'He wanted to be a doctor and live in a safe place. Instead he lost his life to a cold-blooded killer'

JUST 16 years old, bright student Ahmad had been living in Huddersfield for a fortnight when he was murdered in the street in the most horrific circumstances imaginable.

- By ANDREW ROBINSON

Young Ahmad had been injured in a bombing in his home city of Homs, Syria, and fled his homeland as a refugee.

His experience of the horrors of war had motivated Ahmad to want to help others and he had dreams of one day becoming a doctor.

Ahmad, who was learning English and had enrolled in college in Huddersfield, had moved to West Yorkshire to be near a relative.

In contrast, his killer, Alfie Franco, was a selfish, drug-addled young man whose violent fantasies and obsession with knives would lead to a murder that shocked Huddersfield.

Franco stabbed Ahmad in the neck as the pair crossed paths in Ramsden Street in Huddersfield town centre. Ahmad, Leeds Crown Court heard, was behaving in a "perfectly peaceful manner," but may have brushed past Franco's girlfriend while walking.

Just a few seconds later, an aggressive Franco had confronted him and stabbed him with a flick knife. Ahmad suffered immediate and massive blood loss, staggered up the street and then collapsed. He died a short time later.

Franco wiped Ahmed’s blood from the blade, put the knife in his pocket and ran from the scene.

The callous and coldblooded murder shocked Huddersfield.

Though few people knew Ahmed, many left cards and flowers at the scene of the attack and spoke of their horror and disgust at what happened.