Two Stories

Here's Bashir Ahmed, uncle of one of the London bombers, expressing his shock and disbelief at his nephew's actions on the BBC.

And here's Bashir Ahmed explaining that what he did was "looking for justice for human beings", denying that Tanweer was a terrorist, explaining that his nephew had made a name for himself in the world, and predicting more attacks by young Muslims unless British foreign policy is changed.

UPDATE - Remember the murder of 16 year old Stephen Lawrence in 1992 ? Of course we do. I'm still trying to work out why even an obsessive newswatcher like me missed the story of 16 year old Tyrone Clarke, which for some reason didn't make BBC radio news. The cached Yorkshire Post story draws a different picture of Beeston from the 'quiet suburbia' stories (when I lived in Leeds many years back Beeston was a white working class area of terraces and back-to-backs, perched above Elland Road - definitely not a suburb).


Mother mourns her 'gentle giant' son after stabbing

Chris Benfield

A mother has spoken of her devastation after her son was stabbed to death in the street during a disturbance on an estate in Leeds.

Lorraine Fraser, 39, said her life would never be the same after the loss of 6ft 4in Tyrone Clarke, described as a "gentle giant", who died after being attacked by Asian youths in Beeston shortly after 5pm on Thursday evening.
"They have taken part of me," said Ms Fraser. "I will never be the same again. Why have they taken my son's life?
"Tyrone was a gentle giant. He was full of life. His young sister does not know yet and I have still to tell her.
"I had seen him at the corner shop earlier and told him o be home in half an hour to have his tea. I can't sleep. Every time I close eyes I see my son."
Ms Fraser, who also has a four-year-old daughter Shannon, said she heard that her son had been hurt in a phone call from the landlady of the Malvern public house and ran to the scene.
Tyrone was rushed to Leeds General Infirmary followed by his mother in another vehicle.
It is the second time Ms Fraser's family has suffered tragedy in recent years. Seven years ago her aunt, Maureen Comfort, was murdered at her flat in Lincoln Green, Leeds.
Yesterday Ms Fraser revisited the scene of her son's murder shortly before police began a fingertip search of the area.
A West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: "We are not treating this investigation as a random attack, Tyrone being part of a gang is one of the lines of investigation we are following."
"We have many people we wish to speak to before we can say whether this attack was racially motivated. It is just too early to say."
Extra police were on patrol last night amid fears there could be further violence and five males aged between 16 and 25 were last night still being questioned in connection with suspected murder.
A witness said he had seen eight to 10 Asian-looking youths heading for Brett Gardens with sticks and cricket bats. He said: "The next thing I saw was two lads being brayed. They were kicking them and hitting them with pieces of wood while they were on the floor." A post mortem examination established Tyrone was stabbed more than once.
Friends and relatives yesterday laid flowers at the scene. They said there was on-going friction between gangs associated with Cockburn High School, where Tyrone was a pupil until Easter.