Man gets life for dagger killing

Ashley Hedger was left with a dagger embedded in his head

A man has been jailed for life for stabbing to death a 16-year-old boy in a revenge attack in east London.

Mohammed Hai, 22, of no fixed address, attacked Ashley Hedger with a ceremonial dagger in Plaistow believing he had robbed his younger brother.

But Ashley was not one of the muggers and had been wrongly pointed out, the Old Bailey heard.

Jailing Hai for 16 years, the judge said the courts do not permit people to "take the law into their own hands".

Mistaken identity

Hai and other worshippers ran out of a mosque in Plashet Road and cornered Ashley who was left with a dagger embedded in his head.

The jury was told that Hai had stabbed Ashley, who lived at a Barnardo's home nearby, in the heart, back, neck and temple.

The prosecution said Ashley had refused to get involved in a plan by his friends, one of whom was armed with a knife, to rob some youths.

Judge Jeremy Roberts said: "As so often happens when people do take the law into their own hands, [Ashley] was not involved."

Hai fled to Pakistan but was charged on his return after a group of youths were cleared of Ashley's murder earlier this year.