A driver who ploughed into and killed a ‘Good Samaritan’ during a wedding brawl has been sentenced to life in prison.
Hassan Jhangur, 25, hit five people, including father-of-two Chris Marriott, with his car when he arrived at his sister’s wedding reception, where a fight had broken out between the two families.
Jhangur first drove into the father of the ‘rival’ Khan family, who was standing in the street, throwing the dad over the vehicle’s bonnet, his trial heard earlier this year.
He then crashed into a group of four people, including Mr Marriott, 46, who was out for a post-Christmas walk with his family and had stopped to help one of Jhangur’s sisters as she was lying in the road.
Jurors heard devout Christian Mr Marriott was killed and the three others were injured, including off-duty midwife Alison Norris and Jhangur’s own mother and sister.
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The defendant then got out of the car and stabbed his new brother-in-law, Hasan Khan, several times.
In court today, Chris’s widow, Bryony Marriott, wiped away tears as she read a personal statement to the court.
‘Chris was genuine, kind and loving. He was reliable, trustworthy, affectionate and gentle. Chris was someone people felt comfortable and safe with, and was great at being a friend,’ she said.
‘Chris was a man of faith, and his love for God and for people shone through in what he devoted his time to. He had a compassionate heart and loved helping, supporting and empowering others.’
Mrs Marriott said they had been married for 16 years and they thought they would grow old together.
She told the court: ‘I miss his smile and his laugh, his touch, and his wisdom and his encouragement. He was my best friend.’
The court heard he later told officers at the police station: ‘That’s why you don’t mess with the Jhangurs.’
Jhangur, of Whiteways Road, Sheffield, was found guilty in July of murdering Mr Marriott.
He was cleared of attempting to murder Hasan Khan, but guilty of wounding, and convicted of four charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Alison Norris, Ambreen Jhangur, Nafeesa Jhangur and Riasat Khan.
His father, Mohammed Jhangur, 57, of Whiteways Road, Sheffield, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice after he concealed a knife.
Prosecutor Jason Pitter KC told the jury at the opening of the trial that Jhangur was guilty of murder because he intended ‘at the very least to cause really serious harm’ when he used his car as a weapon.
He said that although Jhangur’s target may have been the Khan family, ‘the law says your intentions can be transferred from one person to another, even if he did not intend to hit that particular person’.
Mr Marriott, who was out with his family on a post-Christmas walk, saw Nafessa Jhangur lying in the road and decided, ‘fatefully’, to see whether he could help, while his wife and children returned home.
Ms Norris, who was also out walking with her partner and children, did the same thing.
The court heard Jhangur had been told about his sister being injured, and arrived at the scene in a Seat Ibiza, driving into Hasan Khan’s father, Riasat Khan, who was standing in the middle of the road talking to a 999 call operator.
The Seat then hit a group of four people in the road – Nafeesa Jhangur, Ambreen Jhangur, Ms Norris and Mr Marriott – before coming to a stop in a nearby front garden.
Mr Pitter said Jhangur got out of the car while the engine was still running and stabbed Hasan Khan multiple times to the left side of his head and to his chest, with a knife he had taken with him.
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