A teenager who stabbed a man 11 times in a horrific axe and knife attack reminiscent of the Hollywood movie The Shining was sentenced to a minimum of 17 years at the Old Bailey today.

Handyman Paul Thrower died after two youths hacked at him with a 4ft long axe and stabbed him at flats in Hayes, Middlesex in February.

Zakariya Subeir and Kiro Halliburton, both now 18, hit out when Mr Thrower came at them in a rage, smashing through a reinforced glass partition they were hiding behind.

Halliburton, who delivered the fatal knife wound, was found guilty of murder while Subeir, who hit the victim twice with an axe, and Mahdi Osman, also 18, were convicted of manslaughter.

Sentencing Judge John Bevan QC said Mr Thrower had been the victim of “10 seconds of extreme violence.”

He said Halliburton, who was only 17 at the time, could have had a far longer sentence had he been born a month later making him 18 and in a higher sentencing bracket.

Imposing a sentence of detention at Her Majesty’s pleasure, the juvenile equivalent of a life term, the judge told him: “You can consider yourself fortunate.

“The carrying of a knife has become endemic among some teenagers in part s of London and it’s assumed to add power and respect to the carrier but that’s a delusion.

“It is the resort of a coward. You are a dangerous young man, repeatedly aggressive when armed with a knife.”

Subeir was sentenced to eight years in a young offenders’ institute with an extended licence period of four years. Osman received five and a half years.

The court heard how the victim had been drinking and became very angry when his girlfriend Geraldine Roberts told him the youths swore, spat and threw a drink at her earlier that day.

When Mr Thrower confronted them, Subeir and Halliburton shut themselves into a bin chute on a first-floor communal balcony at St Dunstan’s Close.

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Three teenagers killed a man with an axe after he became angry at them for spitting and swearing at his girlfriend.

Paul Thrower died after two 18-year-olds hacked at him with a 4ft axe and stabbed him 10 times at a block of flats in Hayes, Middlesex, in scenes reminiscent of Hollywood horror film The Shining.

Zakariya Subeir and Kiro Halliburton claimed they acted in self defence when Mr Thrower came at them in a rage, smashing through a reinforced glass partition they were hiding behind.

Following a trial at the Old Bailey Halliburton, who delivered the fatal knife wound on 20 February, was found guilty of the murder.

Subeir and an accomplice, Mahdi Osman, also 18, were found not guilty of murder but convicted of manslaughter.

A 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was cleared of involvement in the killing.

The court heard how the victim had been drinking and became very angry when his girlfriend, Geraldine Roberts, told him the youths swore, spat and threw a drink at her earlier that day.

When Mr Thrower confronted them, Subeir and Halliburton shut themselves into a bin chute on a first-floor communal balcony of a block of flats in St Dunstan’s Close.

As the 46-year-old hammered on the glass partition with his fist, the 17-year-old found an axe in a shed.

Osman passed it up to Subeir, who had managed to get on to the roof of the adjoining porch.

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A handyman was stabbed 13 times by two teenagers armed with an axe and a knife after he confronted them for taunting and spitting at his girlfriend, a court heard today.

Paul Thrower, 46, had become “absolutely enraged” after a group of youths spat and threw drink at his girlfriend Geraldine Roberts as she returned from the shops, the Old Bailey heard.

The father rushed out of his first-floor flat in Hayes “screaming and shouting obscenities” at the teenagers, two of whom barricaded themselves behind a communal door in the block of flats, jurors were told.

Opening the case today, the prosecution said Zakariya Subeir, 18, and Kiro Halliburton, also 18, set upon Mr Thrower as he smashed his way through one of the door’s glass panels and crawled through. They were believed to have been armed with an axe and at least one knife,

Peter Finnegan QC, for the prosecution, said: “As he came through he had absolutely no chance at all.

“As he went through he was attacked with this vicious weapon. He was struck some three times with the axe, it seems twice on the top of his head and another axe blow caught him on the right shoulder and an in addition to the axe blows, he suffered as many as 10 wounds to his upper body and many of those wounds were on his back.”

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A father was stabbed to death with an axe following a row with a gang of teenagers outside his home, reports today suggest.

Paul Thrower, 46, was attacked by a gang who were allegedly smoking drugs and drinking alcohol outside a block of flats in St Dunstan’s Close, Hayes, west London.

After Mr Thrower confronted the group, one – who was reportedly holding an axe – attacked him.

The group of five were then seen running from the scene shortly after the ‘blazing row’, neighbours said today.

The handyman died in hospital shortly before 11.30 on Thursday evening.

A 16-year-old youth has been arrested and is in custody in a West London police station.

Yesterday, Mr Thrower’s brother described what happened between his sibling and the gang.

Speaking with The Sun, Darren Thrower said: ‘He chased them upstairs. They were behind a closed door and my brother was trying to get through. Then his girlfriend said “They’ve got a knife. Come away Paul.” As my brother turned away the axe came down and got him in the back.’

One neighbour, who did not want to give her name, said: ‘I saw Paul getting CPR just outside the flat. It was dark but I could see him getting chest compressions.

‘Ambulance crews and police had been in the flat for a while before that, so I knew it didn’t look good. It was awful to see, he was a good man, he didn’t deserve that.

‘I think his son Luke was coming down to visit him at the weekend. It’s so sad.

‘There can be as many a 30 youths hanging around the flats on a night time. They just hang around smoking and drinking. There used to be a lot of drug deals going on around and there was a curfew, but they just ignore it.’

One man, who didn’t want to be named, said drugs were ‘rife’ on the estate.

He said: ‘There are so many drugs down there it’s rife. Sooner or later someone is going to take the law into their own hands and do something about the problem. The police don’t do anything about it.

‘But because they are so young there is not a lot they can do unless they catch them with something. There is a dispersal order to stop them gathering, but it doesn’t seem to work.’

Another neighbour, Ashmat Nasrat, 25, said the gangs are not from the estate.

He said: ‘They don’t even live here most of them. They just hang around outside the shops. This block and St Dunstans are the only ones they can get into so they swarm on us. Someone was arrested with a knife not long ago.’

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