A THUG who knifed a student to death after being mocked about his weight has been given a life sentence.

On May 7 last year Ahmed Mire, 20, attacked 18-year-old Adam Pervaiz in Abinger Grove, Deptford, using a kitchen knife with a 13-inch blade.

Mire stabbed his victim repeatedly in the legs and buttocks, leaving him to bleed to death after severing the teenager’s femoral artery.

The Somalian killer then fled the country with the help of his stepfather Mohammed Ali, aged 43.

Mire was arrested after he returned to Britain two months later but claimed he had acted in self-defence.

The court heard how the pair had clashed the day before the murder after Mr Pervaiz joked about Mire being fat.

After the fight was broken up, Mire left but returned again with a friend and tried to stab the teenager.

Mr Pervaiz later received text messages from Mire, with one saying: “You’re a dead man walking.”

Sentencing him at the Old Bailey, Judge Peter Rook said: “During those terrible moments when you attacked Adam Pervaiz you took away his most precious possession of all, life itself.

“This was a cowardly and vicious attack with a lethal weapon.”

Mr Pervaiz, of Alverton Street, Deptford, was a Lewisham College art student and trainee hairdresser but had also been dealing Class A drugs.

In an impact statement, his mother Shazia Pervaiz said: “Adam always found time to talk to me and tell me about his day. I miss his humour and his pranks.”

She added: “I thought I could protect Adam and keep him safe and I have been shown in the most terrible way that I was wrong.”

Mire denied murder but was found guilty at the Old Bailey last month.

He will serve a minimum of 18 years in jail.

Ali, of Acacia Close, Deptford, was given a nine-month prison sentence suspended for one year for perverting the course of justice, a charge he had denied.

He must also carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.