TWO men have been jailed for life for the “barbaric and determined” murder of a victim they hunted down in broad daylight and deliberately ran over on a Bradford street.

Mohammed Nisar Khan, known as Meggy, must serve a minimum term of 26 years before he is released and his “right hand man” Tony Grant, known as Granty, received a 17 year minimum term at Bradford Crown Court today.

Khan, 41, of Holme Lane, Tong, Bradford, and Grant, 39, of Queens Road, Bradford, were convicted by the jury this morning of murdering Amriz Iqbal, known as Major, in Sandford Road, Bradford Moor, on October 3 last year.

Khan ran down Mr Iqbal in a 2.2 tonne silver Kia Sedona with Grant in the passenger seat and up to four other men in the back of the vehicle.

Khan was also convicted of attempting to murder Mr Iqbal’s friend, Adnan Ahmed, who was crossing the road with him.

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Both men were flung in the air by the impact, at shortly after 1pm. Mr Iqbal, 40, of Curzon Road, Bradford Moor, sustained an unsurvivable injury when his head struck a tree. Mr Ahmed was treated in hospital for a dislocated shoulder.

Khan, Grant and Salman Ismail, 31, of Hollin Road, Shipley, Bradford, were convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by plotting to firebomb and rob the Whitehall Road Service Station in Birkenshaw to destroy CCTV footage of Khan and Grant there with the Kia Sedona an hour before the murder.

Ismail was jailed for 17 years for the conspiracy and for arson at the petrol station.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC, said it was a shared group attack on Mr Iqbal, with Khan in command.

It was a mob-handed, tooled up attack in broad daylight.

“You are ruthless and dangerous, command obedience and loyalty and consider yourself untouchable,” the judge told Khan.

Of the attack, he said: "It is indeed a barbaric event, violently and brutally executed in broad daylight."

He said the clear intention was to deal with Mr Iqbal severely and Khan “seized without hesitation the opportunity to run the two men down.”

Judge Durham Hall said he had read “moving and powerful” victim impact statements from Mr Iqbal’s mother and his wife, now a widow at 31.

The judge commended Mr Iqbal’s family for their courtesy and calm while sitting in court during the trial.

His wife and mother were at the scene of “chaos and destruction” in Sandford Road after Mr Iqbal was deliberately run down.

Judge Durham Hall told Khan and Grant: “They went to the scene and saw the blood and carnage that resulted from your activity.”

Mr Iqbal had returned from Dubai two days before he was murdered. The motive for the killing was “somewhat cloudy” but Khan decided there was a problem to be resolved by violence, the judge stated.

Khan and Grant, who was one of Khan’s right-hand associates, toured the area to hunt out Mr Iqbal and to collect three or four other men.

“You don’t need that number of men to have a chat, nor the bats and bars that were in that car,” Judge Durham Hall said.

He continued: “You do not go hunting for someone with that degree of support, back-up and muscle without a very serious intent indeed.”

CCTV footage played repeatedly in court during the trial showed “the team” closing in on Mr Iqbal, and “sidling up” behind him.

Judge Durham Hall said the footage showed that the vehicle’s brake lights were off and it accelerated at the pedestrians, steering to the right to hit Mr Iqbal who had no time to take evading action.

Afterwards, “as if things weren’t bad enough,” Khan orchestrated the conspiracy, willingly assisted by Grant and Ismail.

Such was Khan’s command of his team that the Kia was driven to a location where it was never seen again and Ismail was ordered to destroy the CCTV footage at the petrol station.

The judge praised the bravery of Ilyas Umarji who was working behind the counter at the petrol station kiosk and chased away two would-be robbers armed with crowbars.

The court heard that Khan had ten previous convictions for 51 offences, including an offence of robbery dating back to 1999, possession of a controlled drug, dangerous driving and affray.

Grant had 12 convictions for 26 offences, previously serving a six year jail sentence for possession of heroin with intent to supply.

Ismail had nine convictions for 14 offences, including house burglary and dangerous driving.

After the unanimous guilty verdicts, Simon Csoka QC, for Khan, said there was little he could say in mitigation. He said the starting point on the mandatory life sentence should be 15 years.

Timothy Raggatt QC, for Grant, said: “He is a secondary party.”

Grant was at no stage driving the Kia or in control of the vehicle. He did not have a weapon at the scene of the murder. He got out of the vehicle, looked across and got back into it.

Rodney Ferm, for Ismail, said he had no knowledge of what was going to happen that day. The father of four children wasn’t at the murder scene and became involved in the conspiracy “not for his own purposes.”

Judge Durham Hall commended Detective Chief Inspector Ian Scott and his team for their investigation and excused the jurors from further jury service for ten years.