Man jailed for murder of drug dealer in London Colney street

Anis Anderson stabbed Londoner Ahsanullah Nawazai to death as he went to rob him of crack cocaine and cash in London Colney.

Police in Walsingham Way on the night of the murder

After considering their verdicts for 11 hours 21 minutes, a jury of five men and seven women at St Albans Crown Court cleared the co-defendant Carla Callum, 30, of both murder and an alternative count of manslaughter.

Anderson attacked Mr Nawazai, from Walthamstow, as he sat in a grey Nissan Qashqai outside Carla Callum's home in Walsingham Way, London Colney, on the evening of November 28.

Mr Nawaziai, who was known as Marshall, managed to get out of the car and was found collapsed and bleeding outside St Bernadette Catholic Primary School by a woman jogger shortly before 7.13pm.

He was wearing a T-shirt, jeans, white socks, but no shoes. A crumpled £20 note was half hanging out of his jeans' pocket.

The jogger went to his aid and called for an ambulance but he later died at Watford General Hospital.

Prosecutor Steven Perian QC said Mr Nawazai had been lured by mobile phone calls to outside Callum's home, where he was "viciously and brutally stabbed and robbed of his drugs and money".

A post-mortem examination revealed he suffered a number of stab injuries caused by a bladed weapon, including a fatal stab wound to the chest.

There were further stab wounds to the chest and the left arm as well as cuts to the left forehead, right outer eye, right arm and both hands.

When the police searched the Nissan Qashqai, it was blood-stained and no drugs were recovered.

A black latex glove was found in the centre console. Its thumbs and wrist sections were missing. The victim's blood was on the outside and Anderson's DNA was found on the inside.

In the kitchen sink at 4 Walsingham Way, where both defendants were living at the time, the police found was a wet black-handled knife and three pieces of a black glove.

An expert said two of the three pieces of the glove came from the same glove found in the console. DNA from Mr Nawazai and Anderson were also found on the knife.

During the two-week trial the jury heard that the defendants left the scene together. CCTV footage showed them entering the Broad Colney Lakes Nature Reserve in London Colney, where the prosecution alleged items linked to the stabbing were dumped.

They then went to the Elstree Inn Hotel at Shenley Road, Borehamwood, where they paid a deposit for a room in cash. Carla Callum gave her name as Kirsty Smith. They stayed there for two nights before leaving on November 30.

On that day, Carla Callum approached a police cordon during the search of Walsingham Way. She told the officers: "I live at number 4. I have been away for a few days."

She was arrested. Anis Anderson was arrested on December 1 in Sydney Road, Tilbury.

In the witness box, Carla Callum said she bought drugs from Mr Nawazai. She described him as a very nice guy who would take her for a milkshake and she would never have hurt him.

Anis Anderson said he had been sofa surfing until he moved in with Carla Callum.

He claimed Carla Callum had told him to rob Mr Nawazai or she would make him leave her home.

He said he went out to the car and sat in the passenger seat where he was attacked by Mr Nawazai. The knife, he said, fell from his pocket and was picked up by Mr Nawazai. He said there was a "push and pull struggle" in which the victim was fatally wounded.

Kevin Molloy, defending, said Anderson was "profoundly sorry". He said the crime was uncharacteristic, saying Anderson had only one previous conviction for carrying a lock-knife.

Anderson, from Fordwych Road, London NW2, was sentenced for life with a minimum term of 24 years, minus the 184 days he has already served in custody.

Jailing Anderson, Judge Michael Kay QC said: "Whatever illegal activity Mr Nawazai was involved in, he was a beloved brother, son and friend.

"We will never know what the future held for him if he could have turned his life around."

The judge excused the jury from further service for the next 10 years.