'Pillar of the Community' Stabs Rival in the Eye...

A youth worker who lived a double life as a ruthless gang leader was jailed indefinitely today for blinding a man by hacking a machete through his eyeball.

Saifour Rahman, 23, appeared to be a pillar of the community, giving up his free time to volunteer at an outreach project for youngsters.

But beneath this veneer of respectability, Rahman headed an east London gang known as the Timber Wharf Boys and went by the street name of 'Jackal'.

As the head of a mob of 20 armed with baseball bats and sticks, machete-wielding Rahman meted out a wicked attack on Razaull Ahmed, 22, on the Isle of Dogs.

Mr Ahmed, who had been smoking a cigarette after a fast food meal, lost his left eye and was permanently disfigured after the act of 'shocking savagery'.

Horrified witnesses had earlier watched the gang as they 'tooled up' in preparation for the unprovoked assault.

Rahman denied the attack but he was convicted by a jury after a three week trial in November at Snaresbrook Crown Court.

Today Judge Murray Shanks gave Rahman an indeterminate sentence for public protection (IPP) with a minimum of seven and a half years.

'This was an extremely unpleasant assault,' he said. 'You pose a significant risk to the public of serious injury.'

The trial heard Mr Ahmed had been smoking a cigarette with two men outside Millennium Perfect Fried Chicken when Rahman struck on April 27 last year.

Shocking attack: The gang based in the Isle of Dogs numbered around 20 and had machetes, bricks and bats among their arsenal

'A large group of Asian males with scarves wrapped around their faces and with weapons came running towards them down Westferry Road,' said prosecutor Jonathan Foy.

'Estimates to how many there were in the group vary but it is somewhere between seven and 20.'

Foy told the court that Saifour Rahman was at the front of the pack with a large machete in his hand, and the gang ran towards Mr Ahmed and his two companions.

They then set upon him with their weapons: baseball bats, poles and pieces of wood.'In an act of shocking savagery, Mr Saifour Rahman slashed Mr Ahmed's face,' said Foy.

'It was a wicked and deliberate blow. The blow of the machete bit deep into his nose and cut straight through his left eye.

Razaull underwent surgery at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, east London, but doctors were unable to save his eye.

The court heard Rahman regularly volunteered with the Docklands Outreach charity - a support service for young people in Tower Hamlets.

Rahman had also worked with youngsters at the Island House Community Centre on the Isle of Dogs.
Co-accused Emad Ahmed, 22, Sofiul Bosor, also 22, and Sahab Ali, 27, were all said to have been members of the armed mob but were all cleared.

Emad Ahmed was acquitted by the jury while Bosor and Ali had earlier been cleared on the direction of Judge Shanks due to a lack of evidence.

Rahman claimed he had an alibi, saying that he was at a cinema with his girlfriend at the time of the attack but the jury rejected this.

Rahman, of Ipswich, was convicted of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm and violent disorder.