A third man was today found guilty of the vicious murder of a father-of-two as he tried to stop his father-in-law's car being stolen.
Rashad Zaman, 21, of Apsley Crescent, Manningham, Bradford was found guilty of murder by a majority verdict of the jury of five women and seven men at Leeds Crown Court this lunchtime.
His conviction - by an 11 to one majority - follows guilty verdicts on two other Bradford men over the murder of Halifax dad Kevin Jackson.
Raees Khan, 21, and Rangzaib Akhtar, 20, both of Manningham, were convicted by a jury yesterday of killing Mr Jackson, in Cow Lane, Halifax, last Christmas.
Khan, of Priestman Close, and Akhtar, of Salt Street, had denied murder in a five-week trial.
Mr Jackson, 31, a maintenance engineer, was attacked when he tried to stop a Toyota RAV4 being stolen from outside his house on December 30 last year after his wife Julie, 33, spotted the men around the car. All three defendants admitted trying to steal the vehicle.
Mr Jackson suffered 21 separate injuries including a fatal head wound after being stabbed with a screwdriver. He died in hospital two days later on New Year's Day.
The jury deliberated for 23 hours and 32 minutes before announcing the verdicts on Khan and Akhtar to a packed public gallery in the courtroom yesterday afternoon. The families of the two defendants, who sat alongside members of the media, looked shocked but remained silent as the woman foreman read out the verdicts.
Akhtar stood stony-faced as the verdict, reached by a majority of ten to two, was read out. Khan, standing with his hands clasped behind his back, looked upwards as he was told he had been found guilty by a unanimous verdict.
During the trial, Khan had admitted "poking" Mr Jackson in the head in self-defence but the jury rejected his claim. Akhtar told the court he hid behind bushes in a garden during the attack.
He said when he came out he ran past Mr Jackson lying on the ground but did not realise he was seriously injured.
The jury had earlier found Khan and Zaman guilty of an attempted burglary at a house in Woodside Drive, Cottingley, on Boxing Day last year with intent to steal the keys to an Audi car. Akhtar has already pleaded guilty to the same attempted burglary.
Zaman has already been found guilty by the jury on five charges of car theft in October and December last year. Akhtar denies one charge of car theft. He has admitted another charge of stealing a car.
He was earlier cleared of robbery involving the taking of a car in January this year. Khan was cleared of the robbery of a car which took place in January this year.
All three defendants were acquitted halfway through the trial on the directions of the judge of assaulting a man with intent to rob him of a Toyota Land Cruiser in December last year.
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