SOLIHULL MURDER SENTENCE
OLIVER PUGH JAILED FOR LIFE FOR MURDER OF PRIVATE HIRE DRIVER MOHAMMED ISTAKHAR
Oliver Pugh has been jailed for life for the murder of private hire driver Mohammed Istakhar who was stabbed to death in Solihull last November. The 20-year-old was found guilty in July of the murder of Mr Istakhar, who was found with serious injuries. Sadly, nothing could be done to save the 44-year-old. Hours before, Mr Istakhar had picked up Pugh and Luca De Fazio from Birmingham city centre. Mr Istakhar was directed to Braggs Farm Lane in the Earlswood and Dickens Heath area, where Pugh claimed he would fetch his fare from a caravan. However when he returned he was armed with a knife which he used to stab the driver in the chest while he remained constrained by his seatbelt with no chance of escape. Mr Istakhar fled but Pugh pursued him, delivering another knife wound to the leg, before leaving him for dead. The killer then sped off in the victim’s Vauxhall Insignia which he crashed through a hedge and into a field, before removing the PHV stickers and trying to steal registration plates to disguise the vehicle. Two members of the public found Mr Istakhar face down in the road and lifeless within hours of the stabbing. Later that day De Fazio voluntarily attended a police station and told them what happened. His account was accepted by the jury who found him not guilty of murder but he received a one-month sentence for possession of a knife. A wanted appeal was issued for
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Pugh and following a number of leads from the public he was arrested hiding in a caravan in Derbyshire. During interview, both denied any involvement in Mr. Istakhar’s death, suggesting that the other was to blame. On 22 September, at Birmingham Crown Court, Pugh was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 27 years. His criminal past was also revealed including receiving a caution for taking a knife onto a school premises aged 17, as well as convictions for burgling three caravans. Moments earlier the court had been told that 20-year-old Pugh ‘regretted’ killing Mr Istakhar. The trial heard he had shamelessly boasted to a girl outside a chicken shop in Birmingham that he was ‘going to rob a taxi’ that night. While co-defendant De Fazio claimed he told Pugh ‘this is a good taxi driver, don’t do anything’. The 18-year-old also stated Mr Istakhar had begged Pugh to spare his life because he had a wife and children. Reading an emotional statement in court, the victim’s daughter Mariam Hijab, said: “Why did he have to pick these two idiots up? Why did it have to be our father?
He didn’t deserve this at all?” She told how her ‘selfless’ father had worked all of his life in a factory and as a taxi driver, saving and saving to build a ‘dream home’ for the family. Judge Simon Drew KC, passing sentence, said: “It is perfectly clear from what subsequently happened you were intent on causing trouble that evening. You engaged in repeated acts of unprovoked violence. “By the time you got in Mr Istakhar’s taxi and directed him to Braggs Farm Lane I have no doubt you intended to rob this vulnerable public servant at knife-point.” He concluded Pugh had formed the ‘intention to kill’ by the time he attacked the victim and said: “Anyone who stabs someone in the chest with a large knife as you did can have no other intent other than to kill. “Furthermore when he managed to escape from the taxi and from you and run off down the road you hunted him down. “You caught up with him and despite the fact he was bleeding down the road you delivered at least one more
serious stab
wound. When he collapsed and fell you offered no support. Never did you seek any help.” Detective Inspspector Michelle Thurgood from the Homicide Team, said: “This was a horrific attack on a father who was out working that night to provide for his family.
“Our thoughts remain with Mr Istakhar’s family and I hope this sentence can bring them some closure.”
OCTOBER 2023 PHTM
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