UK: Teenagers guilty of racist murder of taxi driver

London, Jan 27: A gang of white teenagers were found guilty today of the racist murder of an Asian taxi driver beaten to death in Huddersfield last year.

Mohammad Parvaiz, a 41-year-old father of three, was killed last July after he responded to what he believed to be a routine request for a taxi.

He suffered 23 separate injuries in the attack.

Detective Superintendent Tim Forber, who led the police investigation, said it was a horrific crime.

''This was the worst, the absolute worst kind of pack mentality,'' he told reporters.

''It was an appalling act of violence and one that looking back at it ... just seems utterly mindless. It was an absolutely mindless waste of life.'' Graeme Slavin, 18, Christopher Murphy, 18, and Steven Utley, 17, were all found guilty of murder at Leeds Crown Court.

Another teenager, 19-year-old Michael Hand, had earlier pleaded guilty.

Two others, Michael Beeby, 16, and Jason Harris, 17, were cleared of murder and manslaughter, although Beeby was found guilty of violent disorder which all the others had previously pleaded guilty to.

''Quite clearly in this case, racist language was used during the attack and immediately after the attack. It was a racially aggravated offence,'' Forber said.

He said the investigation had shown the main motivation was retribution for an incident that had occurred a few weeks earlier when Murphy's scooter had been damaged after a confrontation with a group of Asian youths.

The gang mistakenly thought Parvaiz had been involved in this because he had been hired to drop off the Asian youths.

The murder stunned the local community and almost 2,000 taxi drivers went on strike as a show of solidarity.

''Mohammad Parvaiz was a loving family man and his life was taken for no reason,'' his family said in a statement.

''We are still in shock about what has happened and we still miss him dearly.''

Reuters