Tanveer Ahmed given go ahead to appeal his sentence for murder of Glasgow shopkeeper Asad Shah

A panel of judges have allowed the taxi driver convicted of murdering Glaswegian shopkeeper Asad Shah to appeal the "excessive" 27 year sentence given to him.

Tanveer Ahmed,32, believes judge Lady Rae didn't follow proper legal guidelines when she decided his jail term for murdering Mr Shah in Shawlands, Glasgow, in March 2016.

Ahmed, of Bradford, West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty at the High Court in Glasgow in July 2016 to stabbing Mr Shah a total of 30 times outside his shop.

The court heard how the crime was "religiously motivated." Ahmed drove to Scotland from his English home because he thought Mr Shah had insulted Islam.

Ahmed was a Sunni Muslim whilst his victim was a member of the Ahmadi branch of the religion.

Mr Shah's sect believes the prophet Muhammad was not the final Muslim prophet and Ahmed objected to that viewpoint..

In return for guilty pleas, Scottish judges have the discretion to reduce sentences by as much as 30 per cent.

When Ahmed was convicted, judge Lady Rae said that if he hadn't admitted the crime, she would have sentenced him to 30 years in jail.

Ahmed's legal team believe that the sentence was excessive and he should have been given a larger discount.

An appeal judge rejected the appeal ground earlier this year. But following a short hearing on Thursday, judges Lady Dorrian, Lady Clark of Calton and Lord Menzies allowed the appeal ground to be reinstated.

It will now be a second point in Ahmed's appeal against sentence. The first appeal point is that Lady Rae's belief that the crime would have merited a 30 year jail term is incorrect and excessive.

Lady Dorrian said: "We are content for the two points to proceed together."

The date of Ahmed's appeal is yet to be fixed. He was represented by Brian McConnachie QC and wasn't present in court.

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