Two brothers who attacked and left a man to die in freezing cold waters have been found guilty of manslaughter.

Ilford Recorder: Misba ChowdhuryMisba Chowdhury (Image: Archant)

Amran Chowdhury, 27, of Whitney Avenue, Redbridge, and Misba Chowdhury, 24, of the same address, were convicted at the Old Bailey last week.

The pair attacked 20-year-old Ibrahim Ghrib and his girlfriend who were drinking beside the water’s edge at Shadwell Basin in Wapping.

The court heard how on March 18 Chowdhury who was inside a nearby block of flats left the premises, having made a short phone call to a male associate.

Minutes later he was joined by several other men, including his brother.

The group approached the victim and his girlfriend before snatching a bottle they had been drinking from and hitting her across the head with it, knocking her to the ground.

When she managed to get up she could hear Moroccan-born Mr Ghrib shouting from the 12-metre deep water.

Her screams alerted a passerby who tried to reach Mr Ghrib but was beaten by the freezing temperatures.

Mr Ghrib’s body was recovered the next morning by the Metropolitan Police’s underwater search team. The cause of death was given as drowning.

Ibrahim also had some bruising but the autopsy couldn’t determine if he had been pushed into the water or assaulted.

Det Con Darrell Etchells, from the Metropolitan Police’s homicide and major crime command, said: “The convictions mark the end of a long and extensive investigation to bring to justice those responsible for Ibrahim’s death.

“No motive has ever been discovered for the attack but I hope Ibrahim’s family can find some peace in the fact that the jury are satisfied the Chowdhury brothers were responsible for his death.”

Amran Chowdhury’s then girlfriend Steffi Rai, 27, of Holloway Circus Queensway, Birmingham, was convicted of perverting the course of justice by helping him evade arrest.

A date for sentencing is to be confirmed.