Small boat migrant jailed for at least 25 years after murdering bank customer

A small boat migrant has been jailed for at least 25 years for murdering a bank customer at random shortly after angrily complaining about his refused asylum application.

Somali national Haybe Cabdiraxmaan Nur, who paid 400 euros (£352) to travel to the UK last year, could be seen on multiple CCTV cameras attacking Gurvinder Singh Johal with a black-handled kitchen knife at a Lloyds Bank branch in Derby in May.

Derby Crown Court heard Nur had called charity Migrant Help less than two hours before the killing, saying he was “going to kill 500 people”, later suggesting he was going to target “doctors, police or people working at the Home Office”.

The 47-year-old had claimed asylum in October last year shortly after arriving in the UK, which was rejected by the Home Office because he had arrived “voluntarily” – a decision he later appealed against.

Jailing Nur for life on Wednesday, Judge Shaun Smith KC told the defendant the murder was a “brutal and callous act”.

He added: “It was a real-life horror film for everyone connected to Mr Johal and everyone who had the misfortune of witnessing your wicked act.”

The court heard Nur was known to police in Italy, Germany, The Netherlands and Luxembourg when he arrived in the UK, including for offences such as assault and robbery.

Nur was also arrested just two months after arriving in the country for violence and public order offences, after allegedly shouting “f*** the English” and calling members of the public “white racist bastards” before headbutting a construction worker.

CCTV of the killing was played to the court, with distressed family members of Mr Johal having to leave the room in tears.

Prosecutor Louis Malby KC said Nur also told Migrant Help he would go live on social media to “talk about how rubbish the UK is”.

A victim impact statement read by the prosecutor on behalf of Mr Johal’s family described him as a “devoted husband, loving father, cherished brother and loyal friend”.

The family said: “Our lives didn’t just change, they shattered. The future now feels like a life sentence of grief.

“Our family is broken. The light in our family has been extinguished.”

Addressing the impact on Mr Johal’s children, the statement added: “They say a monster took daddy away.

“He will never understand the depth of destruction he has caused. He is no man. He is nothing.

“May you or your soul never rest in peace.”

The judge described the murder as a “very public killing” and said whether he will be deported is a matter for the Home Office.

Nur pleaded guilty to murder at a hearing in August.

The court heard after initially travelling to Libya from Somalia in 2016, the killer was sent 1,800 US dollars (£1,362) to board a boat to Europe.

Mr Malby said Nur sold cigarettes illegally while living in camps in France and Italy, and had arranged the 400-euro trip to the UK himself.

As well as the incident in December 2024, the defendant is also recorded as having smashed a window in a phone shop in Derby in April.

In 2023, Nur was convicted of robbery, assault and resisting a public official in Italy – resulting in a suspended prison sentence and a 800-euro (£705) fine.

The killer was also given an oral warning in the same year for damaging electricity meters by hitting them with a knife before setting fire to a mattress.

In 2020, he is also recorded as having damaged a military vehicle and being verbally abusive to police officers.

Nur travelled to Germany in 2023, where he was known to police for robbery, theft of bicycles, cannabis-related offences, dangerous bodily harm and unauthorised stay or declared entry.

He was jailed for just under two months for robbery between June and August of the same year.

In the Netherlands, he was known to the police for public intoxication, disturbance of public order, shoplifting, destruction of a car and failing to comply with an official order.

In Luxembourg, he was known to police for eight alleged incidents of stealing alcohol from shops – with Nur being too drunk to be questioned by officers on seven of those occasions.

The defendant has no previous convictions from Germany, the Netherlands or Luxembourg, the court was told.