Killer of Thavisha Peiris was knife robber on bail

Two cousins have been jailed for a total of 47 years for murdering a pizza delivery driver in a frenzied knife attack, just days before he started his dream job.

Sheffield Student Thavisha Pereis was left to bleed to death in his delivery vehicle by his killers, one of whom was on bail at the time of the attack.

Tonight a friend of Thavisha's said justice had been served. Jon Hill reports.

Two men have been sentenced today for the killing of Sri Lankan student Thavisha Peiris.

Mr Peiris was finishing his last shift as a pizza delivery driver before starting a dream job when he was stabbed to death.

Kasim Ahmed was jailed for twenty-three years, while Shamraze Khan will serve a minimum of twenty-four.

Passing sentence Mr Justice Coulson said of Ahmed: "You are a dangerous man...you brutally killed a person carrying out a kind of public service."

He said he had a truly terrible record for someone so young and said: "This was a murder that was waiting to happen in light of your criminal record."

He said had Ahmed been eighteen rather than seventeen at the time of the killing the starting point of the sentence would have been a minimum of thirty years.

The court heard a statement from Thavisha Peiris' family in which his father said: "We have lost the most caring and loving son a parent could have...we are now left with nothing but a broken heart."

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service said the murder had left Mr Peiris' family devastated:

An 18-year-old who murdered the Sri Lankan pizza delivery driver Thavisha Peiris in Sheffield last year was a convicted knife robber who was on bail at the time of the killing, Sheffield Crown Court has heard today.

Kasim Ahmed stabbed 25-year-old Mr Peiris on his last shift at Domino's Pizza. The victim had been working to pay back his father for funding his education and was shortly due to begin his dream job as an IT consultant.

Ahmed and 26-year-old Shamraze Khan, who was found guilty of murder yesterday, are being sentenced today.

Khan carried out the killing just eight days after he was freed on bail having breached the terms of a detention and training order for two robberies and two offences of possessing a knife in a public place.

In 2012, he was given a two year order for the offences, the maximum penalty because he was under 18 at the time, but he was freed after a matter of months and went onto carry out the frenzied knife attack on Thavisha Peiris.

Both killers had carried out two other robberies earlier in the evening before attacking Mr Peiris as he made a delivery.

The man accused of killing a pizza delivery driver in Sheffield last year has been found guilty after a two-week trial at Sheffield Crown Court.

Shamraz Khan had denied the charge - another man pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing.

Thavisha Peiris was a Sri Lankan student and was working to pay his father back for his education.

He was stabbed repeatedly and left to bleed to death in his car.

Martin Fisher reports:

Shamraz Khan, accused of killing Sri Lankan pizza delivery driver Thavisha Peiris has been found guilty at Sheffield Crown Court.

The jury has retired to consider its verdict on the man accused of murdering a pizza delivery driver in Sheffield. Thavisha Peiris was knifed to death while delivering a pizza in the city last October. Sheffield Crown Court has heard one man, Kasim Ahmed, has admitted murder.

Shamraz Khan, who's 26, denies the charge.

The defence has opened its case in the trial of a man accused of murdering a pizza delivery driver in Sheffield. Thavisha Peiris, from Sri Lanka, bled to death in his car after being repeatedly stabbed.

A 26-year-old man is on trial accused of his murder. He denies the offence. Another man has already pleaded guilty of killing Mr.Peiris.

Martin Fisher was in court:

A witness has told a jury how he and a friend were robbed of their mobile phones at knife-point on the night that pizza delivery driver Thavisha Peiris was murdered.

The prosecution say that an hour later the men who carried out the robbery were responsible for repeatedly stabbing Mr Peiries and leaving him to bleed to death in his car.

From Sheffield Crown Court, David Hirst reports:

A man has gone on trial accused of murdering the pizza delivery driver Thavisha Peiris.

The 25-year-old student from Sri Lanka, described in court as "quiet and gentle", was stabbed to death last October. Another man has already admitted killing him. From Sheffield Crown Court, David Hirst reports.