The fatal acts of violence that led to their deaths changed the lives of their friends and families forever.
We are once again sharing the details of these cases in a bid to ensure each murder victim is never forgotten; and to also keep the circumstances of their deaths fresh in case someone out there could help to finally bring their killers to justice, drawing an awful chapter in the lives of grieving loved ones to a close.
Among them is 21-year-old Kavan Brissett, who was stabbed to death in a targeted attack when violence flared off Langsett Walk, Upperthorpe, in August 2022.
Other cases included are that of Sheffield mum, Michaela Hague, aged 25, who was knifed in her back and neck in a frenzied attack on Bonfire Night 2001 and James Kamara who was shot dead in a drive-by shooting in Brunswick Street, Broomhall, Sheffield in 2009.
If you think you have any information which may help South Yorkshire Police please call the force on 101.
1. Kavan Brissett: Killer of promising boxer still at large four years on
Kavan Brissett, aged 21, died after a knife attack in Upperthorpe in August 2018. The promising boxer was stabbed on a car park but despite the efforts of medics at the scene and in hospital he died a few days later. Kavan’s killer remains at large and South Yorkshire Police revealed last month (August 2022) that enquiries are now being carried out in a number of countries as part of the murder investigation. Police have named Ahmed Farrah as someone who could hold vital information about the killing. Farrah, who is in his early 30s, known as Reggie and has links to Broomhall, was captured on CCTV cameras at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital on the same night that Kavan was stabbed. Farrah was treated for facial injuries believed to have been sustained in the same incident in which Kavan was attacked. He was seen in Cardiff after he went on the run but then disappeared. Police later revealed that his passport was never seized before he vanished. Photo: SYP
2. Tommy Ward: Beloved pensioner suffered fatal injuries during raid on his home
Tommy Ward, aged 80, was beaten for his life savings and left for dead on October 1, 2015. The OAP was targeted in his home in Salisbury Street, Maltby, Rotherham, and was left with a fractured skull, broken ribs and broken jaw. His £30,000 life savings were also stolen during the violent raid, which shocked Tommy’s local community. An identical safe to Tommy’s was recovered from the canal in Kilnhurst, Rotherham, a short time after the robbery. The much loved former soldier and miner never recovered from his ordeal and died in hospital four months later. Despite a £10,000 Crimestoppers reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer, nobody has yet been charged. Photo: SYP
3. Jordan Thomas: Beloved son shot dead as he sat in a car at traffic lights on Derek Dooley Way
Jordan Thomas, aged 22, was shot dead as he sat in a car at traffic lights on Derek Dooley Way in December 2014. He was shot at through the window of a car he was travelling in, with detectives believing it was a revenge attack in a feud between two warring gangs following a fatal stabbing three years earlier. One man, 30-year-old Jama Ahmed, formerly of Broomhall Place, Broomhall, was jailed for 36 years for Jordan's murder, which was described in Sheffield Crown Court as a ‘cold-blooded execution’ in a feud which ‘spiralled out of control’. Four others believed to hold vital information about the killing have been on the run ever since. Mohammed Ali, 34; Ahmed Warsame, 31; Saeed Hussein, 31 and Jamal Ali, 30, are believed to have fled to Somalia. South Yorkshire Police issued their photographs at the end of Ahmed’s trial but the men remain at large. Photo: SYP
4. Safrajur Jahangir: Takeaway boss shot dead at point blank range in August 2009 as he pulled up outside a house
Safrajur Jahangir was shot dead at point blank range in August 2009 as he pulled up outside a house in Scraith Wood Drive, Shirecliffe. The takeaway boss was delivering an order, which it later turned out had been placed to lure the 23-year-old to his death. A gunman was lying in wait and the young businessman was killed in what South Yorkshire Police described as an ‘organised hit’. Safrajur, from Darnall, ran the Spice Hut on Middlewood Road, Hillsborough. Six men went on trial in 2010 accused of conspiracy to murder, with detectives believing they were all involved in a plot to kill. It was claimed that a hitman had been paid £15,000 to carry out the shooting but that he later died of a heroin overdose before he could be charged. The police probe focused on a feud between two Asian families. But the trial of the suspects accused of planning the murder collapsed in what was called a 'disaster for the criminal justice system'. A seventh man, who was also charged over the murder but was deemed unfit to stand trial, was also found not guilty. The trial was halted when it emerged that South Yorkshire Police failed to disclose to the defence teams all the evidence gathered by the force during the investigation, which was said to have denied the defendants the right to a fair trial. Nobody else has ever been arrested or charged. Photo: SYP