A FRIEND of murdered Bradford University student Anowar Tagabo has spoken of his disbelief that the "wonderful bloke" he knew could have been killed.

Fellow student Omar Singhateh, 33, was in his second year while Anowar was in his first, but they attended the same peace studies lectures and had a strong bond throughout the last year, after meeting during freshers' week.

He told the Telegraph & Argus: "The more I got know him, the more I knew what a nice guy he was. There wasn't a thing he wouldn't do for anyone.

"He was such a wonderful bloke and I was just devastated by what happened."

Anowar had attended a friend's wedding in Sheffield and had then gone on to meet someone in the city centre, before he was involved in a confrontation with a group of men in Carver Street, which left him with the head injuries that caused his death.

Police arrested two men in Sheffield who have both now been released on bail while investigations continues.

Omar said he and Anowar socialised regularly in Bradford and surrounding areas and were last together for a night out in Harrogate with friends in mid-May.

Omar had a period of work after that so did not see Anowar again.

"We had a very good night out and I dropped them off early the following morning. After that I had been working, so had not heard from him, though I sent a couple of text messages," Omar said.

"When we got the results for some assignments I went to the uni to pick mine up and tried calling him, but there was no answer.

"Then a day later I got a text asking if I had heard what had happened to him. I didn't believe it. I went on his Facebook page and everyone was leaving tributes. I needed to speak to someone so went to his flat. I spoke to one guy but he didn't know the full story so I tracked down his cousin. I didn't really believe it until I had spoken to his family.

"We had such a good time, in class and outside class, he kept everyone laughing all the time," he said.

Omar has been told it may be as long as six weeks before the coroner is able to release Anowar's body so a funeral can take place.