The killer of Birmingham teenager, Hassan Mahmood will stay in prison until he is no longer considered a danger to the public.
The 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, must serve a minimum of 16 years in jail for the murder of the teenager last July, Judge Melbourne Inman at Birmingham Crown Court ruled.
Hassan was fatally stabbed in a fight at Oaklands Park in Yardely.
According to the boy’s uncle it had stemmed from a Facebook row and the pair agreed to meet at the park to sort out their differences. There had been a history of ill-feeling between the pair.
Witnesses described how Hassan tried to back away when he saw that his attacker was armed, but the pair ended up fighting on the floor, during which Hassan was stabbed in the back.
When an onlooker intervened, the teenager ran away, leaving his jacket, cigarettes and bus pass at the scene, which officers immediately used to identify him as a suspect.
Hassan was treated by paramedics, but died a short time later at nearby Heartlands Hospital.
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The killer was picked up along with a friend, aged 16, on a nearby street, by passing police officers in the minutes that followed the stabbing, after they saw that he had injuries to his face.
The judge said Hassan had his whole life ahead of him and had many talents and called it a “cowardly attack.”
Hassan’s family in the public gallery wept as the sentence was read.
The judge slammed the “incompetence” of a firm who failed to bring Hassan’s killer to court for sentencing in the morning.
The 17-year-old was not brought from prison because of a mix up, it was claimed, meaning that sentencing had to be adjourned until the afternoon.
