A fugitive has been found guilty of murdering an Afghan man in a London park over a £10 drug debt.

Javid Ahmadzai, 28, fatally stabbed asylum seeker Moosakhan Nasiri once in the chest during an attack by a group of fellow Afghans almost six years ago, his trial heard.

Mr Nasiri, 20, was punched and kicked in the east London assault that had started because the victim owed money for drugs which he could not pay back immediately, prosecutor Lisa Wilding KC said.

The row had broken out on 15 October 2017 between him and three of the group in Plashet Park, East Ham, before the defendant received a phone call summoning him to the park to join in.

Following an Old Bailey trial, Ahmadzai was found guilty of murder and violent disorder.

The court had heard how Mr Nasiri came to Britain in 2005 to seek asylum after leaving Afghanistan. He had reportedly fled the country after the Taliban killed his family.

He lived in Bradford before moving to London to stay with an Afghan foster family who lived near the park where he died.

Although he was not entitled to work in the UK, he would sometimes find employment as a labourer, jurors were told.

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After the park killing, Ahmadzai fled to France where he was convicted in September 2018 of stabbing a man in the chest during an argument over the behaviour and language of the group he was in.

After he was released from French custody on 21 June 2022, he was extradited to the UK and arrested for murder.

Following his conviction on Tuesday, Ahmadzai was remanded into custody and he is due to be sentenced on 10 August.

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