Foster mother took killer into her home thinking he was a teenage asylum seeker

The foster mother of an Afghan asylum seeker who murdered an aspiring Royal Marine has recalled how he became a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ character who ‘thought he had the right to carry a knife’.

Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai, 21, murdered Thomas Roberts, 21, during an argument over an e-scooter in Bournemouth town centre in March last year.

He had been handed a 20-year prison sentence in his absence for killing two people in Serbia, but was granted entry to the UK after telling authorities he was a 14-year-old schoolboy whose parents had been killed by the Taliban.

Abdulrahimzai deceived Border Force and the Home Office so comprehensively that he was placed with foster mother Nicola Marchant-Jones, who told MailOnline today that she had ‘had to accept he was 14’ and had ‘no other way of checking it.’

The custody picture of Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai, 21, following his conviction for murder earlier today

Abdulrahimzai deceived Border Force and the Home Office so comprehensively that he was placed with foster mother Nicola Marchant-Jones (pictured)

But Abdulrahimzai went on to become a street fighter who attacked his foster mother and boasted about his love of knives on TikTok.

Ms Marchant-Jones fostered him from early 2020 to mid-2021 in Poole before he was moved to a different family. 

She earlier told Salisbury Crown Court that Abdulrahimzai was initially a ‘shy, bright lad’ who suffered from ‘night terrors’, but grew into a ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ personality after being caught with knives several times.

And speaking to MailOnline today, she said he left her care after becoming violent.

The foster mother said: ‘All of this has come as such a shock to me. I wasn’t aware of any of his background before he came to the UK.

‘Finding out about us previous and now with this case as well has all been very distressing for me and I’m just so shocked considering how he was when he was initially placed with me.

‘When he first came he was quite a shy gentle boy but then all of a sudden he changed, his personality changed completely and he became a very different person.

‘He was spoken to by the police about carrying knives and he seemed to think he had the right to carry a knife to defend himself.’

Ms Marchant-Jones described how Abdulrahimzai would often get into trouble at school for fighting.

She also recalled how during a shopping trip to JD Sports to buy a new coat, she caught the defendant with a knife – which he had taken from her kitchen – and took it from him.

He had made a sheath for the weapon and kept it on his waist. 

But when Abdulrahimzai – nicknamed Lo by Ms Marchant-Jones – was caught with a knife, he was only given words of advice by Dorset Police. 

‘At one point he said he was doing street fighting’, the foster mother added. 

‘He appeared to have lots of money. I didn’t see any money but he was buying nice things. He said he got £100 for ten minutes fighting.’

When he nearly headbutted Ms Marchant-Jones during an argument he was removed from her care.

She added: ‘When I heard he was involved in two murders in Serbia I was just left so shocked by the level of violence – maybe it was down to the the people he was mixing with.

‘But when he arrived to stay with me he barely spoke any English, so it was difficult to get his back story, but after he became more aggressive he moved on and we parted company in August 2021.’

The asylum seeker, seen here on bus CCTV, broke down in tears and claimed his parents were killed by the Taliban and detailed the alleged torture he endured

An image of the a knife held by Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai in a video posted on his TikTok page

The Afghan national was today convicted of the murder of aspiring Royal Marine Thomas Roberts (above), 21, outside a Subway sandwich shop in Bournemouth on March 12 last year, having stabbed him twice in the chest with a ’10cm blade’ 

Abdulrahimzai, 21, was today found guilty of murdering Thomas Roberts during the argument in March last year.

The ‘knife-obsessed’ criminal had fled Serbia after shooting dead two men and being sentenced to 20 years in jail, but his previous convictions were not marked on any police databases or intelligence systems. 

Reports from August 2018 in the Serbian media detailed how the two Afghans were gunned down near the village of Dobrinci – around 50 miles from the capital Belgrade.

Their bodies were left in a field, with police following a theory that it was a feud between rival Afghan gangs over people smuggling routes.

On March 12 last year, he stabbed Mr Roberts twice in the chest with a ’10cm blade’ after an argument with his friend about an e-scooter outside a Subway sandwich shop.

The Afghan admitted manslaughter at an earlier hearing, but denied murder and forced a trial. The jury did not believe him.

Asked by prosecutor Nic Lobbenberg KC why he carried the knife, he said: ‘I was fearing for my life, there were people from home who wanted to kill me and people in Bournemouth had threatened to stab me to death.’

Opening the case last week, prosecutor Nic Lobbenberg KC told jurors it was a ‘fatal encounter all about a scooter which has cost this boy his life’.

He added: ‘Thomas was the peacemaker, he came between the two men. For his troubles, he received two stab wounds.’

Abdulrahimzai later ‘buried’ the knife, and burnt some of the clothes he was wearing, the court was told. 

Abdulrahimzai (centre with black hood) was caught on camera headbutting a reveller on a night just minutes before he murdered an aspiring Royal Marine in a row over an e-scooter

A police cordon outside the Subway sandwich shop on Old Christchurch Road in Bournemouth

The police cordoned off Horseshoe Common in Bournemouth following the fatal stabbing in March last year

A court heard Mr Roberts, a DJ, was enjoying a night out with his friend James Medway, 24, when he got into an argument with Abdulrahimzai over an e-scooter outside a Subway sandwich store.

Jurors were told that, moments after intervening in the disagreement, Mr Roberts sustained two stab wounds to his chest from an ‘aggressive’ Abdulrahimzai – with one slicing through his heart.

Firearms officers in balaclavas and full tactical gear swooped on the asylum seeker’s flat 24 hours after the incident and arrested him.

In a video of the raid just after midnight on March 13, an officer can be heard reading him his legal rights as Abdulrahimzai is detained in the hallway of his block of flats in Poole.

Taking to the dock today, self-professed orphan Abdulrahimzai claimed he was one of the thousands of victims of the horrors of the Taliban.

The militant group seized control of Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 when the last remnants of Allied forces withdrew after two decades.

Recalling his experience, Abdulrahimzai told the court: ‘I have seen some explosions not very far away. There was an American base not far from where we lived and the Taliban would come and demand things and there would be fighting and gunshots. 

‘They used heavy weapons like rocket launchers. 

‘They planted bombs around my house, I was at my uncle’s house at the time, when I came home my parents were dead. I saw their body parts and a lot of blood.’

Details about his journey to safety through Europe were also revealed in court.

The triple killer first headed to Serbia through Pakistan and Iran in October 2015, before arriving in Norway later that month with a friend he considered to be like an adopted brother.

Abdulrahimzai then left Norway and spent some time in Italy and Serbia. He applied for asylum in Norway, but when his application was refused in December 2019, he left out of fear of being deported back to Afghanistan.

In November 2020, Abdulrahimzai was involved in an incident in King’s Park, Bournemouth, where he was ‘beaten up,’ persuading him to start carrying a knife, the jury was told.

CCTV footage showed the moment Abdulrahimzai (circled in white) flees on foot through Bournemouth

Following Abdulrahimzai’s conviction, Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood said officials faced ‘some very serious questions’ over the case

Following his conviction, Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood said officials faced ‘some very serious questions’ over the case.

He told MailOnline: ‘There must now be an investigation into how such a dangerous individual slipped through the net.

‘Did anyone know he had killed twice in Serbia before arriving in the UK? The Home Office has to answer some very serious questions’.

In a tribute to Thomas Roberts, Mr Ellwood, who fought to save Pc Keith Palmer in the Westminster terror attack on 2017, said: ‘It is utterly tragic that someone who stepped in to calm a situation and make a positive contribution to his community in this way has been struck down’.

The Home Office would not comment about Abdulrahimzai specifically, however, a spokesman said: ‘Foreign National Offenders who exploit our system and commit crimes here in the UK will face the full force of the law, including deportation at the earliest opportunity for those eligible. 

‘The government is committed to stopping abuse of the immigration system, taking decisive action against those who try to play the system.’