A landlord from hell who headbutted and knifed a t
A landlord from hell who headbutted and knifed a terrified tenant because he did not write ‘Mr’ before his name has been jailed for four and a half years.
Shakeel Khan, 37, flew into a rage when he found a note addressed without the title and confronted victim Don Lowe with a former merchant seaman pal.
Mr Lowe, 46, was punched, kicked, and had his head smashed against a wall before Khan lashed out at his head with a lock knife.
Property speculator Khan later offered to pay for medical treatment for Mr Lowe’s cuts and severe bruising if he dropped the case.
In court he tried to blame his tenant, but the jury convicted Khan of wounding with intent and perverting the course of justice.
The judge, Mr Recorder James Stewart, QC, told Khan: ‘You were annoyed that Mr Lowe had written a note addressed to you, disrespectfully referring to you as Khan and not Mr Khan.
‘Without reasonable provocation you severely assaulted him by striking him with your fists, causing a severe black eye and a fractured nose which still requires remedial surgery.
‘Not only did you strike him in the way I have described, you banged his head against the wall.
When he was on the floor you kicked him.
‘You then took out a flick knife, flicked out the blade and caused him a glancing blow.
Mr Lowe was terrified for his life.
‘Subsequently, you tried to bribe him to go to the police and drop the case, offering free medical expenses and accommodation in the house you were building in your garden.
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The judge added: ‘In my view there is no mitigation in this case.
‘Interference with witnesses strikes at the very root of justice and is always treated very seriously in these courts.
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It was revealed Khan had previous convictions for dishonesty and possessing an offensive weapon.
The married father-of-one, who spent his life’s savings funding his own defence costs, now faces bankruptcy.
The jury heard Mr Lowe had problems with other tenants who shared his address in Spring Grove Road, Hounslow, and he asked his girlfriend to write to Khan.
The note, addressed simply to ‘Khan’ and not to Mr Khan, read: ‘Please meet to discuss the complaints.
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Prosecutor Mr Simon Connolly said: ‘It may be that it caused some offence.
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On February 11 last year furious Khan turned up at the house with his hired ‘heavy.
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‘Mr Khan took the note from his briefcase and was immediately angry, abusing and threatening,’ said Mr Connolly.
‘He was quite plainly wound up and Mr Lowe did not know what had upset him.
‘All of a sudden Mr Khan headbutted Mr Lowe in the face.
He was punching him and banging his head against the wall and kicking him whilst he was down.
‘Mr Khan then took a flick-knife from his pocket, took out the blade and stabbed Mr Lowe in the head.
Having done that he then continued to punch him.
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The merchant seaman persuaded Khan to stop but he made Mr Lowe write him a blood stained cheque for pnds stlg 400 on the spot.
Mr Lowe told the court: ‘He said if I wasn’t out in a week he would burn our things and poison our food.
‘I was shivering and I couldn’t see what I was writing.
He forced me to write out a cheque for pnds stlg 400.
‘Because my hand was shaking my signature wasn’t the same.
There was blood on the cheque.
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‘I was almost unconscious.
I looked in the mirror and I couldn’t see anything apart from blood.
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After he returned from hospital, Khan paid him another visit – but this time was polite and calm.
The landlord offered to pay his medical bills and said he could stay in the house being built at the bottom of a garden at a property he owned in Twickenham.
Khan, of Stanley Road, Teddington, fought back the tears as he was led to the cells.
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