Investigation

Investigation

On the 22nd April 2006, a double murder enquiry (Operation Barceloneta) was launched after the deaths of Mohammad Ali and Hayder Ali. In this investigation, three brothers (Javaad, Fawaad and Hammad Bhatti) became the Police’s main witnesses.

For ease, the groups will be referred to as the Bhatti group, and the Tooting group.

The entire nights events started after Hammad Bhatti claimed to have been slapped in the face by Hassan Mir outside the Chicken Cottage in Tooting, at 21:00pm. Hammad Bhatti then drove to his uncle's house and called his brothers, who then gathered others, including the two victims.

At approximately 22.15pm the Bhatti group returned to Tooting at the junction of Upper Tooting Road and Foulser Road; they rushed out of the van and attacked a Green Volkswagen Polo with a hammer, smashing the rear windscreen. The Bhatti group then absconded. This vehicle belonged to Azam Butt, whom was part of the Tooting group.

At 22.40pm the van returned to Tooting and was attacked at the junction of Upper Tooting Road and Dafforne Road. The van drove off after it was attacked. This was all captured on CCTV.

At approximately 00.05am. the Bhatti group returned to Tooting and stopped at the junction of Upper Tooting Road and Noyna Road. Again, the Bhatti group jumped out of the van and attacked the VW Polo belonging to Azam Butt. One of the members of the Bhatti group used a machete to cut the black plastic lining, which had been placed on the rear window of the vehicle earlier, after being smashed with a hammer. One of the tyres was also stabbed and damaged. (Hamaad Bhatti's DNA was later found all over the blade of the machete)

The Bhatti group then returned to the van and drove up Noyna Road, turning left into Glenburnie Road and then immediately taking another left, down into Fircroft Road. The Bhatti brothers claimed that a small white car blocked their way at the junction of Upper Tooting Road and Fircroft Road.

The interesting note here is, had the Bhatti brothers wanted to leave the area, there were several routes they could have taken to get away, but instead they chose to come back down Fircroft Road, towards the Upper Tooting Road. Furthermore, by returning to the same locality, immediately after the Noyna Road incident, their intentions were clear. They were not satisfied with their earlier actions, and had intentions for a full-scale fight.

The Bhatti group exited the van and the Tooting group ran across the Upper Tooting Road, and attacked the van. The first victim, Mohammad Ali was stabbed in the abdomen once; the second victim, Hayder Ali, came back down Fircroft Road to help his older brother. He was then surrounded and attacked, suffering 4 stab wounds to the back.

Whilst the attack on the Ali brothers was taking place, the Bhatti group stood further up Fircroft Road, watching the entire attack. Having instigated a fight, they stood back and watched. The Tooting group fled after the attack, and the Bhatti group made their way back towards the victims. Two independent witnesses saw someone put a rag or plastic bag down a drain. The witnesses detained the person until the police arrived. That person was Hammad Bhatti, who attempted to discard a Stanley knife. He was later arrested, and then de-arrested.

The Police had taken 20 minutes to arrive at the scene. Favaad Bhatti left just after the police had arrived. Hamaad Bhatti gave a statement to the police at 03.15am, claiming that he and his brother Javaad, had been in the van with the two Ali brothers, on the way to a Pizza shop on the Upper Tooting Road. There was no mention of the earlier incidents, or that Favaad Bhatti and 6 other people were in the van.

Very early on in the investigation, it became clear that the Bhatti brothers had come to Tooting for retaliation, and kept returning over the course of three hours. They stood back and watched the Ali brothers being attacked. The bodies of the Ali brothers were not yet cold and the Bhatti brothers proceeded to give false statements, to protect themselves. The Bhatti brothers gave the police a list of names of people involved in the night's events, some were later proven to have never been at the scene that night. The Bhatti's were simply settling old scores.

The police investigation team withheld evidence that would have been critical to the Bhatti brothers. The investigation from the outset was flawed and unbalanced, and through manipulation of evidence, the Police were able to downplay the role of the Bhatti brothers. In their statement, the Bhatti brothers claimed to have met Zak Uddin on Trinity Road at midnight, and were told by Uddin to "go down Fircroft Road the Tooting group want to talk it through". The Bhatti brothers claimed this is the reason they ended up on Fircroft Road.

During the second trial, a solicitor for one of the defendants was able to obtain CCTV from a bus on Trinity Road. The CCTV footage showed that the meeting between Zak Uddin and the Bhatti's took place at 22.42pm. The footage confirms the Bhatti's had given a false account, and had colluded in this endeavour. The police failed to disclose the CCTV footage.

A day after the death of both Ali brothers, there was a meeting at the Ali family household. The Bhatti brothers, the victims' father, and two of his friends; Rahil Butt and Taher Hassan were all present. A log of this meeting was made by the Police Liaison officer. This was not disclosed until the second trial, when it was ordered by the trial Judge.

Once the investigation was concluded in 2007, it clearly stated that Hassan Mir had killed Mohammed Ali, and that Mir and Imran Hussain had killed Hayder Ali. The rest of the defendants were secondary parties to the murder.

Taking that into account, the question is, how did Imran Aslam get convicted for killing Hayder Ali, and sentenced on that basis?

Does the Police or Prosecution accept they got it wrong then, or now?

By the time Imran Aslam had returned, no new evidence or information had come to light, which showed that he had killed Hayder Ali. No justice has been served yet to the victims and their families, and those responsible have not been held accountable.

This is all due to a poorly executed investigation, in which the Police were solely interested in gaining convictions, not justice. To hell with the truth?