The family of murdered Watford man Mujib Hakim have spoken of their grief after the trial.

In a statement released after the jailing of Josh Lewis for 24 years, the family said: “The killing of our darling little brother and son Mujib has deeply devastated all our lives. Our house has been left in a state of profound emptiness by his absence.

“We, as his family, have been left in hopeless desperation and emptiness with the loss of our Mujib and the thought we will no longer see our loved one again.”

They said they were unable to make any sense of his murder as he was not a violent person.

“He was known to walk away, ignore any provocation that was ever shown towards him,” the statement said.

“He had millions of things he wanted still wanted to do with his life. All such hopes and wishes have now been denied to him by his killing and untimely death.

“His murder has put our lives in a vacuum of darkness and hopelessness and sapped all energy and desire to continue in our life activities. We are living day to day and cannot make sense of what happened to Mujib. We are tormented by it.”