Builder who stabbed student in the neck and then claimed self-defence jailed

A construction worker has been jailed for life for murdering a Cambridge student he did not know.

Chas Corrigan, 22, slashed Mohammed Algasim’s neck outside the 20-year-old’s halls of residence on August 1 last year.

Corrigan was on his way home from a pub where he had been drinking and taking cocaine when he passed the Saudi Arabian student who was sitting with friends.

The two men spoke and after a brief exchange, he walked away but returned when someone called out, then pulled a knife and attacked.

He moved towards Mohammed, who was sitting on a wall, before pulling out from his shorts an eight-inch knife he had stolen from a friend.

Mohammed stood up and Corrigan slashed his neck twice.

Despite the student being able to run away, he collapsed a few yards away and died from significant blood loss.

The day after the murder, Corrigan’s dad Peter, 51, was filmed on CCTV retrieving his son’s blood-soaked jacket from a bush and putting it in a wheelie bin.

Corrigan denied murdering Mohammed, claiming he was acting in self-defence, according to Crown Advocate Cheryl Williams.

However, a jury at Cambridge Crown Court found him guilty on Thursday and he was jailed for life. He will serve a minimum of 22 years and six months.

Mohammed’s father told the court: ‘The pain of sending a son abroad to study, full of hope for his future, only for him to return to us as a victim of senseless violence, despite having caused no problem to anyone, is beyond what words can express.’

Ms Williams said: ‘This was a fatal and cruel act of violence which has had a devastating impact on Mohammed Algasim’s family and friends.

‘Nothing can undo their loss, but I hope today’s sentence provides some measure of justice.’

Peter Corrigan was also jailed for two years after admitting assisting an offender.

Mr Justice Dexter Dias told him: ‘Perhaps no one will ever understand why you did what you have done.

‘It made no sense. You were fuelled by alcohol and cocaine and anger. It is a lethal combination and proved to be fatal.

‘He maintains his claims that this was an accident caused when he spontaneously reacted when he thought he was about to get seriously hurt. Like the jury, I reject this account.’