Broad Green killer given bail after robbery after woman promised to keep a 'firm eye' on him

A PSYCHOTIC killer was bailed less than a week before he beat a devoted father to death with a brick – because a woman he lived with said she would keep a "very firm eye on him".

Rostam Ahmadi, 23, brutally attacked Umess Chaudhari moments after the father of two left his home to go to work.

Just six days earlier Ahmadi had been released on bail from a young offenders institute despite the objections of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

The CPS argued he was a danger to the public because he had been charged with two robberies on vulnerable lone women.

And now a previously unpublished transcript of the bail hearing, obtained by the Advertiser, reveals a judge decided to bail him because of the intervention of Eleanor McMillan, a woman with whom Ahmadi had been living for just a few months.

The 42-year-old said the asylum-seeker "mostly" did what she asked of him and admitted he still had "blips" with his drink and drug problems, but she assured the court she could keep him out of trouble.

This week Ahmadi was detained at a psychiatric hospital indefinitely after he pleaded guilty to killing Mr Chaudhari in Dennett Road, Broad Green, on July 6 last year.

Croydon North MP Malcolm Wicks is to write to the justice and home secretaries to reiterate his call for a public inquiry.

He said: "There are serious questions as to how a troubled young man was released on bail when he was clearly a danger to the public.

"That this led to someone's death is a huge concern and an urgent inquiry is required into the circumstances."

Ahmadi claimed asylum in the UK in 2007 but was refused an extension of his leave to remain in October 2010.

In February 2011 his appeal was dismissed by the UK Border Agency and he should have left the country.

Three months later, on May 30, he robbed Manisha Bungsy of her BlackBerry mobile phone as she walked across Mitcham Common.

Ahmadi was remanded to Feltham Young Offender Institution and appeared for a bail hearing at Kingston Crown Court on June 30.

Police also wanted to speak to him about the robbery of a woman in Croydon.

Judge Richard Atchley said the fact Ahmadi had targeted two women, coupled with previous failures to attend court, "gave weight" to the objections put forward by the CPS.

He added: "He has been involved in assaulting people. He has been involved in attacking lone women and that is of grave concern to the court."

Richard Hutchings, defending, said: "The greatest factor in support of the application for bail is Eleanor McMillan, best described as his de facto guardian.

"She is highly positive of him and a very positive influence on him.

"Miss McMillan is willing to have this young man at her home and she wishes to keep a very firm eye on him. She has certainly taken this young man under her wing."

Miss McMillan, an IT consultant, told the court she had met Ahmadi when he lived at a home, run by social services, opposite her in Dennett Road.

The pair became friends and, in February 2011, he moved into her house.

Judge Atchley was told Ahmadi had a history of drink and drug problems and suffered from depression and anxiety. He asked Miss McMillan whether his behaviour had changed since living with her.

"When he was in social services he was drinking and smoking far more," she said.

"He has come to mine and he has cut down significantly (but) yes, he has these blips."

Judge Atchley said: "Mr Hutchings, I wasn't going to give this young man bail. You, and particularly Miss McMillan, have persuaded me otherwise."

Ahmadi was granted bail on the condition that he remained within the M25, surrendered travel documents and lived with Miss McMillan.

He was also to continue on an electronic tag curfew, from 10pm to 7am, that he had been on for a previous offence. He was then released from Feltham Young Offenders Institution.

Minutes after his curfew ended on July 6, after a night of "playing computer games and feeling angry", Ahmadi attacked and killed Mr Chaudhari.