The city of Derby has been left reeling after the brutal and unprovoked murder of Gurvinder Singh Johal, a beloved father of three and local restaurant owner, inside a Lloyds Bank branch on St Peter’s Street. The perpetrator, Haybe Cabdiraxmaan Nur, a 47-year-old asylum seeker originally from Somalia, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 25 years by Judge Shaun Smith at Derby Crown Court on October 29, 2025. The shocking crime, which unfolded in broad daylight on May 6, has ignited fierce debate about the UK’s asylum system, mental health support for vulnerable migrants, and the effectiveness of cross-border policing in Europe.
According to BBC News and the Daily Mail, the events of that fateful afternoon were as swift as they were horrifying. CCTV footage, which left several of Mr Johal’s relatives so distressed they had to leave the courtroom, showed Nur entering the bank just after 2:30 p.m. Mr Johal, 37, was waiting at the back of the queue to withdraw cash for his employees. Without warning or provocation, Nur approached, produced a knife, and stabbed Mr Johal forcefully in the chest—piercing his heart. The entire attack lasted just 22 seconds. Nur then calmly walked out of the bank, leaving the knife protruding from Mr Johal’s chest. Despite desperate efforts by staff and paramedics, Mr Johal was pronounced dead at the scene at 3:16 p.m.
Mr Johal, known affectionately as Danny, lived in West Bromwich with his wife and three young children, aged five, three, and one. He was the owner of several businesses, including the Hen and Chickens Bar and Grill restaurant in Shelton Lock. His family’s victim impact statement, read in court, painted a picture of devastation: “To the world he may have been many things: a devoted husband, a loving father, a cherished brother, and a loyal friend. But to us, and to God, he was simply a good man. Our Gurvinder. Our light.” The statement continued, “The deepest wound of all is the impact on Gurvinder’s children—their innocence has been stolen. Once carefree and joyful, they are now withdrawn, fearful, and confused. They ask, ‘When is Daddy coming back?’ They say, ‘A monster took Daddy away.’”
The court heard that Nur’s journey to the UK was long and fraught with hardship. After fleeing Somalia in 2016, following the honor killing of his wife by her own family, Nur traveled through Libya, where he said he was treated “like an animal and kept against his will.” A friend sent him $1,800 to board a boat to Europe, and Nur spent the next several years drifting through Italy, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. During this period, he lived in refugee camps, sold cigarettes illegally, and was repeatedly arrested for offenses ranging from robbery and assault to shoplifting and public disorder. In May 2023, he received a one-year suspended sentence in Italy for robbery, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and resisting a public official.
Nur arrived in the UK by small boat on October 22, 2024. His asylum application was rejected just four days later, with officials citing that he was not a victim of human trafficking. The Home Office formally refused his application in January 2025, and by March, he had been served with a notice of immigration bail, prohibiting him from working. At the time of the attack, Nur was living in a Home Office flat in Derby managed by the company Serco.
On the morning of May 6, 2025, Nur’s friend Mohamed Abdirohman described seeing him drinking vodka and beer alone, “like he was having a party by himself.” Later, Nur made several increasingly desperate and aggressive calls to the charity Migrant Help, complaining about his treatment by UK authorities. He threatened to kill people and himself, saying, “he was going to go to 500 people and he was going to kill them and, after that, he was going to kill himself,” according to the prosecution. He also said he would “get a knife, stab as many people as he can see in front of him and the police can come and do whatever they want to do with him but he was going to do it.”
Alarmed by these threats, Migrant Help contacted East Midlands Ambulance Service, which in turn notified Derbyshire Police. However, Nur was not stopped before the attack occurred. Paramedics, unaware of the crime, attended to Nur at his flat just minutes after he returned from the murder, finding him apparently sober and expressing no further intent to harm himself or others. He was later arrested at his Home Office accommodation, found asleep under a duvet on the floor. When taken into custody, Nur became abusive and, speaking in Somali, declared, “What can they take from me... what can you change about me... you cannot change anything about me... you can kill me as normal... I did this intentionally.” He also told officers, “Your wife, tomorrow, you are dead,” and made further disturbing remarks.
During sentencing, Judge Shaun Smith described the murder as “brutal and callous,” adding, “You murdered [Mr Johal] in broad daylight in front of members of the public. What you did, armed with a knife, was randomly select Mr Johal and plunge it into his chest—a man you never knew. It was a real-life horror film for everyone connected to Mr Johal and those who witnessed this.”
Nur’s defense counsel, James Horne KC, argued that Nur was “in a state of flux and crisis,” struggling with alcohol dependency, post-traumatic stress disorder, and a sense of injustice about Britain’s asylum system. A psychiatrist concluded that Nur’s violent act was “a terrible expression of his anger and hopelessness.” Despite this, Nur pleaded guilty to murder in August 2025, expressing, through his lawyer, a desire to accept full responsibility.
The case has provoked searching questions about the UK’s asylum process, the monitoring of individuals with known histories of violence across Europe, and the adequacy of mental health support for vulnerable migrants. Derbyshire Police have admitted they were unaware of Nur’s police records in four European Union countries until after the killing. As Jeremy Ball, East Midlands social affairs correspondent, observed for BBC News, “There are obvious questions about the asylum system generally. Who’s coming here? Where they are housed? How are they monitored? This feeds into a febrile political debate.”
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has completed an investigation into Derbyshire Police’s handling of the warnings issued by Migrant Help but will not release its findings until the conclusion of all related proceedings, including the inquest into Mr Johal’s death. The IOPC stated, “To avoid any potential for prejudice, we will publish our findings at the conclusion of all related proceedings.”
Mr Johal’s family has urged that Nur serve his full sentence in the UK, rather than being deported. For now, the community of Derby mourns a man described as “our light,” while the nation grapples with the uncomfortable questions his senseless murder has brought to the fore.
