Three Asian men jailed for racist murder

Imran Shahid, 29, his brother Zeeshan Shahid, 28, and their cousin Mohammed Faisal Mushtaq, 27, were convicted of the abduction and murder of the Glasgow teenager in 2004.

Kriss, 15, was stabbed 13 times and set on fire while he was still alive on a quiet walkway behind Celtic FC's training ground in the east end of the city.

At the High Court in Edinburgh the trial judge Lord Uist, who said Kriss was targeted at random because he was white, described the murder as an abomination which had "rightly shocked and appalled the public".

Kriss's mother Angela Donald cried: "You bastards," as the verdicts against her son's killers were delivered.

Outside court she thanked those who had helped bring about the convictions for the "hellish murder".

"Justice has been done," she said, while clutching her daughter Samantha. "Thank you. It is over."

Lord Uist said Kriss was selected as their victim only because he was white and walking in a certain part of Pollokshields.

He told the killers: "You have all been convicted by the jury of the racially aggravated abduction and murder of Kriss Donald, a wholly innocent 15-year-old boy.

"This murder consisted of the premeditated, cold-blooded execution of your victim by stabbing him 13 times and setting him alight with petrol while he was still alive. It truly was an abomination."

The judge sentenced Imran Shahid, the ringleader of the "evil expedition", to a minimum 25 years behind bars. "You are a thug and a bully with a sadistic nature and you are not fit to be at liberty in a civilised society," he told him.

Shahid's brother Zeeshan Shahid will have to spend 23 years in prison for playing "an essential part in the commission of the murder". Mushtaq must spend 22 years before being able to apply for parole.

All three had previous convictions and prison sentences for assault stretching back years. At the conclusion of the five-week trial the prosecutor, advocate-depute Mark Stewart, QC, described the killing as "an appalling crime of inhumanity against a defenceless boy".

Kriss was abducted on March 15, 2004, near his home in Pollokshields as the gang of Asian men sought revenge after an incident the previous evening during which one of them was hit with a bottle by a white man at a nightclub.

Kriss had no involvement in the incident and was singled out by the gang simply for being white. He was bundled into a stolen Mercedes as he walked along Kenmure Street in Pollokshields with his friend Jamie Wallace, now 22, who managed to escape.

Kriss was then taken on a 200-mile journey across Scotland before being driven to a secluded spot on the banks of the river Clyde in the east end of Glasgow. When his body was discovered the following morning police forensic officers found pools of blood, a stench of petrol and scorch marks near the spot where he lay.

All three accused fled to Pakistan after the murder. Such was the feeling of revulsion among Glasgow's Muslim community that some wealthy Asian businessmen in the city offered to put up money to have the Shahid brothers and Mushtaq killed in Pakistan.

However, after intensive behind-the-scenes lobbying of senior figures in the Pakistan government by Mohammed Sarwar, MP for Glasgow Central, they were eventually arrested and extradited.

While at large in Pakistan Imran Shahid, the ringleader, was running a sophisticated credit card scam. When the Pakistan Intelligence Bureau arrested him in Lahore last summer, Shahid tried to bribe the officers, offering to transfer 20 million rupees (£175,000) into their bank accounts if they let him escape.

The three denied their part in Kriss's murder, but the jury of six men and nine women found Imran Shahid guilty by unanimous verdict and the other two guilty by majority verdicts.

Last night a Pakistan flag left at the scene of Kriss's abduction read "Kriss U will always be in our prayers. Guilty Guilty Guilty. Sorry from the whole Muslim community. RIP."

All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. THREE Asian men were jailed for life yesterday for the "savage and barbaric" racial murder of teenager Kriss Donald.

Imran Shahid, 29, his brother Zeeshan Shahid, 28, and their cousin Mohammed Faisal Mushtaq, 27, were convicted of the abduction and murder of the Glasgow teenager in 2004.

Kriss, 15, was stabbed 13 times and set on fire while he was still alive on a quiet walkway behind Celtic FC's training ground in the east end of the city.

At the High Court in Edinburgh the trial judge Lord Uist, who said Kriss was targeted at random because he was white, described the murder as an abomination which had "rightly shocked and appalled the public".

Kriss's mother Angela Donald cried: "You bastards," as the verdicts against her son's killers were delivered.

Outside court she thanked those who had helped bring about the convictions for the "hellish murder".

"Justice has been done," she said, while clutching her daughter Samantha. "Thank you. It is over."

Lord Uist said Kriss was selected as their victim only because he was white and walking in a certain part of Pollokshields.

He told the killers: "You have all been convicted by the jury of the racially aggravated abduction and murder of Kriss Donald, a wholly innocent 15-year-old boy.

"This murder consisted of the premeditated, cold-blooded execution of your victim by stabbing him 13 times and setting him alight with petrol while he was still alive. It truly was an abomination."

The judge sentenced Imran Shahid, the ringleader of the "evil expedition", to a minimum 25 years behind bars. "You are a thug and a bully with a sadistic nature THREE Asian men were jailed for life yesterday for the "savage and barbaric" racial murder of teenager Kriss Donald.

Imran Shahid, 29, his brother Zeeshan Shahid, 28, and their cousin Mohammed Faisal Mushtaq, 27, were convicted of the abduction and murder of the Glasgow teenager in 2004.

Kriss, 15, was stabbed 13 times and set on fire while he was still alive on a quiet walkway behind Celtic FC's training ground in the east end of the city.

At the High Court in Edinburgh the trial judge Lord Uist, who said Kriss was targeted at random because he was white, described the murder as an abomination which had "rightly shocked and appalled the public".

Kriss's mother Angela Donald cried: "You bastards," as the verdicts against her son's killers were delivered.

Outside court she thanked those who had helped bring about the convictions for the "hellish murder".

"Justice has been done," she said, while clutching her daughter Samantha. "Thank you. It is over."

Lord Uist said Kriss was selected as their victim only because he was white and walking in a certain part of Pollokshields.

He told the killers: "You have all been convicted by the jury of the racially aggravated abduction and murder of Kriss Donald, a wholly innocent 15-year-old boy.

"This murder consisted of the premeditated, cold-blooded execution of your victim by stabbing him 13 times and setting him alight with petrol while he was still alive. It truly was an abomination."

The judge sentenced Imran Shahid, the ringleader of the "evil expedition", to a minimum 25 years behind bars. "You are a thug and a bully with a sadistic nature and you are not fit to be at liberty in a civilised society," he told him.

Shahid's brother Zeeshan Shahid will have to spend 23 years in prison for playing "an essential part in the commission of the murder". Mushtaq must spend 22 years before being able to apply for parole.

All three had previous convictions and prison sentences for assault stretching back years. At the conclusion of the five-week trial the prosecutor, advocate-depute Mark Stewart, QC, described the killing as "an appalling crime of inhumanity against a defenceless boy".

Kriss was abducted on March 15, 2004, near his home in Pollokshields as the gang of Asian men sought revenge after an incident the previous evening during which one of them was hit with a bottle by a white man at a nightclub.

Kriss had no involvement in the incident and was singled out by the gang simply for being white. He was bundled into a stolen Mercedes as he walked along Kenmure Street in Pollokshields with his friend Jamie Wallace, now 22, who managed to escape.

Kriss was then taken on a 200-mile journey across Scotland before being driven to a secluded spot on the banks of the river Clyde in the east end of Glasgow. When his body was discovered the following morning police forensic officers found pools of blood, a stench of petrol and scorch marks near the spot where he lay.

All three accused fled to Pakistan after the murder. Such was the feeling of revulsion among Glasgow's Muslim community that some wealthy Asian businessmen in the city offered to put up money to have the Shahid brothers and Mushtaq killed in Pakistan.

However, after intensive behind-the-scenes lobbying of senior figures in the Pakistan government by Mohammed Sarwar, MP for Glasgow Central, they were eventually arrested and extradited.

While at large in Pakistan Imran Shahid, the ringleader, was running a sophisticated credit card scam. When the Pakistan Intelligence Bureau arrested him in Lahore last summer, Shahid tried to bribe the officers, offering to transfer 20 million rupees (£175,000) into their bank accounts if they let him escape.

The three denied their part in Kriss's murder, but the jury of six men and nine women found Imran Shahid guilty by unanimous verdict and the other two guilty by majority verdicts.

Last night a Pakistan flag left at the scene of Kriss's abduction read "Kriss U will always be in our prayers. Guilty Guilty Guilty. Sorry from the whole Muslim community. RIP."

By CALUM MACDONALD