The High Court has ruled that 17-year-old Rayis Nibeel, a drug dealer who purchased 79 knives, swords and machetes in the months leading up to fatally stabbing Omar Khan in Luton, can now have his anonymity lifted. An order had previously been imposed under legislation aimed at protecting minors involved in court cases, but the BBC argued that the public interest was served by revealing Nibeel’s identity. Nibeel and 18-year-old Umer Choudhury were convicted of murder earlier this year. Mrs Justice Foster sentenced Nibeel to at least 20 years in custody and Choudhury to at least 18 years.
Detectives found that Nibeel ordered the 79 knives, including the one that killed Mr. Khan, online where he used his mother’s ID to make the purchases. DNA Leisure, the vendor from which all of the knives were purchased, was located only six miles from the site of the murder. DNA Leisure had sold knives that were scheduled to be outlawed later in the year. Mr. Eliaz, a former Junior Apprentice candidate who owns DNA Leisure, argued that he was innocent and that his company complied with all current UK legislation relating to the sales of knives.
Mrs Justice Foster had initially made orders preventing the press from publishing Nibeel’s and Choudhury’s names. Nonetheless, during Friday’s sentencing hearing, a BBC journalist argued that both orders should be lifted so that the public could have insight into the case and that revealing Nibeel and Choudhury’s names could prevent possible future crimes. The press named Choudhury because he was 18 and therefore an adult, but Nibeel’s lawyers objected to the judge’s decision to reveal his name since it was yet to turn 18. However, the judge has now ruled that Rayis Nibeel should be named knowing it was appropriate to regard the public interest in open justice as requiring his name to be published
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