A man has been found guilty at the Old Bailey today of murdering a student who was trying to make peace during a row between neighbours.

East London Advertiser: Sultan's brother Thanbir and their father Kabir with the book of his life's achievementsSultan's brother Thanbir and their father Kabir with the book of his life's achievements (Image: Archant)

The confrontation was prompted by a dispute over garden drainage on a housing estate on the Isle of Dogs in London’s East End when 20-year-old Sultan Ahmed was stabbed to death.

Police were called to a disturbance at Larson Walk, off Lanterns Way, near Canary Wharf, at 7.20pm on May 9 last year.

They found him inside the hallway of a house suffering a single stab wound and gave emergency treatment before an ambulance crew and the Air Ambulance from the Royal London Hospital arrived.

But he was pronounced dead at the scene within an hour. A post-mortem examination at Poplar Mortuary later gave cause of death as a stab wound that entered his heart and left lung.

Shofique Uddin, 51, was found guilty of his murder. His wife Gulbahar Begum, also 51, was acquitted of two charges of GBH with intent.

Their daughter Rahela Begum, 27, had previously been acquitted of ABH.

Uddin’s son abused a woman neighbour for washing carpets with a hose in her garden with the dirty water draining into their garden, the court heard.

A group of six people went round to the house that evening to confront his son, which led to a heated row.

Uddin armed himself with a knife and witnesses described him as swinging it wildly when he stabbed Sultan in the back.

Sultan immediately collapsed and was carried to a neighbouring property where he died.

Others received minor stab wounds in the confrontation.

Det Insp Andy Jones said after today’s hearing: “This was a neighbourly dispute that spiralled way out of control with tragic consequences. There were two sides to this dispute, but only one side chose to arm themselves with weapons.”

Uddin is being sentenced tomorrow.