Over 200 years in prison for Aya’s killers

Today the seven men found guilty of the murder of Blackburn student Aya Hachem have been jailed for a combined total of 216 years.

Following the sentencing, our Strategic Director of Adult Services Sayyed Osman has commented:

The sentences handed out today are just and appropriate for the heinous crimes that these seven individuals calculated and carried out.

This was a very unusual and isolated incident, thankfully something that we rarely see in Blackburn with Darwen. Whilst Aya or our local asylum seeker community were not the intended target in this attack, it has understandably caused a lot of anxiety and distress to people and families who have come to the UK to escape violence.

We will continue to work with our local communities to provide reassurance that Blackburn is a safe place, and we’ll continue to work with the Home Office to ensure appropriate support.

The area where this incident happened is a busy place where children and parents come and go to school and work, and to shop. We have recently secured ‘Safer Communities’ funding and will be working in partnership with elected members, local stakeholders and the Police to put measures in place to prevent all types of crime in this and other areas of our borough.

I would urge anyone to contact the police about any concerns they may have relating to gang activity and criminal behaviours. Our residents are the eyes and ears of our neighbourhoods.

We want to ensure that nothing like this happens again in our borough and no other families have to suffer in the way that Aya’s family have.

Anyone who has any concerns about gang activity and violent crime can contact our local police in confidence.