“Justice has been delayed, but justice has not been denied”: Man jailed for life for murder of former boss

A man has been jailed for life for murdering a restaurant owner with a filleting knife almost 40 years ago.

Riasat Khan stabbed 41-year-old Kazi Ahmad seven times on the neck and chest at a flat in Aberdeen on October 13 1978.

He then fled the country for Pakistan, returning to the UK in the mid 1980s.
Khan, now 63, was arrested on a warrant as he tried to board a flight at Birmingham airport in May last year.

Lord Beckett ordered him to serve at least 16 years as he sentenced him at the High Court in Glasgow.

The judge said: “Justice has been delayed but justice has not been denied.

“The excellent work done by police officers, forensic scientists and pathologists in 1978 stood the test of time leading to your conviction for murder in 2017.

“Had you been arrested in 1978 you would no doubt have been convicted of murder with the sentence of life imprisonment and may well have been released by now.

“Instead your actions have allowed you to spend the best years of your adult life in freedom.”

Mr Khan, from Cardiff, was convicted following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh where he lodged a special defence of self defence.