Overview
- Fawaz Abdulkareem was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 17 years on Friday after a Croydon jury found him unanimously guilty of murder and possession of a bladed article.
- The victim, 32-year-old Daniel Manuel, was stabbed three times in the lobby of Abdulkareem’s Bondway block in Vauxhall following an argument about a debt on 5 July 2025.
- Responding officers arrested Abdulkareem at the scene after they noticed the victim’s blood on his clothing and detectives later recovered the knife he had tried to throw from a 14th-floor window.
- Police and court evidence showed injuries consistent with Manuel being stabbed while his back was turned, a finding that undermined Abdulkareem’s claim that he acted in self-defence.
- Manuel’s wife has described the profound emotional and financial impact of his death and the Met has used the case to highlight its homicide-clearance work and falling London homicide figures.