Man gets life after severed thumb fell from sky

A MAN arrested after his brother-in-law’s severed thumb fell from the sky has been jailed for 30 years for his murder.

Mahmood Ahmad’s left thumb was caught on CCTV falling, possibly from a bird’s beak, to the ground in Ilford, east London, where it was found by a security guard on March 10 last year.

Three days earlier, Ahmad, 41, a fast food worker, vanished from outside his home in Watford, Hertfordshire.

He had been kidnapped by Mohammed Riaz, 34, and taken to an address in Ilford, where he was tortured.

Police believe he was hacked to pieces with possibly a butcher’s saw but his body has never been found.

The victim was one of only two relatives who knew where his sister — Riaz’s wife — Nahid Ahmad was hiding after fleeing the violent thug.

Yesterday, at St Albans Crown Court, Mr Justice Cooke jailed Riaz for life with a minimum 30-year term.

Detective Chief Inspector Melanie Burn, of the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit, led the investigation.

She said: “The behaviour of Riaz and his conspirators is nothing short of barbaric and cruel.”

Riaz, of no fixed abode, was also convicted of kidnap, false imprisonment and three counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

His brother Sharif Mohammed, from Ilford, was jailed for 26 years for murder, false imprisonment and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

His sister Sabra Sultana, 36, from Ilford, was sentenced to three years for perverting the course of justice.

Faisal Chowdhury, 18, from Newham, and Arnold Yousaf, 19, from east London, were sentenced to three years and six months for kidnap and false imprisonment.

Amirzada Hussain, 37, from east London, was found guilty of manslaughter, false imprisonment and one count of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. He was jailed for 12 years.