Teenager jailed for life for ambush murder

A teenager who habitually carried a knife has been jailed for life after murdering an accountant when he ambushed him in the street.

Emmanuel Avogo, then 16, hatched a plan with a 16-year-old girl to lure Adam Khan, 26, to a meeting in Humberstone Road, Luton, on 31 August 2025.

Avogo chased him and then pulled a machete from down his trousers which he used to stab Khan to death.

He has been sentenced at Harrow Crown Court to life with a minimum term of 20 years, after being convicted at trial of murder.

The judge lifted reporting restrictions allowing Avogo, who is now 17, to be named in the media despite being a youth defendant.

The girl – who cannot be identified – was sentenced to a two-year detention and training order after she was found guilty at trial of manslaughter.

The judge Justice Bennathan said Khan had been "pestering" the girl for sex and agreed to provide her with some cannabis.

She planned with Avogo to set him up to be attacked, but she did not know he would be armed with the machete.

"It would have served him right if you two had taken the drugs and run off, but he had done nothing to deserve the terrible violence done to him that day," said the judge.

Khan was stabbed five times – in the face, stomach and arm – and died later that evening in hospital.

Khan's mother, who was not named in court, described her son as "bright, strong, resilient and caring".

His sister said that her brother was murdered a day before he was due to take his final accountancy qualification exam.

At trial, it emerged that Avogo was a habitual carrier of knives and four months before murdering Khan he had been spared jail after stabbing a man with a machete during a robbery of an e-bike.

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