Huddersfield Man Convicted of Murder in Daylight Knife Attack
A man from Huddersfield has been convicted of the murder of a Syrian teenager in a ruthless knife attack in the town centre. The incident occurred on 3 April when 20-year-old Alfie Franco, from the Crescent area in Kirkburton, assaulted 16-year-old Ahmad Al Ibrahim with a flick-knife. According to court details, the young victim had simply passed by Franco’s girlfriend when events escalated.
Eyewitness accounts reveal that a brief verbal exchange preceded the attack. Franco then struck Ahmad in the neck with a hidden knife, causing him to bleed to death at the scene. Although Franco fled immediately after the incident, he later claimed in court that he acted in self-defence—asserting that he believed Ahmad was reaching for a weapon concealed in his waistband. However, the jury returned a guilty verdict in less than four hours.
Franco, who had previously admitted to possessing a knife in a public place, is scheduled for sentencing on Friday.
Details from the Trial
The court learned that Ahmad, a Syrian refugee who had escaped a war-torn homeland after suffering injuries in a bombing, had only recently begun his new life in Huddersfield, having arrived just a few weeks earlier. On the day of the attack, he was walking with a friend when he encountered Franco, who reportedly took “some petty exception” to the teenager simply walking past his girlfriend.
CCTV footage presented at the trial captured the moments leading up to the stabbing. In the footage, Franco is seen speaking before calling Ahmad over and then retrieving a knife from his pocket. Prosecutors argued that Franco deliberately concealed the weapon until the final moment, ensuring that the unarmed teenager had no opportunity to defend himself.
Reactions and Statements
Temporary Detective Superintendent Damian Roebuck, who led the police investigation, described the incident as “horrific” and “chilling in its simplicity and brutality.” He emphasized that there was no justification for Franco’s actions, noting that the knife was used in a deliberate and targeted manner against someone who had not provoked him. Roebuck recalled that Ahmad was remembered by his family for his kind nature and his hope for a future far removed from the conflict in Syria. The loss of such a bright young life has left the community in deep sorrow.
Ahmad’s uncle, Ghazwan Al Ibrahim, also expressed profound grief over the senseless act. He explained that Ahmad had come to the UK with the hope of building a better life, leaving behind a war-torn environment. The uncle lamented the tragedy of losing his nephew so suddenly and in such a brutal manner, adding that the pain of having to inform family members about the loss would remain with him forever.
In his closing remarks, prosecutor Richard Wright KC argued forcefully that stabbing someone in the neck during a minor altercation could not be justified as self-defence. He described Franco as unnervingly calm when he delivered the lethal blow and emphasized that the evidence painted a picture of a young man with a fascination for knives who was under the influence of drugs at the time of the attack.
Additional evidence indicated that Franco had expressed violent intentions shortly before the incident and had recently used substances including cannabis, cocaine, diazepam, ketamine, and codeine. This further undermined his claim of self-defence and reinforced the jury’s decision to convict him.
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