MOHAMMED and Bilquis Karim were brutally butchered to death in their shop simply because a teenager wanted money to marry his girlfriend.

And the two youths who carried out the murders spent the night after the savage killings celebrating in Blackburn town centre.

Cold blooded killer Christopher Gavin, 19, and his 17-year-old accomplice Thomas O'Reilly, walked from the jewellery shop to a local taxi firm and caught a cab to Blackburn where they treated themselves to a meal at McDonalds.

The driver of the taxi was given a large tip to "spend on his kids" and Gavin and O'Reilly spent the rest of the night celebrating in clubs and pubs with their cronies.

Gavin also met up with his girlfriend Flora Thompson and gave her an engagement ring taken from the Karim's shop. Gavin's fiancee has since refused to hand back the engagement ring taken in such bloody circumstances.

Police estimate several thousand pounds worth of jewels were stolen from the shop and the two robbers were selling their haul in Blackburn just hours after the double murder.

But the ill fated attempt to make a quick profit from the robbery led police to the two teenagers.

Just days after the killing, word had got back to the detectives investigating the murder and several addresses were raided in the Whitebirk area of Blackburn.

Bracelets and necklaces from the Karims' shop were recovered and proved to be vital evidence in the massive and painstaking murder inquiry.

Police searched the streets around the shop and eventually found the knife used in the murders pushed down a drain. Hours of painstaking examination of CCTV videos helped police piece together the route taken by the teenagers to the shop.

A picture of the two robbers arriving at Preston train station was used as evidence in the court case.

Part of the haul was used to buy cannabis from a Blackburn drug dealer and some was sold off to a pawnbroker. Several expensive items were given away by the duo to friends in Blackburn. Gavin, who is related to Irish travellers, bought a car with the proceeds of the robbery and went on a trip to Ireland with his girlfriend where the rest of the jewellery was sold.

Gavin, who was well known to police in Blackburn, has already served several sentences in young offenders' institutes.

He was eventually arrested when he returned from his holiday in Ireland.

O'Reilly was handed over to the police by his parents when they realised the net around the two teenagers was closing.

O'Reilly, who was born in Ireland but lived in Surrey Road, Whitebirk, is from the same background as Gavin and both have been in trouble with the police in the past.

The two were cousins and had known each other most of their lives. Thomas O'Reilly left school at the aged of ten and spent his time selling scrap metal. He has the mental age of a six-year-old, according to psychiatrists.

He was 16 at the time of the double murder but spent his 17th birthday in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court.

He was also described in court as being full of cunning and extremely streetwise.

Perhaps no one will ever know what went on inside the Karim's shop in the afternoon of Friday, March 19, but one thing is cetain: the couple met a horrible and violent end.

Detectives found one of the two safes in the shop still locked and they are convinced the couple were tortured in an attempt to get at the most valuable items in the shop.

Mrs Karim had terrible wounds to her head and face and there had even been an attempt to stab her in the eyes.

Ironically the locked safe was empty and the Karims only ever used the safe which was ransacked in the robbery.

Chillingly, police also believe Gavin planned the robbery and think one of the reasons was that he never intended to let the Karims live.

Gavin had no get-away vehicle and never attempted to hide his identity.

Detectives say that the killings were cold blooded murders rather than a robbery which went horribly wrong.

Family's nightmare

THE savage double murder of Mohammed "Tony" Karim and his wife Bilquis shattered the tightly knit community of Little Harwood in Blackburn. The mutilated bodies of 52-year-old Mohammed and his 48-year-old wife were discovered by their sons after the couple failed to pick up their four grandchildren from school in Blackburn.

The couple's sons Shafiq and Shabir made the horrific discovery at the shop in Church Street, Preston, late on the afternoon of Friday, March 19.

The family had already fallen victim to armed robbers. A year before the murders, Shabir was attacked in the family's other shop in Lynwood Road, Blackburn. Two masked raiders escaped with £400,000 worth of jewellery after beating up Shabir and tying him up.

Mohammed and Bilquis were the head of a large family which includes five children and 12 grandchildren.

Shabir spoke of the devastating day he stumbled across his butchered parents in the aftermath of the killings. He said: "I had to borrow a hammer from one of the neighbours to smash the door through and I was with my brother.

"They were in the back office of the shop. I was only in there a few minutes. I walked in and saw my mum and dad both lying there on the floor.

"Looking at my dad's injuries and the way my mother looked I realised something terrible had happened."

Mohammed had been stabbed more than 20 times and Bilquis 18 times. The jury at Liverpool Crown Court were told there was evidence Mrs Karim had been tortured and there were slash marks on her face. The middle aged couple were well known and highly respected members of the local community. Hundreds of people turned out for their funeral at Pleasington Cemetery.

The Karim family had moved to Lancashire 30 years ago and owned a successful and thriving business. Shabir said the family came to England to escape the violence in India.

He said: "My dad never had a cross word to say to anyone for years and years, he was so calm about everything. My mum was like the angels.

"They wanted to make their home in England because they had no life security where they came from. In the end they had no life security here."

Mr Karim was known for his generosity and had made large donations to the local mosque. The family had recently returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca and the couple were well known for their devotion to their grandchildren.

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