A knifeman who stabbed a rival family member in th

A knifeman who stabbed a rival family member in the back in a terrifying love triangle attack was jailed for three-and-a-half years at the Old Bailey today.

(Mon)

Shabir Khan, 29, attacked Mohammed Arshad during a vicious brawl between two feuding families, leaving the 34-year-old on the brink of death.

Members of the rival Muslim clans used butchers’ knives, cricket bats and scaffolding poles during a pitched battle on the streets of Woking, the court heard.

Five members of Khan’s family walked free from the Old Bailey earlier this month after a jury acquitted them of a string of assault charges.

They claimed self-defence on the basis that Mohammed Arshad’s relatives threw the first punches in the bloody fight.

Shabir, of (93) Walton Court, Woking, was found guilty by the jury of wounding Mr Arshad with intent to cause him grievous bodily harm.

He showed no emotion today (Mon) as Judge Gerald Gordon told him the knife attack had ‘cost Mr Arshad his spleen, one of his kidneys, and could have cost him his life.

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The seeds of the battle lay in the accusation that Mr Arshad had been involved in an affair with the wife of Shabir’s brother Karim.

Prosecutor Simon Wild said: ‘The Khan family believed, rightly or wrongly, the victim had had an affair with Karim’s wife and this is the suspicion harboured by the family.

‘This caused bad feeling between them.

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It was claimed three of the Khans went to Mr Arshad’s home in Malborough Road, Woking, the night before the incident and had punched him in the face.

The following day, February 6 this year, seven Khans drove to Mr Arshad’s father’s home in Walton Court armed with’ knives, baseball bats, cricket bats, a metal pole and other implements,’ Mr Wild said.

‘They then attacked them, with no justification whatsoever.

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Surgeons had to remove Mr Arshad’s kidney and his spleen after Khan plunged the knife into his back.

And Mr Wild added: ‘Mr Arshad would most undoubtedly have died had it not been for the skilled doctors.

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The victim’s father Mohammed Siddiq, 75, and brother Shokat Khan, 36, were also wounded in the violence between the families.

Mr Lawrence Power, defending Shabir, told the court: ‘This was very much an incident that is totally out of step with his character.

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But Judge Gordon said: ‘The deliberate use of a knife on the body of another human being intending to cause really serious harm must result in a very substantial prison sentence.

‘The use of a knife as a weapon is all too prevalent and has got to stop.

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