Shane O’Brien, 31, slashed 21-year-old Josh Hanson’s throat in an act of “pitiless savagery” in West London before he fled Britain on a private plane sparking a three-and-a-half year international manhunt. Mr Hanson was a council worker and was with his girlfriend when he was attacked in the RE bar in Hillingdon by the father-of-two. O’Brien boarded a small aircraft chartered by a drug dealer and flew to the Netherlands using false travel documents in 2015.

He was finally arrested in Romania and brought back to Britain in April.

Today, his trial at the Old Bailey saw jurors be shown CCTV of the “grotesque” murder that happened in the early hours of October 11.

The victim could be seen clutching his throat and stumbling as his girlfriend watched helplessly as blood poured from a 37cm wound from his left ear to the right side of his chest.

O’Brien fled and grew his hair long to allow him to travel through Germany, Belgium and the Czech Republic.

He also got his daughter’s name in a tattoo covered and grew a beard.

Friends helped the boxing and martial arts fan lay low after he was added to Europol and Interpol’s most wanted lists, his trial heard.

Despite being arrested in Prague in 2017 for assault, he slipped through the net after using the alias Enzo Melloncelli and fleeing when released on bail.

Today, the jury deliberated for 55 minutes to find O’Brien guilty of murder and he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 26 years.

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Judge Nigel Lickley QC said: “This was a grotesque, violent and totally unnecessary attack on an innocent man.

“The reason why you behaved in such a way may never be fully explained. You, however, know the reason.”

Having slashed Mr Hanson with a blade, O’Brien “calmly” walked away, leaving his victim to drown in his own blood in front of “shocked and traumatised” friends, the judge said.

Speaking outside court, Mr Hanson’s mother, Tracey Hanson, said: “This is a mother’s worst nightmare and one I will never wake up from.

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“My son was taken from me in the cruellest way possible. I will never hold him again. Nothing could ever be said in a courtroom to address that but today’s sentence goes some way to giving us the space we need to start to breathe.

“I can never move on. I can only move forwards. Josh’s memory will live on, not only in our hearts but through the Josh Hanson Trust, the charity we set up in his name.

“If we can save one life, keep one son by his mother’s side, ensure one person gets home safely when they otherwise wouldn’t have, then we will have made the world a more bearable place.”

Earlier in a victim impact statement read to the court, Ms Hanson had tearfully described her son as “considerate, kind and generous”.

She told the court: “On the 11th October 2015 my life changed forever.”

“He was taken from us in the most horrific way possible – suddenly, abruptly, viciously and violently.”

His sister Brooke said: “I just want to say thank you to everyone that has done everything for Josh the last four years. If it stops another innocent young man from being killed on the streets then something good has come out of today.”

Detective Chief Inspector Noel McHugh, of Scotland Yard, described O’Brien as a “wicked individual” and “a knife carrier who clearly does not think twice about using it”.

O’Brien had denied murder, claiming he felt threatened by Mr Hanson’s “very aggressive body language”.

He told jurors he only wanted to scare Mr Hanson and did not mean the blade to make contact.

The court heard that O’Brien had two previous convictions for having a blade and had shown no remorse.

There were angry shouts of “coward” from the public gallery as O’Brien was led from the dock.

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