A London pizza restaurant owner who murdered his business partner and drove the body in the boot of his car to Bradford to dispose of it will spend at least 15 years behind bars.

Ali Sher Shah, 41, was convicted after a long trial in September, 1998, of the murder of his business partner, Rasminkant Patel, and sentenced to life imprisonment.

But yesterday, after a review of the case by Mr Justice Irwin at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, Shah of Walthamstow, London, was told he will be free to apply for parole after serving 15 years of his life term.

The judge said the killing was so serious that the 15-year term was the least that he deserved for the grisly killing and dismembering of Mr Patel's body.

Shah was Mr Patel's 32-year-old partner in a pizza restaurant in Lewisham when they became embroiled in a financial dispute in 1997.

He tried to persuade various people to assault Mr Patel and, finally, managed to convince two teenagers to attack him.

On October 27, 1997, Mr Patel was murdered and his body removed from his business premises and taken by Shah and the others to Bradford in the boot of his car.

Once there, Shah and one of the youths cut up and attempted to burn the body, but, when they failed, Shah arranged for it to be disposed of.

His defence at his trial was that he was not expecting Mr Patel to be attacked, but had panicked when the violence began.

He denied being involved in cutting up or burning the body.

Delivering his judgment on the review, Mr Justice Irwin spelled out the seriousness of the circumstances of the killing. He said: "This was an offence done in the expectation of gain as a result of the death.

"There was a significant degree of planning and pre-meditation. The body of Mr Patel was dismembered, destroyed and concealed. Further, he engaged two 17-year-old youths to participate in this grisly crime."

Shah will only be released after serving his minimum term if he can convince the Parole Board he is no longer a risk to the public and, even then, will remain on perpetual life licence, subject to prison recall if he puts a foot wrong.