How lies of calm and cool killer caught up with him in court

STANDING in the witness box at Leeds Crown Court, looking dapper and charming in a dark-blue suit and tie, Alfie Franco was calm, cool and collected.

- By SOPHIE CORCORAN

He looked a million miles from the young man featured in a video smoking a joint just hours before Ahmad Mamdouh al Ibrahim was brutally murdered. In some ways he was. A mask in place, telling lie after lie to jurors in an attempt to get away with his heinous crime.

But in some ways he wasn't. That part of his personality came later in CCTV footage that showed him calmly stab Ahmad in the neck after stopping him and engaging in a verbal altercation, an ice cream in his hand.

Even as he walked away, Franco was seen on camera acting calmly, barely taking notice of Ahmad as he clung to his cut throat, blood dripping to the floor. Anyone in Huddersfield town centre that day who saw Franco walk away would be forgiven for thinking not much had taken place that afternoon. The only moment he showed any emotion was after he walked from the scene, took off his sunglasses and rubbed his faced with his hands.