Illegal Immigrant Jailed for Murder

From The Asian News:

An illegal immigrant has been jailed for life for murdering a Romanian man in Longsight, Manchester.

Haroon Ahmed Niged, aged 27 of Stockport Road, Longsight, pleaded guilty at Manchester Crown Court Crown Square to murdering Marian-ion Matei.

Niged was jailed for life, and ordered to serve a minimum sentence of 14 years.

Marian-ion Matei, 23, was found dead on Friday 30 January 2009 at a flat on Hamilton Road, Longsight.

Shortly after midnight, one of Niged's friends went to Longsight Police Station and reported that a man had been murdered and was in a room of a flat on Hamilton Road, Longsight, which Niged had started renting just a few days beforehand.

Quick-thinking officers went to straight the house and managed to arrest Niged as he was trying to leave.

Niged, an illegal immigrant from Pakistan, had told the witness he had killed Marian in a row over his girlfriend and asked if he would let him use his car to dispose of the body, but the witness refused.

Officers attended and discovered the body of Marian-ion Matei under the bed, wrapped in a curtain, with his legs bound with rope.

A post mortem examination concluded he died from strangulation.

Detective Sergeant Carl Jones said: "It's sad that a young man has lost his life in this way. He was a man who had come to this country, like so many others, for a better life."

In a Victim Impact Statement, given to the court, Marian's sister, Monica, said: "Marian was my younger brother and he was born when I was about seven. I have always cared very deeply for him and when the opportunity came for him to spread his wings, his first choice was to come and live with me and my family in Spain.

"He was always polite and never complained about anything. I know most older sisters complain about their younger brothers but Marian was so different and we were so close.

"Since his murder my own life has been turned upside down. I now no longer live in Spain and me and my husband are in the middle of a divorce. This divorce is as a direct result of Marian's death because I cannot cope with the loss. This split has affected my children and they and I are now back in Romania trying to support the rest of the family. My entire family has been completely destroyed by his death. I think the problems have been made a lot worse because we cannot understand English.

"We are a poor family and cannot afford to come to England to see the man who killed our brother be convicted for what he has done. This has really upset my family and in particular my mother who is not in the best of health in the first place. She, like the rest of us is really struggling with life."