Ibrahim Elkadmiri, and the scene of the stabbing in Holloway

A MAN who “did everything he could” to get away with murder is facing life in jail after being convicted of a street stabbing.

Ibrahim Elkadmiri, 31, was trapped after police analysis of CCTV footage and mobile phone data.

He tried to get rid of the clothes he had been wearing while killing Yahye Ahmed, 23, only for police to find cameras showing him dumping them in a wheelie bin. A jury convicted him of murder on Monday.

The Met’s murder investigation began after Mr Ahmed died outside a café in Holloway in August last year.

The case opened community sensitivities when his body was left uncovered by police for four hours in the road.

Mr Ahmed had been with friends in Axminster Road when Elkadmiri walked past. Police said the motive for the deadly confrontation that was to follow is still uncertain. Mr Ahmed armed himself with a baseball bat but, Woolwich Crown Court heard, Elkadmiri drew a large knife from his waistband and stabbed him five times. Death was pronounced at the scene.

Detective Sergeant Devan Taylor said: “There is nothing that can bring Yahye back to his family. I hope that the verdicts handed down bring them a measure of peace in knowing that justice has been done.”

He said that despite an extensive investigation, the reason for the dispute between Mr Ahmed and Elkadmiri may never be known.

Yahye Ahmed

Further CCTV footage showed Elkadmiri flee the scene on foot, dump the baseball bat in a wheelie bin and call someone on his phone.

Elkadmiri made four calls to the same number. This turned out to be Ahmed Abdi Ahmed, 34, who picked him up and has been found guilty of assisting the killer.

Elkadmiri subsequently laid low at an address nearby, changed into fresh clothes and was seen on CCTV disposing of the clothing he wore at the time of the stabbing and, later that evening, disposing of his mobile phone.

DS Taylor said: “Elkadmiri, with the support of Ahmed, did everything he could to get away with murder.

His efforts to cover his tracks were not enough. He was arrested on September 3, 2023. Ahmed Ahmed was arrested on September 4 and claimed that Elkadmiri was a good friend whom he had picked up, but that he was unaware of the stabbing.”

Both men remain in custody before sentencing at the same court on September 25.

DS Taylor added: “I would like to thank everyone who engaged with our investigation. I understand that becoming involved in a murder investigation can be a daunting prospect and to those people who came forward with information, you have my gratitude. Your actions have helped take a dangerous person off the streets of London.”

Ahmed Abdi Ahmed

Police were asked to review their procedures after Mr Ahmed’s death and more than 100 people turned up to a community meeting in Finsbury Park to express their concerns that his body had been left in public sight by officers guarding the scene.

Councillor Bashir Ibrahim said at the time that he organised the meeting to address a wide range of issues facing the community that had left them feeling “concern and fear, as well as anger”.

Calling the treatment of Mr Ahmed’s body “concerning,” he said:

“The main reason I called this public meeting is because I think there’s been a general unease in the community. And not just from, unfortunately, the murder of Yahye Ahmed, but I think it’s that wider piece around the community feeling like they are over-policed, under-protected and often neglected.”

He said the community felt the way Mr Ahmed’s body had been treated fed into a general feeling that a number of “intersecting discriminations” had led police to an “institutional failure” to “protect and safeguard us”.