Luke Holland was shot dead in cold blood by a German neo-Nazi (Picture: Cavendish)

The parents of a British lawyer shot dead by a neo-Nazi have labelled the gunman a ‘terrorist’ after a two-year battle for justice.

Oxford graduate Luke Holland, 31, was gunned down in the street in Berlin in September 2015 after being confronted at random by a 63-year old man who professed to ‘hate foreigners’.

Friends found Luke laying motionless outside the Del Rex bar after hearing a noise they originally thought was a car backfiring.

Triathlete gives up chance of winning medal after noticing rival go wrong way

The killer, who witnesses described as wearing a long black leather jacket and cowboy hat, was seen standing nearby holding a sawn off shotgun.


Luke had just finished Face-timing a friend when he was shot, he diad on his way to hospital after suffering fatal wounds to his abdomen.



German Police later arrested self-styled ‘White Knight’ Rolf Zilienski at a right wing rally and found Nazi memorabilia around his flat in the Neukolln district.

Phillip Holland and his wife Rita, from Heaton Mersey in Stockport, Greater Manchester, have fought a two-year legal battle to bring the gunman to justice.

Mrs Holland said: ‘Everybody thinks “this will never happen to me”. But our son was shot. I just want to make it clear how this hatred, this terrorist has affected so many peoples lives. We find no beauty in Berlin now.’

Rolf Zielezinski shot the young lawyer outside a bar (Picture: Cavendish Press)

Public prosecutors suggested the father of three would only be charged with manslaughter on the grounds he was drunk, Mr Holland’s grieving parents hired their own lawyer to lobby German state officials to increase the charge to murder.

In July 2016 he was jailed for 11 years and seven months after being convicted of murder.

When does Rosh Hashanah end and when is Yom Kippur 2020?

At the inquest on Monday, Mr Holland, 63, a retired communications engineer condemned British diplomats added: ‘At first Zilienski was going to be charged with manslaughter and would have received a maximum sentence of five years but we knew this wasn’t right.

We ended up getting a lawyer and we got really involved with the trial and we put pressure on the prosecutor to change the charge to murder. After a long time, he was convicted of murder and sentenced.

‘He had been heard speaking to people in bars and telling them how angry he was that nobody spoke German anymore and that foreigners were coming over, and he was basically trying to share his Nazi views.

‘Whilst we went to court in Berlin we were constantly being threatened by Nazis who would shout and scream in our faces. It was really distressing and a really difficult time to us – but we just wanted justice for our boy. Zilienski tried to appeal his conviction but the high court refused to allow him to do so. ‘

Luke Holland with his parents Phillip and Rita at his Oxford University graduation (Picture: Cavendish Press)

The hearing was told Luke, who worked for legal firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in London, moved to Berlin to help build up a new company with their marketing of a new product, a music technology bracelet which has the ability to help people with blindness and deafness.

Mr Holland, 63, said: ‘He was a bright young man, he was extremely ambitious. We haven’t even had time to grieve properly as it all happened so quickly. We still feel like he is going to come home and walk through the door.



‘He was our only son. We have lost the biggest part of our lives, and don’t know how we are going to move in from this.’

France sees highest daily rise in coronavirus infections since pandemic began

Zilienski had been interviewed a few years earlier regarding a shooting. Officers raided his apartment and found Nazi memorabilia. He was caught when his niece found the sawn-off shotgun and reported it to police.

Recording a verdict of unlawful killing, coroner Alison Mutch said: She said: ‘It is clear to see the impact Luke’s death has had, not only on his close family and friends, but also the many many lives he met whilst he had been travelling round the world.

‘He had a drive and enthusiasm for learning. He had gone to Germany to set up a company and helped build it up. He had been out with a friend for a drink and went outside to FaceTime his friend in his birthday. Not long after he was unfortunately shot at point blank range and died shortly after.

‘His parents have shown dogged determination in ensuring that justice was served in the sentencing of the attacker.’