Kai Nazir: 'Scumbag' Halloween disco killer jailed

Victim Chris West and his wife Becky had just celebrated their first wedding anniversary

A "scumbag" drug dealer who killed a man at a Halloween disco has been jailed for a minimum of 26 years.

Kai Nazir, 20, of St Neots, killed Chris West, 30, by stabbing him 12 times outside the Monkfield Arms in Cambridgeshire on 28 October.

He had also stabbed Mr West's friend, Daniel Berryman, at a pool table, causing him life-threatening injuries.

Nazir was convicted at Cambridge Crown Court of murder, attempted murder and possession of a blade.

The court had heard Nazir, of The Crescent, sold cannabis and carried a lock knife to the Cambourne pub.

Judge David Farrell QC said Nazir had been "undoubtedly emboldened" by possessing the weapon and behaved in a confrontational manner.

The jury was told that after a game of pool, "out of nowhere" he stabbed Mr Berryman, whom he did not know, in the chest.

Kai Nazir was knocked unconscious by Chris West's friend after he stabbed him, the court heard

Others initially thought Mr Berryman was covered in "fake blood" but Mr West grabbed Nazir by the throat and remonstrated with him.

Nazir left the pub but "waited outside with the knife at the ready," the judge said.

An unarmed Mr West and others went to confront Nazir outside, where Judge Farrell QC said the "first act of violence" was the knifeman's.

Mr West was stabbed three times in the chest and nine in the back and buttocks. He was pronounced dead at the scene at about 01:20.

In a victim impact statement, Mr West's wife Becky said her husband's life was "meaninglessly cut short" shortly after their first wedding anniversary.

Brother Daniel West reads a family statement outside court flanked by Daniel Berryman [front left] and Becky West [second front left]

Mr Berryman, who needed life-saving surgery, called Nazir a "scumbag" for leaving Mrs West, 25, a widow.

"He died for what? Some little kid carrying a knife because he thinks it's cool?" he added.

Defending, Isabella Forshall QC told the court Nazir "apologises for the terrible sorrow" he had caused.

Judge Farrell told Nazir he was an "undoubtedly dangerous young man whose history shows a really worrying defect in your personality".