Illegal migrant on run

Detectives are today hunting an illegal immigrant after a father was knifed to death in front of his three children in a “horrendous and savage” attack.

Egyptian-born Ahmed El-Hamid was stabbed 14 times as he sat in his car with his four-year-old daughter Layala, his son Yusuf, two, and his six-month-old daughter Nawal.

The suspect — an Iraqi Kurd — weighed into a row which the 32-year-old victim was having with his estranged wife, Sarah Badawi, who is in her twenties.

Police are now searching for Hayman Mustafa, 24, of no fixed abode and thought to have entered the UK illegally. The murder happened after Mr El-Hamid, an air-conditioning engineer, drove to his sister-in-law’s flat above a parade of shops in Stanley Street, Teddington, in the early hours of Monday.

Mr Mustafa allegedly stabbed the victim repeatedly with what is thought to have been a kitchen knife as he sat next to three-year-old Layla, with the couple’s two other children in the back seat. The tragedy unfolded within minutes, police say.

A member of the public called an ambulance but paramedics were unable to save Mr El-Hamid, who was declared dead at the scene. Police believe Mr El-Hamid was an Egyptian national who had legally lived in Britain from around the time of his marriage.

One theory detectives are working on is that he became angry on finding his Anglo- Egyptian wife with Mustafa, whom he assumed was her new boyfriend.

Detective Inspector Brent Hyatt, of the Met’s serious crime directorate, said: “This was a horrendously brutal attack, marked out in its savagery because it happened in front of a fouryearold and two children even younger than that. It is outrageous.”

Mustafa is believed to have escaped on a bus from Teddington to Hounslow, before taking a taxi to Southall.

Police have spoken to the taxi driver but they are also appealing for anyone who was either on or driving a bus between Teddington and Hounslow during the early hours of Monday morning who may have seen him.

Mustafa is described as being stocky and 5ft 6ins-5ft 8ins. He has a moustache and was wearing a white T-shirt with blue writing, blue jeans and white Nike trainers.

Anyone with information should call the incident room at Barnes on 020 8247 7911 or anonymously call Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.