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'Snapchat queen' who posted video of dying boyfriend after convincing lover to stab him has been jailed for 14 years

'It's hard to understand how anyone could act in such a cold and callous and despicable way'

Emily Pennink
Friday 21 September 2018 23:43 BST
Fatima Khan plotted with a love rival to harm Afghan asylum seeker Khalid Safi, 18, with whom she had grown tired after two years together.
Fatima Khan plotted with a love rival to harm Afghan asylum seeker Khalid Safi, 18, with whom she had grown tired after two years together.

A "Snapchat queen" who posted a video of her boyfriend dying in a pool of blood has been jailed for 14 years.

"Cold and callous" Fatima Khan, 21, plotted with a love rival to harm Afghan asylum seeker Khalid Safi, 18, with whom she had grown tired after two years together.

Mr Safi was repeatedly stabbed in the chest by Raza Khan in North Acton, west London, on the evening of 1 December 2016, jurors were told at London's Old Bailey.

Fatima Khan, 21, filmed him as he lay dying in the street and posted it on Snapchat with the caption: "This is what happens when you f*** with me."

The self-confessed Snapchat addict denied murder and the alternative of manslaughter saying she was ashamed of the video.

But the jury found her guilty of manslaughter by a majority of 10-1.

The defendant had previous convictions for assault, shoplifting and fraud dating back to when she was aged 14, the court heard.

In mitigation, Kerim Fuad QC said she had a "pathological obsession" with her mobile phone and the Snapchat app.

He said: "It's become an increasingly worrying aspect of society that these devices are playing such a prominent role."

Mr Fuad described his client as an "attention seeking Princess" who turned to Raza Khan for yet more attention.

Fatima Khan wept uncontrollably as Judge Michael Topolski QC jailed her.

Khalid Safi, who was repeatedly stabbed in the chest by Raza Khan in North Acton, west London.

The judge said: "After the attack, your disrespect for Khalid reached new and inhuman depths when in an act of grotesque contempt for him you calmly walked towards him as he lay dying and while surrounded by the decent caring people who had stopped to help him, you filmed him in the process of dying and take a still picture of him all of which which you sent with that chilling message to all your Snapchat friends.

"It's hard to understand how anyone could act in such a cold and callous and despicable way."

During the trial, jurors were shown the disturbing footage on Snapchat as well as CCTV images of the fatal confrontation between Safi and 19-year-old Raza Khan.

Prosecutor Kate Bex QC said the two men had fought over Fatima Khan a few years earlier, at which time Safi had been injured.

And in the run-up to the killing, Fatima Khan had been in daily contact with Raza Khan via Snapchat, jurors heard.

She became upset when "needy" Mr Safi bought her a watch and presented it to her at her home five days before his death, jurors heard.

Fatima Khan threw the gift at him out of an upstairs window because her family did not know about the relationship.

On the day of the killing, Mr Safi and Fatima Khan had gone to a Costa Coffee near to her work at Vigilant Security in North Acton. The couple were hanging around benches outside the coffee shop, before Raza Khan arrived in a minicab.

He went straight up to them holding a 13in long knife in his hand, the court heard.

Ms Bex said: "Mr Safi produced a screwdriver and they began to fight. The fight lasted 15 seconds at most and it is caught on CCTV. Mr Safi died at the scene having received a number of wounds to his chest, one penetrating his heart."

Raza Khan was injured in the fight but calmly left the scene and his whereabouts remains unknown, the court heard.

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