Man convicted of Stepney murder for a second time after re-trial

A man convicted with three others for the murder of an innocent man in 2011 was found guilty by a jury for a second time last week following a retrial.

Liam Whitnell, 29, had been given a life sentence with a minimum 24-year term for the murder of Kowshar Hussain.

He was stabbed to death in front of his wife and sister after being attacked by men using knives and a wheelbrace in Master’s Street, Stepney, in April 2011.

Whitnell, previously of Stifford House, Stepney Way, had been convicted at the Old Bailey in November 2011, but was subsequently granted a retrial by the Court of Appeal on the grounds of concerns over ‘bad character’ evidence given against him at the original trial.

At his retrial at the Old Bailey the court heard Whitnell was part of a group of four men who attacked the 24-year-old victim.

Two members of that group had been involved in a run-in with some Asian men in Jamaica Street, Stepney, in the early hours of April 2, 2011-one of them Mr Hussain’s brother-in law.

The group of Asian men feared for their safety and Mr Hussain’s brother-in-law had asked him to collect his children from a relative’s house.

Mr Hussain drove to meet him and transfer child car seats into another vehicle. But he was pounced upon by the men as his wife and sister waited in the car.

He suffered nine stab wounds and died shortly after in hospital.

At The original trial Whitnell’s co-accused also received life terms.

Speaking after the retrial, Det Sgt Paul Charlton, from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command, said: “We had always maintained this was a case of joint enterprise with Whitnell equally culpable for the murder.

“Whitnell put the family through the pain of another trial and I am pleased he has been convicted again.”