Video: Killer gets life for murder of van driver in Yorkshire market town

James Brabbs, 27, stabbed Mohammed Saleem Khan, 36, to death in Easingwold, in an attempted robbery.

Brabbs will now serve a minimum of 29 years in jail before he is considered for release, after he changed his plea three days into the trial.

Teesside Crown Court heard that on September 22 last year, Brabbs had armed himself with a knife and after attempting to rob Mr Kahn, stabbed him in the neck.

Brabbs then fled and Mr Kahn, originally from Luton, was able to get back into his van and drive off but was later found dead slumped behind the wheel.

Passing sentence, Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC, described him as “a thoroughly dangerous individual”.

“Mr Kahn was going about his normal business on September 22 when you killed him,” he said.

“He was then 36 years old and he had lived in this country for eight years. He had a good job and he was a family man.

“On September 22 the town of Easingwold was busy, many of the people were drinking and celebrating a landlord’s birthday.

“You came across Mr Kahn and believed that he had money and you also believed he had a significant quantity of cannabis so you decided to rob him of both.”

Judge Arton said Brabbs then armed himself with a knife and when he discovered Mr Kahn, who was delivering shower products, had neither the money or the drugs he stabbed him.

Tim Roberts, defending, said it was over the weekend that Brabbs had decided to change his plea as he could not continue with his “sham” defence.

He said: “James Brabbs asks that he offers in public his apology to the family of Mr Khan for the atrocious act that he committed.

“He changed his instructions to his legal team because he could not face going into the witness box and telling lies about what happened.”

The court heard that Brabbs, from Easingwold, had many previous convictions, including robbery, criminal damage, possessing cannabis and carrying weapons.