A BLACKBURN father-of-six hired as a hitman in a New York shooting was due to be sentenced today.

Mansoor Qadar, of Linden Avenue, was found guilty of murder-for-hire, conspiring to murder-for-hire and using a firearm for murder-for-hire at the Federal Court in Brooklyn in April.

Following an agreement with the US government, Qadar, extradited from Britain last year, was spared the death penalty. He faces a life sentence with no parole.

The court heard how Qadar was offered $60,000 (£41,500) to shoot three people, including his niece, after a row over an arranged marriage.

In November 1996, he flew to New York from Blackburn and shot Shaukat Parvez, 33, in the chest, leaving him to die on a pavement in the Queens district of the city.

Mr Parvez was married to Qadar's pregnant niece Rubina Malik, who was also on the hit-list.

Qadar has always maintained his innocence and during the trial turned down an offer of 20-years in jail if he pleaded guilty.

Qadar's wife Fehmeeda and brother Khalid Hussain, of Holland Avenue, Blackburn, flew to America for the trial. Both sat in silence as the verdict was announced.

A second man, Omar Malik, was also charged but is fighting extradition in a Pakistani jail. Qadar's brother Rahmar Malik, a wealthy Pakistani landowner, who it was said offered the money for the killings, has not been charged.