A man who stabbed a 16-year-old Syrian refugee in the neck after the boy brushed past his girlfriend has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 23 years. Alfie Franco, 20, was found guilty on Thursday of murdering Ahmad Al Ibrahim on a busy Huddersfield shopping street earlier this year. Ahmad, who had fled war-torn city of Homs as an unaccompanied child refugee after being injured in a bombing, had lived in the West Yorkshire town for just a few weeks.

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Leeds Crown Court heard that on 3 April, Ahmad, whose parents said he had hoped to become a doctor, was walking through the town with a friend while Franco was out buying eyelash glue with his girlfriend after a Jobcentre appointment. Prosecutors said Franco took “some petty exception” to Ahmad “innocuously” walking past his girlfriend.

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CCTV footage showed Franco speaking to Ahmad before calling him over after a brief exchange. As Ahmad approached, Franco pulled out a flick knife and stabbed him in the neck. The court was told Franco had taken cannabis beforehand, and later tests showed traces of cocaine, diazepam, ketamine, and codeine.

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Franco denied murder, claiming he thought Ahmad was reaching for a weapon and that he only meant to “cut him and get away.” But Judge Howard Crowson dismissed this, saying Franco’s story was “incredible” as footage showed him calmly eating ice cream before the attack.

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He told Franco: “During this trial you tried to portray Ahmad as aggressive and threatening. The CCTV reveals you were under no threat whatsoever. Ahmad was unarmed as he walked peacefully about Huddersfield town centre that day.”

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The judge said Franco’s claim of seeing a weapon was “a lie,” adding: “Before Ahmad made any movement towards you, you prepared your knife for use. You calmly and surreptitiously removed the knife from your waistband, opened it and concealed it in your pocket.”

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Judge Crowson concluded Franco had intended to kill Ahmad, having “lured” him close before deliberately stabbing him in the neck. Prosecutor Richard Wright KC told the court that “to plunge that knife into someone’s neck who has done no more than walk towards you after you’ve engaged them in some verbal argy-bargy in the street… that’s not reasonable self-defence.”

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He continued: “This is a case of a young man with a cocky swagger, wandering around town with his girlfriend, on drugs, who doesn’t like the fact that Ahmad has spoken back to him.”

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Ahmad’s uncle, Ghazwan Al Ibrahim, described his nephew as “an intelligent and outstanding student” who dreamed of becoming a doctor. He said Ahmad was “sociable and ambitious, loved helping people and was passionate about life.” Ahmad had spent three months travelling to the UK, initially living in a Home Office hotel in Swansea before being moved to Huddersfield to live near his uncle.

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