Kidnapper who snatched Forest Gate man wins parole bid

A dangerous thug who – on the orders of a gangster – kidnapped a man later found dying in an East Ham street has won an early chance of parole after top judges cut his minimum jail term.

Blaize Patricio Lunkulu abducted Syed Shazad Abbass from his family home in Earlham Grove, Forest Gate, before handing him over to a crime boss, known only as “Reds”.

Mr Abbass, 24, was later found fatally injured in Flanders Road wearing just boxer shorts after he had been tortured. He died in hospital from head injuries. Lunkulu, 26, was indefinitely jailed for public protection after he admitted manslaughter, conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Sentencing him in October last year, an Old Bailey judge ordered he could not even be considered by the Parole Board for release until he had served six years and four months behind bars.But judges at the Criminal Appeal Court slashed that minimum term to five years and three months last week, saying the original sentence was “too long”.

The court heard Lunkulu, of Tottenham, and Vikar Khan, 23, of Walthamstow, kidnapped Mr Abbass at just after midnight on September 7, 2009.

Judge David Radford, sitting with Lord Justice Thomas and Mrs Justice Dobbs, said they were acting on orders from their gangster boss, “Reds”. He believed Mr Abbass owed him money and drugs.Mr Abbass was then found in a street and died later the same day in hospital.

Lunkulu and Khan set fire to the car they used in the kidnap. Lunkulu’s lawyers did not challenge his indefinite sentence, but argued the minimum term was “too long” compared with the nine-year jail term handed to Khan – who admitted the same charges.

Allowing the appeal, Judge Radford cut Lunkulu’s minimum term by one year and one month.