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Stabbed to death

Stabbed to death

Author: Robin Perrie and Guy Patrick
Publication: The Sun
Date: October 24, 2003
URL: http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2003490525,00.html

This smiling baby was knifed to death in a baker's shop by his illegal immigrant dad yesterday.

Ten-month-old Hassan Martin had his throat slashed as mum Lorna, 20, tried to protect him.

Customers in the Greggs branch in Carlisle rushed to overpower the attacker, who was under arrest last night.

Shocked locals named the dad as Shajan Kabir, 39, and said he had been due to be deported from Britain today.

Kabir, thought to be from Bangladesh, had followed Lorna into the branch of Greggs in Carlisle after spotting her in the city's pedestrianised shopping centre.

Lorna was holding Hassan in the queue when Kabir stormed in, ran round the back of the counter and grabbed a kitchen knife.

Customers screamed as he slashed Hassan's neck and then launched an attack on Lorna, cutting her across the wrist.

A security guard and a building site foreman who were in the shop buying their lunches bravely leapt on the attacker.

One floored him with a punch while the other sat on him until police arrived.

Witnesses said up to 20 cops were on the scene in Scotch Street "in seconds" from a police station about 100 yards away.

Hassan was rushed to the Cumberland Infirmary but was dead on arrival from loss of blood. Lorna, who recently split with Kabir, was kept in hospital for treatment and was under sedation last night.

When the attack happened at 11.15am an urgent call went out on Citylink, the radio system which connects all of Carlisle's store security guards and police.

The system - usually used to raise the alarm about shoplifters or yobs - sent several security men running to the bakery.

Other witnesses told how they saw a man brandishing a knife, then heard shrieks.

A worker at the Shelter charity shop, next door to Greggs, said: "I heard screaming outside and then people said a baby had been stabbed.

"A customer came out of Greggs in tears and covered in blood from head to toe."

Another shopkeeper said: "The police arrived very quickly - and I've never seen so many. There must have been 20."

Ahmet Arabi, 37, owner of the nearby Eden Valley fish restaurant, said: "I heard a commotion and saw a guy holding a knife.

"Next minute the woman's hands were bleeding and she was holding the baby - he looked in a very bad way. He was wrapped up in blankets and taken away."

One of the security guards who rushed to help was Ray Howie, 53, who works at nearby Wilkinson's department store.

Wilkinson's manager Ron Cox, 50, said: "Ray got a message that urgent assistance was required at Gregg's. He rushed down and when he came back he said, 'It's unbelievable - someone has stabbed a baby and there is blood everywhere'."

A man sitting under arrest in a police car described how he watched Kabir being taken from the shop.

Glen Stockton, 24, who had been nicked at home minutes earlier for non-payment of a fine, said: "We had just set off from my house when a call came through on police radio.

"The officers told me to hold on tight, put the lights on and swerved through the traffic to Scotch Street.

"There were people panicking and screaming, cars were pulling up. Two policemen pulled a lad from Greggs and put him in a van. He looked spaced out."

The shop was closed immediately after the attack. Police put up a white tent at the front while officers in forensic suits conducted a fingertip search.

Other officers began interviewing witnesses. Piles of flowers, teddy bears and cards were placed outside by shoppers, office workers and schoolkids.

One card read: "Jesus, Jesus, up above, bring this little boy our love." Another read simply: "Go to sleep little darling."

A spokesman for Greggs said: "Our staff are clearly upset and our management team are trying to give them support."

Last night locals on Carlisle's Raffles estate, where Lorna lives with her mother Pauline, told of their shock.

A neighbour said: "They are my best friends. Hassan was such a beautiful little boy and so innocent. It's so awful."

Lorna, who is studying child welfare at Carlisle College, has a sister Zoe. Their mum is divorced from dad Steve.

Shocked Steve said: "This is really awful. I can't believe it has happened."

Molly Graham, 71, another neighbour on the estate on the outskirts of the historic border city, said: "The baby's grandmother had been looking after him quite a lot lately."

The couple met last year when Kabir lived in an Indian restaurant near Lorna's home.

A friend said mum Pauline, who is 40, had accepted the relationship but thought Kabir was much younger than he is.

Cumbria Police confirmed a 39-year-old man had been arrested.
 


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