Killer ‘must serve 15 years in prison’

2:14pm Thursday 13th April 2006

A 28-year-old man from East Finchley who murdered his childhood friend must serve at least 15 years behind bars, a judge has ruled.

Kristian Andrew Maher, 28, of The Grange estate, was jailed for life at the Old Bailey in March 2002 for stabbing Gary Osborne to death with a double-edged six-inch knife because Maher believed he had stolen jewellery from his sister. Mr Osborne was found dying in Corner Mead in Grahame Park estate.

On Tuesday, Mr Justice Hedley, sitting at the Royal Courts of Justice, ruled that Maher must serve a minimum tariff of 15 years before he can apply for parole.

Even taking into account time spent on remand, the ruling means that Maher has no hope of release until 2016 and only then if he can persuade the Parole Board he poses no public threat. Even if freed, he will remain on a life licence' for the rest of his life, and could wind back up in prison if he commits further offences.

The judge said Maher had boasted to several people that he intended to murder Mr Osborne. "This he did, in due course, in broad daylight and in sight of others, by stabbing him through the heart."

He added: "I am satisfied that a minimum term of 15 years is the least that could be said properly to reflect the gravity of the offence and the culpability of the offender.

"This was a cold-blooded revenge killing which has unsurprisingly had a dreadful impact on the victim's family."

Maher had been released from a prison on the Caribbean island of St Lucia just one month before he committed the murder for his part in a £1.2 million cocaine smuggling plot.