A judge called for the “knife madness to end” today as he locked up three thugs who stabbed an aspiring doctor to death for a total of 69 years.
Ajmol Alom, 16, collapsed yards from his Poplar home last August after the killers plunged kitchen knives and a machete-like blade into his leg as he tried to protect his best friend.
The teenager, who was hoping to study medicine at Oxbridge, had been playing football at a park when the gang approached.
They knifed Ajmol’s friend in the face then turned on the 16-year-old when he intervened. Ali Choudhury, 20, of Poplar, Mashadur Rahman, 22, of Stratford, and Aminur Khan, 20, of Docklands, were convicted of murder after a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
Sentencing the killers, Judge Martyn Zeidman QC said: “I am sure that this was a planned and pre-meditated group attack, carried out in revenge upon a random selection of targets who were entirely innocent.
“This knife madness must end. Precise figures are difficult to obtain but up to the year ending March 2013 there were 26,336 recorded offences involving knives or sharp instruments.”
He sentenced the three killers to life and ordered each to serve a minimum of 23 years.
Reading from a statement by Ajmol’s mother Rohima Khatum, the judge said: “His death has left a massive hole in my life... There is no laughter in our home.”
Muhammod Malik, 22, was acquitted of the charge.
