael Quinn from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said: “This was a prolonged and utterly brutal attack on an entirely defenceless victim.

“Over the course of several hours, he was systematically and sadistically beaten to death on a concrete floor. He was stripped naked by his captors, he was tortured and humiliated, and he was beaten for the entertainment of those present.

“On several occasions they used their mobile telephones to film him in his torment, capturing even a moment in which he begged them to just let him die.

“We worked closely with West Yorkshire Police to build a robust prosecution case, which included the examination of many hours of CCTV footage and analysis of mobile phone footage.

“The defendants have now been found guilty and will be sentenced tomorrow. Our thoughts remain with the victim’s family and friends, as they have been throughout.”

The family of Mr Ayaz released a statement paying tribute to him following the conviction, saying his life had been taken "in such callous and brutal circumstances".

“This outcome has brought our family some closure to what has been a terrible few months for us.

“Feazan thought he was going to Denholme that day to spend some time with people who he considered to be his friends. We don’t believe that he could have possibly known what was to come.

“His death has left a hole in our family and to know his life was taken in such callous and brutal circumstances is even more upsetting.

“We would like to thank West Yorkshire Police for the support they have given us throughout the investigation and also the jury, whose verdicts have helped us to get justice for Feazan.”