A carjacker who stabbed to death a driver who refused to hand over the keys to his Mercedes faces a life sentence at the Old Bailey.
Harjinder Singh Bhurji, 32, bled to death at the roadside as Rory Gordon sped off with the car and his victim’s i-phone.
Rory Gordon, 23 of Bow, was convicted by a jury of murder and will be sentenced by Judge Michael Topolski QC on May 27.
Accomplice Jae’Don Fearon, 21 of Chingford, was cleared of murder but convicted by a 10/2 majority of manslaughter.
Andre Campbell, 23, of Chingford, was also found guilty of handling an iPhone stolen from the car.
Gordon had told the court that he had not intended to kill but merely steal the car for a contact who had promised him £500.
The judge told him: “You have been convicted of a brutal murder of an innocent man.
“A brutal murder committed with a knife in the course of a crime and all for, maybe, £500.”
In a statement read to the court written on behalf of the family, the victim’s sister Rasvinder Johal said: “Listening to the painful details during this trial brings among other things disgust that such people exist in this world, all in a matter of minutes, just for money.
“We cannot bear to imagine how the pain of a knife being forced through the heart must have felt.
“Knife crime needs to stop. No one should have to experience losing their loved one this way.
The killers have deprived us of the rest of his life. At 32 a healthy, intelligent man was snatched from his future, his hopes and dreams.”
During the trial prosecutor Sally O’Neil QC had told the court that the victim had been sitting in his personalised number plate Mercedes CLK coupe talking to a friend in a quiet residential road in Ilford in September 2011.
“He was very proud of his Mercedes but he became victim of a crime known as carjacking, the violent stealing of somebody’s vehicle, by a man holding a knife,” said Miss O’Neil.
“He appeared by the passenger door and grabbed the friend by the cardigan sleeve and hauled her out of the vehicle and demanded the keys.
“Mr Bhurji said he didn’t have them and threw them under the seat of the car.”
The knifeman threatened to cut the friend unless Mr Bhurji handed over the keys and the victim “made the mistake” of complaining about his car being stolen.
“The knifeman then appeared to lose patience and lunged forward and stabbed Mr Bhurji through the heart. Despite his injuries he retrieved the keys and handed them over to the man before collapsing on the ground.”
The car was then driven off at speed and dumped in Epping Forest but Mr Bhurji’s i-phone which had been in the car was missing.
Miss O’Neil said that leaving a stolen car was not unusual as thieves wait to see if it has a tracking device installed.
If the police do not turn up within a matter of hours they it cannot be tracked and drive it off.
The Mercedes did have a tracker and police traced it within three hours.
