Mohamed Abbkr guilty of attempted murder of Muslim worshippers outside mosques in Birmingham and London

A Birmingham man has been found guilty of attempting to murder two elderly Muslim worshippers who were doused in petrol and set alight outside mosques.

Mohammed Abbkr, 29, was captured setting fire to Hashi Odowa, 82, and Mohammed Rayaz, 70, in separate attacks in horrifying CCTV footage earlier this year.

The paranoid schizophrenic first targeted Mr Odowa in London after he failed to recognise him, telling him: "I swear in the name of Allah you will know me."

He then sprayed petrol on Mr Rayaz and left him ‘engulfed in flames from head to foot’ because he did not speak Arabic near Dudley Road mosque in Birmingham.

Abbkr, of Edgbaston, admitted being responsible for setting both men alight but denied two counts of attempted murder. Today (Monday, November 6) he was found guilty of both counts by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court and will be sentenced on November 17.

Judge Melbourne Inman said "If a hospital order is going to be imposed on the defendant I need to hear evidence from a psychiatrist."

CCTV played to the court during the trial shows Abbkr arriving and praying at West London Islamic Centre, in Ealing, London ahead of the first incident on February 27. As he leaves the mosque a fireball can be seen in the distance as Mr Odowa was set alight, causing burns to his ears and hands.

Footage from the Birmingham attack also captures both parties praying at Dudley Road Mosque on March 20. Abbkr then follows the victim along the streets at the end of prayers and can be heard asking Mr Rayaz whether he speaks Arabic. When he says he speaks Urdu and Punjabi, Mr Rayaz can then be seen being sprayed with a liquid from a bottle before being engulfed in a ball of flames.

In a police interview, Mr Rayaz told how he thought he was going to die after being covered with a light coloured liquid and having a lighter held to his neck. He said: "I never saw him come up behind me or from the right or left. He came in front of me and started to attack me. I tried to carry on.

"He had something in his hand and I wondered whether it was a knife and he was going to attack me with a knife. He just quickly threw something on me. The flames have gone up. I did not know what to do. I just tried to pull off my clothing. I was screaming for help but nobody came."

Describing the attack a month earlier, Mr Odowa said: "He approached me from the right. I did not know where he came from. He walked beside me. He asked me my name in English. I said why do you want to know my name. He asked me ‘Do you not recognise me?’

"I had never seen him in my life. The man said in Arabic ‘ I swear in the name of Allah in the name of God you will know me’. I felt like he wanted to threaten me. The man then got closer to me. I saw him shake the bottle. He was targeting my face and then he poured the petrol from top down. I put my hand up to my face.

"I was looking at my neighbour. I was lucky. Then he lit the flame it caught the leftside of my face. I do not know what he used to start the fire with. I remember a big flame. I remember removing my jacket to get the flames off. My vest was on fire and I took it off.

"That is when I realised god had saved me. There were many people in the street. They were scared and they ran away. I tried to grab the man but could not.. He was gone. I heard my neighbour shouting to call the police. An ambulance came and that was the first time I felt the pain."

Nicholas de la Poer KC, prosecuting, told the court: "It is the prosecution case that the defendant intended to kill Mr Odowa and Mr Rayaz when he attacked them. The defendant has denied this and on his behalf it is contended that he was suffering from delusions at the time and had not intended to kill a human being.

"Mr Rayaz survived the defendant’s attack but he was less fortunate than Mr Odowa. He suffered more serious burns, injuries particularly to his head. He was in hospital for a number of weeks following the attack.

"It is the prosecution case that when the defendant threw petrol on Mr Rayaz and set fire to him and then added further petrol to the flames, he was intending to kill him."

The court heard Abbkr came to the UK from Sudan in 2017 and was granted asylum in 2019. After his arrest, he was diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia involving persecutory and religious delusions.