Brighton seafront murder: Iftekhar Khondaker jailed for life

Iftekhar Khondaker sped at 41mph straight into Suel Delgado, Azaan Khan and Raja Zakir (Zak) Khan in Brighton.

It followed a fight between two groups of men on the seafront where they used belts to attack each other.

Khondaker, 34, and his brother Irfan, 27, attacked Suel Delgado, 20, then retreated to their car.

The men thought the incident was all over, but then heard the sound of Khondaker’s BMW engine revving as it accelerated into them from behind.

The vehicle driven by Iftekhar Khondaker that led to the death of Suel Delgado in Brighton. Khondaker denies driving at a group of men deliberately in order to kill them

Suel Delgado died the next day, and Azaan Khan and Zak Khan, both aged 23, suffered life-changing injuries.

At Hove Crown Court, Iftekhar Khondaker was found guilty of murder and two counts of attempted murder.

He was jailed for life over the appalling incident on December 1, 2019, and will serve a minimum of 26 years before he can be considered for parole.

Iftekhar Khondaker, 34, was found guilty of the hit-and-run murder of Suel Delgado in Brighton and attempted murder of Azaan Khan and Raja Zakir Khan

Her Honour Judge Christine Laing QC criticised the brothers for failing to show up to court, and said they had shown “disrespect to the families of the victims”.

In a moving personal statement, Suel’s mother Graciete Sanches Montero said no mother deserved to lose their child in the way she did.

She said: “My son was my best friend, my right hand. If someone could see inside my heart, they would see it is broken.”

Suel Delgado was killed in the alleged hit and run in Marine Parade, Brighton

The court heard that Iftekhar Khondaker had numerous previous convictions which included inflicting grievous bodily harm outside a nightclub in 2013.

While awaiting sentence for that incident, he then committed another heinous crime, driving his father’s car in a rage at a man, breaking his ankle.

Read more on this story:

• RECAP full details of the prosecution opening against Iftekhar Khondaker

• 'I would not wish it on my worst enemy' - Crash survivor speaks out

• Iftekhar Khondaker found guilty of the murder of Suel Delgado in Brighton

He had been released on licence from his prison sentence at the time of the incident in Marine Parade.

Sentencing Iftekhar, of Caithness Road, Mitcham, the judge said: “That he would be prepared to kill three men over his wounded pride is beyond comprehension.”

The scene in Brighton after the incident in Marine Parade where Suel Delgado was killed in a suspected hit and run

She said Iftekhar Khondaker had learned nothing from prison and was troubled by his lack of ability to control his temper.

He was actively involved in the fighting, and the judge said Suel Delgado had “already paid the price” when both Iftekhar and his brother Irfan beat up the 20-year-old by punching and kicking him on the floor.

Irfan Khondaker was jailed for three years for assisting an offender by booking an Uber car under a false name to take them away from the crime scene and on to a false address in Mitcham.