A junkie uncle, who killed his teenage nephew afte

A junkie uncle, who killed his teenage nephew after giving him a super-strong type of heroin has been jailed for 45 months at the Old Bailey.

Crack addict Raja Mumtaz, 37, helped Irfan Riaz and two pals to smoke the drug off a piece of tin foil.

But 17-year-old Irfan died in his bed during the night from morphine poisoning after the massive drugs binge.

Tests later showed that the level of heroin in his blood was more than five times the fatal limit.

And the court heard that Mumtaz had told the youngsters: ‘This is quite strong.

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Prosecutor Sally O’Neill, QC, had said Irfan and his friends Imran Khan and Maurice Poston had gone to a drug den in west London after asking Mumtaz for cannabis on March 1, 1998.

The youngsters then discussed heroin with Irfan’s uncle, and he took them to the flat in Shepherd’s Bush after scoring the drugs off a woman called Linda Meany.

Miss O’Neill said Mumtaz – who was known as Papa – then helped the youngsters to smoke the heroin.

She told the jury: ‘He was acting as if he was in charge of the boys and was showing them what to do, and how to use the drugs to get the best effect out of it.

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After going for a drive, Mumtaz later met up with the boys at Irfan’s house in Sudbury, Wembley, north-west London, and they returned to the drug den, the court heard.

It was then that Mumtaz managed to get a more pure batch of heroin.

Miss O’Neill said: ‘Mr Mumtaz said it would be better than last time – it would be whiter and stronger.

‘It must be obvious to anyone that this course of activity is a potentially dangerous one.

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The jury was told Meany took some of the heroin first, and told the group it was ‘good’.

Miss O’Neill added: ‘Mumtaz then smoked some, and after a couple of puffs he was sweating and said ‘This is quite strong’.

Despite that, he then passed it to Imran, who passed it on to Irfan.

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It was claimed that all three boys were sick during the evening, and eventually went home.

But Irfan, who was sleeping in his brother’s room, died during the night.

A post mortem later revealed he died of morphine poisoning, and Miss O’Neill added: ‘The level of morphine in Irfan’s blood was more than five times the level at which it becomes potentially dangerous.

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Imran eventually told Irfan’s brother what had happened and police were called.

Mumtaz was later arrested, but he initially denied giving the youngsters
drugs.

He claimed Meany had supplied the lads with the second batch of heroin, and that he was in another room when they took it.

But Mumtaz, of Castlemaine House, Battersea, south London, admitted six charges of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.

He had denied manslaughter and the Crown offered no evidence against him in respect of that charge.

Judge Michael Coombe sentenced Mumtaz on the basis that he helped the three youths take the drugs and did NOT ply them with heroin.

The judge took into account the fact Mumtaz has been deeply remorseful since the death and gave him credit for his pleas of guilty in sentencing him to three years and nine months concurrent on each charge.

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