Four found guilty of killing Naython Muir in Hounslow

Naython Muir, 43, was stabbed in the leg by a large knife on October 13 last year close to Hounslow station after meeting one of the defendants, 48-year-old Philip Jones, to supply him with drugs.

Mahdi Mumin, 24, Khalfani Sinclair, 23, Christian Braimah, 24, and Jones, were all accused of, and denied, Mr Muir’s murder and faced trial at the Old Bailey.

Mumin, dubbed the organiser, Sinclair, the knife carrier, and Jones, the decoy, were found guilty by a jury of murder while Braimah, the driver, was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter.

Mr Muir met Jones in an alleyway in Hounslow on the night of October 13 last year, carrying drugs to supply, the trial heard.

A short while later, the two men emerged from the alleyway and were walking along Parkside Road when Sinclair approached with a knife in hand and stabbed Mr Muir without warning in the leg.

The blow damaged Mr Muir’s femoral artery and vein and he died shortly after being wounded.

Jones and Sinclair ran from the scene, with Jones running towards the main road and catching a bus and Sinclair running to a nearby BMW which was then driven away by Braimah.

Braimah had earlier driven Sinclair and Jones to near the meeting point.

The jury heard that a fourth defendant planned and organised the attack – Mumin.

The prosecution said he played a key role in coordinating the events by remaining in regular contact with the other three.

On what motivated the killing, prosecutors highlighted the “terrible blight of drugs and drug dealing… with all of its attendant rivalries, scope for violence and the constant need to assert primacy and establish dominance over others”.

Mumin, of Islington, Sinclair, from Ashford, Surrey, and Jones, of Feltham, west London, denied but were convicted of murder.

Braimah, of West Drayton, Hillingdon, denied and was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter.

They will be sentenced on November 28.