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A man who murdered a “good Samaritan” by running him over as he helped an injured woman has been jailed for a minimum of 26 years.
Hassan Jhangur, 25, killed Chris Marriott in December 2023 when he deliberately ran his car into a group of people after a fight broke out between his family and the family of the groom. He was found guilty of murder in July, a year after another set of jurors failed to reach any verdicts in the case.
He was also found guilty of two counts of GBH and wounding with intent, while his father was found guilty of perverting the course of justice for helping him dispose of evidence.
Delivering the verdict, Judge Morris called Jhangur’s car assault a “deliberate and senseless act of hot-headed and wanton violence resulting in the tragic death of Chris Marriott and life-changing consequences for many others”.
The food delivery driver showed no reaction as his sentence was read out.
The two families at the centre of the case are reported to have had a complicated relationship, being described at points during the trial as “rivals”. Tensions were at their highest on 27 December 2023 when Amaani Jhangur and Hasan Khan got married.
At the reception, which took place at the Khan family’s home in Burngreave, north Sheffield, the arrival of the bride’s mother, Ambreen, and sister, Nafeesa, led to an argument between members of the two families. This in turn developed into a fight that spilled out into the street and led to Nafeesa being knocked unconscious.
Witnesses say Marriot, a 46-year-old father of two, was out on a post-Christmas walk with his family when he acted as a “good Samaritan” by trying to break up the fight and help Nafeesa. He was aided by another passerby, off-duty midwife Alison Norris.
The jury was told that Jhangur, who was described as “flying round the corner” in his blue Seat Ibiza, came out of nowhere and hit Riasat Khan with his car before driving directly into the group which surrounded his sister Nafeesa.
Jhangur got out of the car and took out a knife, which he used to attack his new brother-in-law Hasan Khan. The court was told Khan was stabbed several times in the left side of his head, near his ear and in his chest. Jhangur gave the knife to his father, Mohammed Jhangur, who hid it in the boot of his taxi.
Despite the efforts of emergency services, Marriott died at the scene. Norris, Ambreen Jhangur, Nafeesa Jhangur and Riasat Khan were all seriously injured.
Speaking at court before Jhangur’s sentence was delivered, his widow Bryony Marriott said her husband of 16 years was her best friend and someone whose “love for God and for people shone through in what he devoted his time to”.
Bryony said he “had a compassionate heart and loved helping, supporting and empowering others” and that she would miss “his smile and his laugh, his touch, and his wisdom and his encouragement”.
She added: “Our time as a family of four was so much shorter than we ever imagined. But it is my hope that Chris’s life, more than the manner of his death, has a lasting impact on me, my children, and many others.”
Addressing the Marriott family, the judge praised their behaviour during the trial, which was a “moving and very sad case, which has been dealt with the appropriate amount of dignity and courtesy throughout”.
