After killing rocked nation
a drug-dependent friendship
Such was Richards’ level of addiction that he depended on Hope to inject heroin into otherwise unreachable parts of his anatomy after the veins in his arm collapsed.
Hope himself was no stranger to the police. He was jailed for six years in 1997 for kidnapping and robbing a couple walking along a Cardiff street.
After shouting racist abuse from his car he attacked them, forced both into the vehicle and drove off at speed, later crashing. Hope and an accomplice then made off on foot.
While in jail he broke the nose of a prison guard and, once released, he sprayed a noxious liquid in a security guard’s face after he was caught shoplifting. He was later convicted of possessing an offensive weapon and sentenced to a community order and drug rehabilitation programme.
Seventeen days after Aamir’s murder, the team of detectives working on the case made a breakthrough – a Drunk Punk top was found on the Taff embankment. This contained DNA that would prove vital in the case against Hope and Richards.
In February 2013, following a four-and-a-half-month trial at Swansea Crown Court, the pair were found guilty of Aamir’s murder and the attempted murder of his parents. They were sentenced to 40 years in prison each. They would later appeal the sentences but this would be rejected.
After the sentencing, Umbareen Siddiqi, Aamir’s sister, said: “On behalf of the family, we’re delighted. We feel this sentence is appropriate.
“Our brother won’t return to us but this will go some way to achieving peace for all of us.”
Despite the successful convictions the case was not yet over. outside.
During the case it was said the killing had been a tragic case of mistaken identity and it was alleged that Hope and Richards had been paid £1,000 to carry out a “hit” on a father of four who lived in a neighbouring street.
The trial judge, Mr Justice Royce, called Hope and Richards “staggeringly incompetent” after it emerged they had gone to a similar looking red-brick, end-of-row house around the corner from the home of their intended target.
After he was given his cash, Hope went on a spending spree. He started by buying new trainers at a Cardiff store, with money from a cash-crammed envelope, as the salesman later remembered.
He then took a taxi to an out-oftown computer store, ensuring he was remembered by asking the driver to wait for his return.
Once inside the store he paid about £700 for a laptop and told a bemused salesman taking down his details that his name was Mr Smith.
Within days, he had pawned the new laptop for a fraction of its true value to pay for drugs to feed his addiction.
Before the trial even began police had been looking for Mohammed Ali Ege, a businessman from Cardiff.
He had allegedly paid Hope and Richards to kill a rival over a collapsed property deal.
Crimewatch and Interpol appeals were issued but Ege left the country.
He is believed to have fled the UK to France on a cross-Channel ferry – wearing a wig to cover his distinctive shaven head.
It is believed from France he went to Spain, Morocco, Senegal, Nepal and Bahrain before arriving in India.
While on the run, Ege was allegedly using a number of false identities and had even made several trips overseas using his aliases.
Eight images of Ege – including three of him wearing a wig and several with him having adopted facial hair – were circulated to detectives in India who were trying to track him down.
He reportedly held an Indian passport, issued on February 18, 2011, and showing his date of birth as November 22, 1978, in the name of Abdul Malik.
In May 2011 Ege allegedly obtained an “age certificate” from a hospital in the name of Abdul Jabbar, in which his date of birth was given as 1975.
He was also said to have had two driving licences in the name of Abdul Mallik, again using the 1978 birthdate.
Ege was also said to have three voter ID cards in different names – Abdul Mallik, Abdul Jabbar and Mohammed Abdul Kareem. He also reportedly had an income tax account card in the name of Abdul Mallik, which was issued on January 4, 2011.
Ege’s British passport gives his date of birth as October 21, 1977.
During the time that he was living in India police think he made trips to Laos, Thailand, Nepal, Bangladesh and Gambia.
He was arrested in October 2011 and was believed to have been held in Cherlapally Central Jail in Hyderabad, awaiting extradition.
The extradition process can be very lengthy and, also facing four charges in India, he was taken from prison to Patiala House courts in Delhi on April 12, 2017. It was from here he escaped by removing the window grills of the washroom he was in.
Commander Mahendra Kumar Rathod told reporters in India at the time: “After the court proceedings the accused was being brought back to Hyderabad by a train.
“The escort team reached the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station to board a train to Hyderabad and were waiting at the Government Railway Police room.
“The accused requested the police to allow him to go to the washroom and he escaped from there by removing the window grills of the washroom.”
It has now been 15 months since Ege absconded from police custody in India.
It is more than eight years since he allegedly gave the order that robbed a teenager of his future and a family of their son.
South Wales Police refused to provide an update on the hunt for him.
Ege lived in the Riverside area of Cardiff and is believed to retain strong links to the city.
It is thought he has financial support and last year South Wales Police said they “believe that somebody in this country knows something about Mohammed Ege’s whereabouts and urge such people to contact us”.
■ Anyone with information can call police on 101 quoting reference 1700150924 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.