An international arrest warrant has been issued for an on-the-run minicab driver after he was convicted of helping the murderers of a student from Kentish Town.

Kyriacos Phantis, 56, drove the killers of 20-year-old Mohammed Abdullahi to and from the scene of his brutal stabbing on June 29 last year, a trial at the Old Bailey heard last week.

On Friday (September 12), Phantis was convicted in his absence of assisting an offender in connection with the killing outside a takeaway in York Way and handed a three-year jail sentence.

Following the verdict, police issued an appeal for help in tracking him down, saying they believe he has fled the country and could be hiding in southern Cyprus.

Former Acland Burghley School pupil Mr Abdullahi, a criminology student from Montpelier Grove, was knifed to death in a bungled revenge attack by Kyle Sober-Froud, 20, Calvin Jerelle Collins, 19, both of Bloomsbury Street, Bloomsbury, and Dean Winston, 20.

Sober-Froud, Collins and Winston were convicted of murder and jailed for life in March.

The trio wrongly believed he was behind a shooting two hours earlier at the windows of Winston’s home in Torriano Avenue, Kentish Town. Nobody was injured in the shooting and there was no evidence linking it to Mr Abdullahi.

Phantis, of Carleton Road, Holloway, had been placed on bail and was due to be tried separately, but he failed to appear at the Old Bailey last week.

In his absence, the trial heard how he ferried the gang around north London on the hunt for those responsible for the shooting outside Winston’s home.

Phantis delivered the three men to York Way – where Winston, Sober-Froud and Collins were caught on CCTV punching, kicking and knifing Mr Abdullahi – before driving them away from the scene as their victim lay dying on the pavement, the court heard.

Prosecutor Kate Wilkinson said Phantis was summoned by Winston shortly before the killing.

“It seems the plan was that Winston and his friends use Phantis to drive them around the area looking for whoever they thought had something to do with the shooting,” she said.

She said Phantis, who was employed by Fleet Cars in Junction Road, Tufnell Park, drove the gang around for 40 minutes looking for the shooting culprits.

“Once they found their target, CCTV reveals they knew just what to do,” she said.

“The three men attacked and killed Mr Abdullahi in just over one minute, then ran to the waiting car and were driven away by Mr Phantis.”

She added: “Mr Phantis pulls out and drives slowly past the attack as it is going on.

“He makes a left turn into Hungerford Road and waits there.”

Anyone with information on Mr Phantis’s whereabouts should contact the police officers dealing with the case on 020 8358 0200 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.