Murder victim: Ilyas Habibi

The man wanted for the murder of teenager Ilyas Habibi outside Sutton Station last December was able to fly out of the country from Gatwick due to a police “computer error”.

And the suspect has subsequently messaged Habibi’s grieving family to “joke” about how he left his 17-year-old victim “choking on his blood”.

Habibi was stabbed in the neck and killed near Sutton Station in the evening of December 5.

He was among 105 homicides in London in 2023.

And while the police arrested a 19-year-old man on suspicion of assisting an offender, that individual was later released on bail.

At the inquest into Habibi’s death held in January, the police gave a evidence statement in which they said, “Following extensive enquiries, the suspect was identified. On December 11, officers found he had left the country from London Gatwick Airport on December 9.”

The police have since told Habibi’s family that there had been an “error with the computers”, which had allowed the escape when officers failed to alert border and immigration control of the suspect’s identity.

And this week, the Habibi family told The Independent newspaper that the murder suspect has recently made contact with them, using Snapchat, mocking the fatally severe blood loss with laughing emojis.

“I’ve shared them with the police but they don’t tell me what’s going on,” Ilyas’s older brother told the newspaper.

“I couldn’t reply, I was just shocked. How can someone kill someone and speak so freely and laugh about it?

“I’m only trying to think about who killed my brother. The police don’t even get in contact, someone was murdered and they don’t care.

Another teenager’s life lost: the makeshift shrine near Sutton Station last December for 17-year-old Ilyas Habibi

“We want to know what steps they’re taking but they don’t tell us, I’m honestly shocked. How could he escape after four days? He murdered my brother outside a train station and next to a police station.

“They told us there had been an error with the computers and that’s why border and immigration weren’t told. They knew who it was two days before he fled the country – they went to his house but he had already gone.”

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “The investigation into his murder remains open and we continue to work with international partners to locate and arrest the suspect, who we know travelled abroad on December 9.”

The Met claims that a family liaison officer has been assigned and has been in regular contact with the family to offer support and provide updates.

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