Teenage machete killers jailed for life after Sheffield attack

KNIFE crime is a “scourge on our society” a judge told two teenagers who murdered a man in a machete attack, a court heard.

Thomas Hardiman and Xander Howarth, both 18, were jailed for life for killing 19-year-old Adam Abdul-Basit. They will each serve a minimum of 19 years, Sheffield Crown Court heard yesterday.

The court heard how there was bad feeling between Howarth and Mr Abdul-Basit over drug dealing and the defendants “harboured an intention to attack Abdul-Basit should the opportunity arise”.

The pair chased their victim into a residential garden in the Richmond area of Sheffield on May 8 and attacked him with the large knives they were carrying, leaving him with fatal injuries.

Sentencing the pair, the Recorder of Sheffield Judge Jeremy Richardson KC said: “Those who carry knives in public are a scourge on our society and must be punished severely, in my judgment.

The judge acknowledged that both teenagers had terrible upbringings, telling Howarth: “It is small wonder you descended into the swamp of drug usage and drug dealing.”

But Judge Richardson said: “You both had knives with you and you had them for violence should the need arise and should you feel the necessity to use those weapons.

“Each of you had an easy way with knives and you were both prepared to use them.”

He added: “These knives were large and could be used to inflict murderous and grievous injuries.

“Both of you used those knives with ferocious vigour upon the deceased.”

In a statement read to the court, Mr Abdul-Basit’s mother Ferzana Afsar said her son was “the light of my life, he was my world, my light, my everything.”

Hardiman and Howarth were both 17

‘These knives were large and could be used to inflict murderous and grievous injuries’

at the time of the killing. They were caught on CCTV wielding knives as they chased their victim into the front garden of a property in Smelter Wood Road, officers said.

Howarth, who was wearing a balaclava and stab vest, walked towards Mr Abdul-Basit with a machete raised over his head before swiping in his direction, they added.

After the defendants were found guilty of murder earlier this month, Det Chief Insp Phil Etheridge, of South Yorkshire Police, said Mr Abdul-Basit “died all alone on a stranger’s doorstep while his attackers showed complete cowardice in fleeing the scene and trying to evade justice”.