Popular man, so why did 1994 appeal meet with no response?

IN a desolate car park near playing fields off Lambley Lane, Gedling, a milkman on his early morning rounds found the body of taxi driver Ethsham Ul Haq Ghafoor, writes Rebecca Sherdley.

His killing bore all the hallmarks of a professional execution. He was shot twice as he sat in his cab – once in the side and once in the head.

The murder weapon – believed to be a semi-automatic handgun – was never found.

What police do know is that Mr Ghafoor, known as Shami, visited a petrol station at the junction of Mapperley Plains and Woodthorpe Drive in the early hours of Tuesday, November 22, 1994.

Just over three hours later, his body was found in the driver’s seat of the black-and-white Ford Sierra, registration number G165 NMW.

Because Shami was a popular man and well liked by his colleagues, police investigating his death were baffled by the lack of response to their repeated appeals for information – even after they brought in interpreters to encourage people from the Asian community to come forward.

Shami was a loyal man, said his sister, Aisha Ghafoor. He was from a close-knit family. He would help anyone out, was very caring, had many friends, a people person, and was well-known in the community.

Aisha said: “He was funny and had a sense of humour. He had a young boy and his daughter was born five months after his death.”

He worked for his father’s taxi company in Alfreton Road, Nottingham, at the time of his death and enjoyed his work.

Eldest sister Shamina Ghafoor recalls the last time she saw him before he died.

Shami, a self-employed driver who lived in Sherwood Rise, spent some time with his younger brothers and then said: “I’m going.” He never came back. He was not due to work that evening.

“He was going to pay the rent for the taxi in The Meadows, which he did,” explained Shamina. “He fuelled up somewhere on Mapperley Plains.

“Police found footage of him in Mapperley Plains and in the petrol station. When he went to pay rent for the taxi in The Meadows, on the video camera, he looked normal on there and it was before 1pm.”

Anyone with information is urged to contact police by calling 101, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

People can also call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.