Chechen gangster guilty of Highgate killing

A CHECHEN gangster faces life behind bars after stabbing a student to death when the ethnic tensions of eastern Europe spilled on to the streets of Highgate. Killer Mubarak Suleymanov, 29, plunged a blade into the lungs and liver of Russian Timur Gusev, 2

A CHECHEN gangster faces life behind bars after stabbing a student to death when the ethnic tensions of eastern Europe spilled on to the streets of Highgate.

Killer Mubarak Suleymanov, 29, plunged a blade into the lungs and liver of Russian Timur Gusev, 26, on a patch of wasteland in Shepherd's Hill on the night of May 1, 2008, just yards from Highgate Tube Station.

The killer then plunged his knife into Georgian Roman Kochiev's back, before his jaw was shattered by one of Mr Gusev's friends.

Prosecutor David Fisher QC said: "Perceived debt and an intense inherent dislike between some of those involved, based on ethnicity, were sufficient to cause extreme violence."

Following a six week trial at the Old Bailey, Suleymanov, of Kingsthorpe Close, Nottingham, was convicted of murder and wounding with intent. He was remanded in custody for sentencing on a later.

Adam Terlo, 32, of Everest Court, Leicester, was cleared of murder, attempted murder and an alternative charge of wounding with intent. Terlo, also a Chechen, had driven him to the murder scene but called police when violence broke out.

For more on this story read this week's Ham&High.