on their clothing. Further witnesses reported Nazir admitting to beating someone up, Mahrad admitting to kicking Parker and Awan recalling stabbing him. A witness also saw all four defendants kicking Parker. In court Nazir admitted to seeing the victim lying on the ground and attempting to spray him with CS gas and kicking him. He also acknowledged washing the murder weapon and stated Ali had hit Parker with the hammer and Awan used the knife. Nazir also alleged prosecution witnesses Zaheer Abbas and Adeel Rehman had been involved in the attack too. Mahrad had also admitted to being present at the murder scene, and claimed that the blood stains found on his trousers occurred as a result of his accidentally falling across Parker. Ali, defended by Mohammed Latif, denied being at the scene and claimed to have been asleep at the time of the murder, although a recording from a police van indicated this was a "story" that he had encouraged the others to "stick to". Awan also denied being present and claimed he had been at home playing on his PlayStation with Shokat Awan, his brother. Nigel Rumfitt QC, defending Awan, summarised the crime by stating: "These people were not taking the night air. Every member of the group knew what was going on. These weapons had been selected before they set off. The knife was far too big to be hidden from the others. There is no doubt there was a hunting party looking for a victim." On 19 December 2002, Nazir, Awan and Ali were all found guilty of murder in unanimous verdicts. The judge, Sir Edwin Jowitt, summarised the murder during sentencing: The judge concluded that Awan had wielded the knife, was the ringleader of the group and had intended to kill. The three received life sentences, with Awan to serve a minimum of 18 years and the others at least 16. Mahrad was cleared of murder and manslaughter. Post-trial and appeals After the trial it was revealed that Nazir had previously been cautioned for threatening behaviour in 1999 and fined for resisting arrest. The two Labour politicians, Akhtar and Choudhary, who provided Ali's references were later jailed themselves for forgery in relation to vote rigging. Awan and Nazir appealed against their jail terms in January 2008 but the original sentences were upheld. Judge Justice Davis said he had taken into account "moving" statements from Parker's