Man who murdered uncle and hid body in bank jailed
A drug dealer who kidnapped and murdered his uncle before hiding his body in a bank vault has been jailed for more than 34 years.
Asghar Badshah, a 39-year-old bus driver from Bradford, was taken to a disused bank on Commercial Street in Batley by his nephew, Tahir Syed, on 30 November 2019 over a missing sum of money, Leeds Crown Court heard.
Mr Badshah was beaten to death and his body was found behind a false wall in a vault four weeks later.
Syed, 42, of no fixed address, was found guilty of murder, conspiracy to kidnap and drugs conspiracy offences on Monday and sentenced at the same court earlier.
Syed and his associates had imported tonnes of cocaine and heroin to the UK in more than 30 shipments between 2016 to 2021, the court heard.
Judge Thomas Bayliss KC said Mr Badshah had been asked to "hide a large amount of cash" by Syed, who then suspected Mr Badshah of stealing £600,000 from him.
The court was told how Mr Badshah was kidnapped from his mother's address in Mayo Road, Bradford, in a Mercedes at around 01:35 GMT on the day of the murder and taken to the bank, where he was beaten with a metal rod.
Syed lied to his family, the court heard, telling them that his uncle was still alive, knowing that in reality his naked body had been stored in an old vault in the disused bank.
Judge Bayliss said: "I am quite sure that your primary purpose, was to detain and interrogate Asghar Badshah, in order to ascertain where the missing money was."
Syed was jailed for a minimum term of 34 years and 153 days, taking into account almost four years already spent behind bars since being extradited from Turkey.
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