Calls for public inquiry into ‘catastrophic failure in border safety’ which allowed a failed asylum seeker to homicide an harmless restaurant proprietor
A public inquiry is needed into the ‘catastrophic failure in border security’ which left a failed asylum seeker free to murder a restaurateur at random in a bank, a councillor has said.
Somalian national Haybe Cabdiraxmaan Nur, 47, plunged a knife into the chest of Gurvinder Singh Johal, 37, at a branch of Lloyds Bank in Derby on May 6 – four months after his asylum application was rejected.
Nur had arrived in Britain by small boat in October last year with an extensive criminal history spanning four countries in Europe for offences including robbery and assault.
Councillor Jonathan Smale, deputy leader of the Derby City conservative group, has put forward a motion calling for a public inquiry into the murder of Mr Johal, a father of three.
Mr Smale said the ‘brutal and senseless killing’ had ‘traumatised a family and shattered public confidence in Derby’ but also raises ‘the most serious possible questions about how a clearly dangerous individual, already known to law enforcement overseas, was able to enter the United Kingdom, remain in Derby, and ultimately take the life of an innocent man in our city’.
He said Nur was known to police in at least four separate European countries, had previously served a prison sentence abroad and had already had his asylum application rejected but ‘despite that, his identity remained unclear, his past untraceable, and the danger he posed was not recognised or properly acted upon by the relevant authorities’.
Mr Smale continued: ‘This should never have happened.
‘It is a catastrophic failure in border security, asylum vetting, international information sharing, and local safeguarding. It is our duty as a local authority to do everything in our power to ensure that it never happens again.’
Haybe Cabdiraxmaan Nur, 47, was known to police in at least four separate European countries
Father of three Gurvinder Singh Johal, 37, was stabbed to death at Lloyds Bank in Derby
Haybe Cabdiraxmaan Nur, 47, was sitting on a bench in Derby when father-of-three Gurvinder Singh Johal, 37, walked past him on his way to a branch of Lloyds Bank
In his motion, which will be debated by Derby City Council on Wednesday, Mr Smale called on the authority to demand a public inquiry to look at how Nur was able to stay in the country following repeated arrests abroad and a known criminal history, whether there were failures in communication, and data-sharing and if public protection frameworks are ‘fit for purpose in preventing individuals with known violent history and unclear identity from living unsupervised in our communities’.
He said: ‘We believe these are not minor procedural issues. They represent systemic negligence.’
Referring to his motion Mr Smale said: ‘I understand that immigration is a contentious issue, as is the current asylum system. However, we should not shy away from discussing this and examining what failures occurred that allowed this horrific murder to take place.’
Nur had paid €400 (£350) to travel to Britain last year. He had previously sold cigarettes illegally while living in camps in France and Italy.
Nur had claimed asylum in October last year but his application was rejected by the Home Office. He had appealed the decision.
Just two months after arriving, he was arrested for violence and public order offences when he was heard shouting ‘f*** the English’ and ‘white racist b*******’ while trying to run into traffic.
Despite headbutting a construction worker during the incident, he was not charged with any criminal offence and was still walking the streets four months after he was formally refused asylum – even being put up, at taxpayers’ expense, in a flat leased to government contractor Serco.
Derby Crown Court heard on the day of the murder, he called the charity Migrant Help less than two hours before the killing saying he was ‘going to kill 500 people’.
He later suggested he was going to target ‘doctors, police or people working at the Home Office’ and was said to be angry at his application being rejected when he went into the bank armed with a knife.
Mr Johal was withdrawing money from the bank to pay his staff when he was attacked. Shocking CCTV footage showed Nur – who had drunk three bottles of vodka – walking into the bank on St Peter’s Street and approaching Mr Johal, who was waiting in a queue.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he produced a knife and stabbed Mr Johal in the chest.
As the father of three collapsed on to his front, fatally injured, Nur ‘calmly’ left the branch having spent just 22 seconds inside.
It was later discovered he was known to police across Europe. In 2023, Nur was convicted of robbery, assault and resisting a public official in Italy, resulting in a suspended prison sentence and a €400 fine.
In Germany in 2023 he was accused of stealing bicycles and a serious assault. He was jailed for just under two months for robbery between June and August of 2023.
He was jailed for life in October, having pleaded guilty to murder at an earlier hearing.
Mr Johal, known to friends as Danny, lived in West Bromwich with his wife and children aged five, three and one, but owned several businesses including the Hen And Chickens restaurant in the Shelton Lock area of Derby.
Deputy Chief Constable Simon Blatchly issued a statement in response to the calls for a public inquiry in which he said Derbyshire police was not aware of any previous contact with law enforcement in other countries prior to Nur’s arrival in the UK – or that he had served a prison sentence abroad.
He said the force only learnt this following his arrest and the subsequent murder investigation.
Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Alex Norris, said: ‘Our thoughts remain very firmly with the loved ones of Gurvinder Johal, after his horrific murder.
‘This was a terrifying and shocking incident, which we will not tolerate. Any foreign national who commits a heinous crime on the streets of Britain will face justice and then be subject to deportation from our country.’
