AN Iraqi asylum seeker has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of murdering a fellow countryman in a Blackburn street.

And Judge Peter Openshaw QC, recorder of Preston, ordered that Samduddin Farhan Hamad should be deported once he has served his jail sentence.

After announcing its unanimous verdict, the jury at Preston Crown Court was told that Hamad had a previous conviction for carrying a blade.

Hamad stabbed to death Iraqi asylum seeker Mokhler Mostafa in Infirmary Street, Blackburn, on January 19 this year. He had two wounds to the face, one in the chest and another in the heart and left lung.

Hamad, of Infirmary Street, claimed that before running off, two white men had killed his friend, who had travelled from Warrington to visit him.

Judge Openshaw said: "Only you know what passed between you and your friend Mr Mostafa that evening. There was a bitter quarrel between you.

"He left you in haste in an attempt to escape from the danger which you presented. You followed him and stabbed him."

Detective Inspector Jim Elston, who led the investigation into the case, said: "I am delighted with the verdict returned by the jury after long deliberations, in my opinion it was the right and proper verdict.

"It concludes what, from the police point of view, has been a very difficult inquiry.

"Hamad was a dangerous individual and was pre-disposed to show violence to fellow asylum seekers. Obviously that concluded in this tragic death of a fellow countryman who Hamad, through the course of the trial, referred to as his friend.

"Hamad throughout his defence said that two white people were responsible for this attack and it is clear he was trying to deflect away the evidence from himself.

"Attacks against asylum seekers are very rare and by and large the asylum community in Blackburn live peacefully alongside the English population."