A man who bludgeoned his childhood friend to death with a hatchet while high on a cocktail of drugs has been jailed for 16 years.

Callum Howe, 23, killed Mohammed Shaan Ali Rasul, who he had known since primary school, with the hand axe in a “frenzied and brutal attack”.

An altercation between the pair broke out during the morning of Sunday, November 23 last year shortly after Mr Rasul, known as Shaan, moved into Howe’s flat in Allerton Close, Hartlepool.

Howe struck the 23-year-old 12 times in the face and head, including at least 10 times with the hatchet, causing catastrophic injuries.

Callum Howe (left) has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for the manslaughter of his friend Shaan Rasul.

placeholder image — Callum Howe (left) has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for the manslaughter of his friend Shaan Rasul.

He then left Mr Rasul for dead by squeezing out of a bedroom window and was reported by neighbours acting erratically in the street, and wide eyed.

Howe was cleared of murder following a Teesside Crown Court trial last month, but found guilty of Mr Rasul’s manslaughter.

Sentencing Howe on Thursday afternoon, the Recorder of Middlesbrough said he could not be sure who started the violence.

But he said Howe went “way beyond what could possibly be considered” self defence.

Judge Francis Laird also rejected a claim by Howe during the trial that Mr Rasul used the hatchet on him.

He said: “The attack was brutal, it was savage and Shaan Rasul did not stand a chance of survival.”

The trial heard forensic evidence indicating Mr Rasul was attacked when he was on or close to the floor in a confined space between the bed and the wall.

Judge Laird said: “When he was at your mercy and lying on the floor by the bed, you bludgeoned him to death in what must have been a frenzied and brutal attack.”

Howe, of Blakelock Gardens, Hartlepool, was highly intoxicated at the time after taking significant amounts of cocaine, cannabis and anxiety and pain drug pregabalin.

A moving and emotional statement by Mr Rasul’s sister Nina read to the court, detailed the devastating loss felt by his family.

Judge Laird said no sentence he passed could possibly reflect the overwhelming sense of grief felt by his family and value of his life “which has been so cruelly snatched away from him”.

Howe was given an extended prison sentence including five years on licence on his eventual release.