A man diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia has been found guilty of the murder of a vulnerable Kurdish asylum seeker in Bristol whom he had racially abused for years.

Jeffrey Barry was found guilty at Bristol crown court of killing and mutilating Kamil Ahmad just hours after being released from a psychiatric hospital. He stabbed him repeatedly before calmly phoning 999 and telling the operator what he had done.

He had denied murder but admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility.

Kamil Ahmad.

Prosecuting, Adam Vaitilingam QC said Ahmad died in a “savage and sustained” attack.



Senior Investigating Officer Detective Chief Inspector Richard Ocone said: “Jeffery Barry may have a history of serious mental illness but at the time he attacked Kamil he knew exactly what he was doing...



“It is clear in the 999 call he subsequently made that he was already thinking of his defence and the jury rightly recognised he was fully responsible for his actions.”

He paid tribute to Ahmad’s family saying that they had been “extremely dignified” throughout the case.

Ahmad’s family and friends said he had been let down by several agencies in the city, and that Ahmad had made repeated warnings about feeling threatened by Barry but was ignored.

Barry had been arrested and sectioned the month before, having made threats to kill Ahmad, but was released from a psychiatric hospital after promising not to consume alcohol, which exacerbated his condition. He immediately went on a drinking binge, returned home, armed himself with a knife and attacked and killed Ahmad, who did not know Barry had been freed.



In the three years before the attack, Ahmad had complained to police four times that Barry had assaulted him. Ahmad’s interpreter, Adil Jaifar, said he had worked with Ahmad for several years and that at weekly therapy meetings he attended with Ahmad, he always talked about how threatened he felt by Barry.

“He felt that the police and social services didn’t take him seriously. Ironically, the only time he said that things were OK was the last time I saw him before he died. I asked him how things were with Barry and he said that everything was ‘quiet and pleasant’ because Barry had been detained in a psychiatric hospital. That was the last time I saw him alive.”

Ahmad had complained to police four times that Barry had assaulted him. Photograph: Handout

The case has echoes of the death of Bijan Ebrahimi, a disabled Iranian refugee murdered by a neighbour in Bristol in 2013 after years of racial abuse and having been wrongly branded a paedophile. Earlier this year, Avon and Somerset police were heavily criticised over their role in the Ebrahimi case, and a review of the city council’s handling of the case is expected soon.

Ahmad’s brother, Kamaran Ahmad Ali, said after the verdict: “Kamil was a much-loved brother, uncle and cousin. If he had been protected by the authorities, he would be alive today. Why was he not protected? We must have an answer to that question.”

Barry had called the police weeks before the killing and falsely claimed that Ahmad was a rapist, paedophile and terrorist. He told support workers at the accommodation they shared in Bristol that he wanted to be a notorious murderer and Ahmad was top of his hit list.



Chillingly, Ahmad predicted his own death three years before he was killed. His asylum claim had been considered and refused by the Home Office and he was preparing to submit a fresh claim just before his death.



He wrote about his situation and helped to produce artwork revealing it. He drew a picture of himself being stabbed and wrote by way of explanation: “‘My name is Kamil Ahmad. I have painted this picture. This is a house, a window … I have always opened this window, looked outside and shut it again. I shut the window and now everywhere is closed for me. It looks like I am in one room and I can’t go out ...

“This is my heart that has been stabbed with a dagger. This is my blood coming down. Someone [at] the Home Office did to me this. And I am bleeding still and no one can stop it. That is all.”

A review will look at the role of organisations including the Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership (AWP), Bristol city council, and Avon and Somerset police in the case.

AWP and Bristol city council both said that they were reviewing their working practices in light of the case.

The family’s solicitor, Tony Murphy, of Bhatt Murphy, said: “Losing Kamil in such unspeakable circumstances is all the more painful for his family given it was preventable. The evidence heard at trial points to a systemic, multi-agency failure to protect a known victim of violent race-hate crime from a known perpetrator. The family ask the authorities to be open about their failure to protect Kamil so that other lives can be protected.”



Barry, 56, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1986 and for long periods his illness was controlled by medication. He moved into accommodation in Knowle, south Bristol, run by the Milestones Trust charity in 2010.

Ahmad, who had post-traumatic stress disorder, arrived at the accommodation in 2012. Friends say he was a gentle and friendly man who helped out at a refugee drop-in centre in Bristol.

Before the attack, Barry’s medication was changed and in June 2016 he was arrested and sectioned after allegedly threatening to kill Ahmad.

The tribunal did not have full access to his medical history and did not realise he was no longer being prescribed the drugs that had helped keep his aggression under control. Nor was it aware of the concerns of Milestones staff about Barry’s obsession with Ahmad.

During his trial, the court was told the trust wanted to get an emergency injunction to stop Barry returning to the sheltered flats but did not have enough notice to do so. The court was told there was no care plan in place for Barry.

As soon as he was released, Barry went out drinking and in the early hours rang a mental health crisis helpline and told the operator he was criminally insane and was not responsible for his actions. Barry put the phone down, walked upstairs and killed Ahmad before cutting his penis off.

Jeffrey Barry’s 999 call to police – audio

Ahmad fled persecution and imprisonment in Iraq, and as a result of his experiences there was diagnosed with severe mental health difficulties. He arrived in the UK in 2011 seeking protection. Ahmad often spoke to friends of his dream of a safe, simple place to live where he could invite them for a barbecue.

