Ahmed Farah gets life term for killing teenager Mahir Osman

Published: 25th March, 2011
by DAVID ST GEORGE

A FOURTH man has begun a life sentence for the “brutal and senseless” killing of a teenager.

Gang warfare between young Somalis led to the “shocking” death of Mahir Osman, 18, the Old Bailey heard on Friday. Judge Richard Hone, QC, sentenced his “cowardly” killer, Ahmed Farah, 24, from Islington, to a minimum 16 years following his conviction by a jury.

Farah played a leading role in the attack on the engineering student by a gang in Camden Town in 2006. They tried to escape on a double-decker bus, but police rounded them up.

After being bailed Farah “went to ground”. He was arrested at Heathrow last July as he tried to board a flight for Canada. He maintained in court he had been mistakenly identified as a knifeman. Farah is the 16th gang member to be convicted of involvement in the murder.