Builder who stabbed student in the neck and then claimed self-defence jailed

A construction worker fuelled on ‘anger, cocaine and alcohol’ slashed a stranger’s throat and then had his dad cover for him.

Chas Corrigan, 22, knifed 20-year-old Mohammed Algasim in the neck outside student accommodation near the city’s railway station late on August 1 last year.

He had been drinking in a pub and taking cocaine on the night of the attack, which was described by prosecutors as ‘unprovoked and senseless’.

CCTV captures the moment Corrigan, coming home from the pub, walks past the Saudi Arabian student sitting outside his halls.

Words are exchanged before Corrigan walks away. He then turns back when someone in the group calls out to him.

He moves very close, lowers his face towards Mr Algasim, who stands up.

Within seconds, Corrigan took out an 8-inch kitchen knife he had stolen from a friend and had hidden in his shorts.

He swung it twice, cutting right through the flesh of Mr Algasim’s neck.

As a result, Mr Algasim sustained massive blood loss with a pathologist describing this as ‘torrential’.

The two men had never met.

Corrigan was found guilty of murder at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday.

Jailing Corrigan for life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 years and six months, Mr Justice Dexter Dias told him: ‘Perhaps no one will ever understand why you did what you have done.

‘It was literally senseless.It made no sense. You were fuelled by alcohol and cocaine and anger. It is a lethal combination and proved to be fatal.’

The Judge added: ‘He states that the incident happened in “a blink of an eye” and “[I] truly thought I was going to get seriously injured.” He adds that his reaction was “to swing a weapon so close to someone in order to frighten them”.

‘He maintains his claims that this was an accident caused when he spontaneously reacted when he thought he was about to get seriously hurt. Like the jury, I reject this account.’

His father Peter Corrigan, 50, of Cambridge, pleaded guilty to assisting an offender after concealing high-visibility clothing that his son had been wearing at the time of the attack.

He was jailed for two years, the CPS said.

Cheryl Williams, Crown Advocate, said: ‘Chas Corrigan claimed he acted in self-defence, but the evidence clearly showed this was not the case.

‘Our case was built on a strong combination of CCTV footage, including images of the attack itself, eyewitness testimony and pathology evidence.

‘This was a fatal and cruel act of violence which has had a devastating impact on Mohammed Algasim’s family and friends.

‘Nothing can undo their loss, but I hope today’s sentence provides some measure of justice.’

Mr Algasim’s father Yousef Al Qasim said in a victim impact statement read to the court on the first day of the two-day sentencing hearing that his pain was ‘beyond what words can express’.

‘The pain of sending a son abroad to study, full of hope for his future, only for him to return to us as a victim of senseless violence, despite having caused no problem to anyone, is beyond what words can express,’ he said.

Detective Chief Inspector Dale Mepstead, who led the investigation from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, said Corrigan ‘chose to arm himself with a knife and carry it in a public place, with devastating consequences’.

‘Mohammed was a young man with his whole life ahead of him, and his death has had a profound impact on all who knew him,’ she said.

‘Our thoughts continue to be with his family and friends as they come to terms with this tragic loss.’

Mr Algasim’s family said in a statement released through police: ‘This has been a very difficult journey for our family.

‘Losing Mohammed has left a deep void in our lives.

‘Whilst nothing can bring him back, today’s verdict recognises the seriousness and brutality of how his life was taken.’