MURDERER Mohammed Mahroof Mustafa was sentenced to a minimum of 22 years in prison today for stabbing a taxi driver to death.

The 21-year-old from Mentmore Road, High Wycombe, appeared at Reading Crown Court this morning to be sentenced for the murder of 39-year-old High Wycombe cabbie Mohammed Mahroof.

He was given a mandatory life sentence and could have faced up to 30-years in jail before being eligible for parole. But the judge reduced this to 22 years due to mitigating circumstances.

During a nine-day trial, the court heard that Mustafa and Asif Akram Mohammed had planned to rob a taxi driver at knifepoint last May.

But the plan went wrong after Mustafa got into the Neales cab to carry out the robbery and ended up plunging the serrated kitchen knife into Mr Mahroof's neck, fatally wounding him.

Judge Christopher Tyrer told him: "Yours was a desperate act born of no more than a determination to obtain money with which to buy alcohol."

He added: "Only you know what went on between you and Mr Mahroof during the 20-odd minutes that you and he were in his taxi. He must have become increasingly suspicious and anxious; his final moments terrifying as he tried to get help - you having left him to his fate and run away.

"He must have known how serious was his plight; he may well have realised that he was dying."

Taking all mitigating factors into account, Judge Tyrer concluded the minimum sentence Mustafa must serve is 22 years, less the six days he spent in custody on remand awaiting trial. He will only be eligible to apply for parole at that point, and the judge stressed this did not mean he would necessarily be deemed suitable for release.

Even if he is released at that point, he will remain on licence for the rest of his life -meaning he could be recalled to prison at any time if his licence is revoked for any reason.

Victim Mr Mahroof from Chiltern Avenue, left his wife Parween and two children Qamran and Anika. Speaking after the sentencing, his family said: "No sentence is enough for the innocent life which has been taken away from us but we are happy that he got what he deserved and that he won't be on the street for a long time."

Asif Akram Mohammed, Mustafa's co-defendant, will be sentenced at a later date. The 26-year-old, from Roberts Road, High Wycombe, was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter having provided the knife used in the botched robbery.

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