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'Honour those who died by staying calm': Judge's plea as eight men cleared of killing three friends during summer riots

'Honour those who died by staying calm': Judge's plea as eight men cleared of killing three friends during summer riots
Mr Justice Flaux calls for calm on the streets of Birmingham and urges the community to respect the jury's findings
Victims: Haroon Jahan, Shazad Ali and Abdul Musavir
PA
Three friends who died when they were hit by a car during last summer’s riots were killed by accident and not deliberately run over, a jury decided today.The prosecution had alleged that Haroon Jahan, Shazad Ali and Abdul Musavir, who were guarding local businesses, were murdered in a modern-day equivalent of a “chariot charge” involving three cars in Winson Green, Birmingham.But the driver of the vehicle that struck them, Ian Beckford, 30, was found not guilty of murder or manslaughter.Afterwards, Judge Mr Justice Flaux – who had earlier instructed the jury to return not guilty verdicts on his seven co-defendants if they cleared Mr Beckford – called for calm on the streets, urging people to respect the jury’s ­findings.The prosecution alleged that all eight defendants were party to a plan to drive a vehicle at a crowd of people in Dudley Road in the early hours of August 10.It was alleged that a Ford Fiesta and an Audi car were used to force pedestrians into the road, where they were hit by a Mazda. But the defendants denied there was any plan to harm pedestrians, and Mr Beckford, the driver of the Mazda, denied deliberately driving into the victims.Mr Beckford, of Quinton, Birmingham, told the court that he was good friends with brothers Mr Musavir, 31, and Mr Ali, 30, and had not intended to knock down, kill or harm any member of the crowd.

In the dock: The eight people accused of killing the three friends last summer
Newsteam

He said it was “absolutely an accident” and said only a “monster” would be capable of deliberately driving into three men. “I was just frightened, I just wanted to get past the group,” he said. “I could not just drive my car into people and kill them. "I wouldn’t do something like that, not in a million years. To me it was absolutely an accident. "There is no way I could have prevented that from happening.”Under cross-examination from prosecutor Timothy Spencer QC, Mr Beckford said: “I am very sorry for what happened. "Two of my friends have passed away because of it, and another person. I’ve got a lot of regrets.”Joshua Donald, who was driving the Fiesta, told the court he was petrified as bricks were thrown at his car, which had been “smashed to pieces” by an onslaught of missiles..He said: “I have been in jail for 10 months for something I have not done.” Hours after the tragedy, 21-year-old Haroon Jahan’s father Tariq made an emotional appeal to groups of youths gathered outside his home in Winson Green.His call for calm was credited with helping to bring an end to the riots and he later received an award for his compassion and dignity. Co-accused Ryan Goodwin, 21, Shaun Flynn, 26, Juan Ruiz-Gaviria, 31, Joshua Donald, 27, Everton Graham, 30, Adam King, 24, and Aaron Parkins, 18, hugged and shook hands with each other in the dock as the verdicts were returned.

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