Mahi Noor (Image by Met Police)

The Metropolitan Police has confirmed that a man who stabbed to death a fellow hostel resident in east London following a row over text messages has been jailed for life.

Mahi Noor, 25, of Lea Bridge Road, Leyton was found guilty on Tuesday, 24 January following a trial at the Old Bailey of the murder of 32-year-old Abdi Khadar Adan. On Thursday, 26 January, he was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years’ imprisonment. He also received a consecutive three-year sentence for perverting the course of justice.

Kieran McHugh, 31, also of Lea Bridge Road, Leyton pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to perverting the course of justice and was given a 20 month sentence. He was acquitted of murder and manslaughter. McHugh has been and will continue to be detained at a specialist facility under the Mental Health Act.

The court heard that on 22 August 2021, Abdi went into Noor’s bedroom, only to come out six and a half minutes later bleeding profusely after being stabbed through the neck.

Officers, the London Ambulance Service and the London Air Ambulance all scrambled to the scene and desperately tried to help Abdi. He was rushed to hospital but he was sadly pronounced dead shortly after arriving.

Meanwhile, Noor and McHugh made a sharp exit from the hostel and disposed of the murder weapon – in a futile bid to hide it from the police.

Detective Chief Inspector Larry Smith, the senior investigating officer from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said, “It is extremely sad that Abdi lost his life in a horrific act of violence all over some heated text messages. Violence is never the answer, and we will robustly target and bring to justice anyone who thinks it is.”

The jury heard that Abdi moved into the hostel less than a month before his murder, on 24 July, 2021. Noor and McHugh already lived there and had become close friends.

By 1 August, 2021, just over a week after his arrival, Abdi was in regular phone contact with Noor, often messaging about cannabis. It was suggested that Noor was possibly supplying Abdi with the drug.

On 11 August, 2021, tension rose between the pair with Abdi texting Noor telling him to be a man of his word and ‘bust’ his head. The men continued arguing, with it being clear Noor had previously threatened violence to Abdi.

After this, the pair continued to message with no arguments – mainly about cannabis. However, the messages turned confrontational again on the day of Abdi’s murder.

At 13.49hrs on 22 August 2021, Abdi went into Noor’s room, leaving nearly 30 minutes later. Three minutes later, Abdi returned to Noor’s room but did not enter. He phoned him but got no answer.

Over the next 25 minutes Abdi continued to try and get hold of Noor, either by knocking on his door, calling or looking up at his room from the courtyard. Noor replied at 14.29hrs asking ‘what’s going on.’

The pair continued to communicate over text, with the messages getting increasingly heated with Noor telling Abdi to ‘remember where he rests his head.’

Abdi continued to try and contact Noor over the phone and by knocking on his door, bu Noor did not answer.

At 16.08hrs, Abdi went into the courtyard and shouted up to Noor’s room ‘why tell me to come up if you’re not going to open the door?’

At 16.21hrs, Noor finally let Abdi into his room – which is when he was fatally stabbed. Abdi left the room at 16:28hrs, bleeding heavily, and made it to the hostel reception where he asked the manager to call him an ambulance.

At 16.30hrs, Noor and McHugh fled the scene and ran to nearby Manor Road, where McHugh hid the knife in some shrubs while Noor kept watch. Officers later recovered the knife, which had Abdi’s blood on it and Noor’s DNA.

The defendants walked away and called for a taxi to take them to Victoria Railway Station, with Noor calling 90 seconds later to chase the booking, clearly anxious to get away from the scene.

McHugh was arrested back at his hostel room on 23 August 2021. Noor was arrested two days later in north London on 25 August 2021, giving a false name to police. A quantity of cannabis was found on him.

Whilst waiting to be booked into custody, Noor made a comment to officers saying, “Congratulations, I’ve made myself famous.”

Noor gave a prepared statement saying the cannabis found on him was for personal use, and answered no comment to all questions. He was charged with murder on 26 August 2021.