THE drink driver found guilty of mowing down a group of young men had done it before.

Iftekhar Khondaker, from Mitcham, saw red after a fight on Brighton seafront left him bloodied.

The 34-year-old had never been to Brighton before, and decided to visit the city with his brother Irfan and pal Umesh Ravinthan.

Hove Crown Court heard how he got so drunk at The Arch nightclub that he fell asleep inside.

Somehow a fight erupted between the three of them and a group of five men out to celebrate the birthday of Amaan Alyas from Crawley.

Rather than get a hotel, Iftekhar fled back towards his father's BMW parked in Marine Parade.

Alongside Irfan, 27, he was seen to punch and kick Suel Delgado on the ground, leaving the 20-year-old bleeding from his injuries.

This Is Local London: Iftekhar Khondaker drove his father's BMW into Suel Delgado, Azaan Khan and Raja Zakir KhanIftekhar Khondaker drove his father's BMW into Suel Delgado, Azaan Khan and Raja Zakir Khan

That should have been the end of it, but moments later witnesses heard the sound of the BMW engine revving as it accelerated down the hill and hit three of the five men crossing the road.

Suel Delgado suffered devastating brain injuries and died the next day in hospital. Azaan Khan and Raja Zakir Khan suffered life-changing injuries.

Iftekhar Khondaker claimed he had not seen the men, and said that while he heard and felt the thud, he thought "something had been thrown at the vehicle".

This Is Local London: The front of Iftekhar Khondaker's BMW found in Middle Street, BrightonThe front of Iftekhar Khondaker's BMW found in Middle Street, Brighton

Kate Lumsdon QC, cross examining him in court said: "You cannot have been oblivious to the fact you had a man cartwheeling over your car, with one witness saying the man was practically sitting on the bonnet of your car. Yet you just didn’t see it."

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Khondaker stopped and got out of the car nearly a mile away in Middle Street, Brighton, and told jurors: "I honestly thought about this a lot at the time. I assumed that maybe something was thrown at the vehicle.

"I don’t know what was going through my head to be honest. I have been racking my brains a lot, it happened so quickly it is hard for me to process it.

"I appreciate having seen the evidence of what’s happened at that point in time. At that precise moment in time I perceived that something was thrown at the vehicle.

This Is Local London: Iftekhar Khondaker has been found guilty of the murder of Suel DelgadoIftekhar Khondaker has been found guilty of the murder of Suel Delgado

"My brother heard this thud, it happened so quickly, I didn’t know exactly what it was that happened. My brother jumped out of the car and told me ‘bro, the front of the car is f*****’ basically. I couldn’t drive this car dad’s going to be p***** off.

"That’s when I’m thinking, ‘did I hit someone? What’s happened? I don’t know’."

This Is Local London: The front of Iftekhar Khondaker's vehicle after his 'patently ludicrous' claim that he did not see the men he mowed downThe front of Iftekhar Khondaker's vehicle after his 'patently ludicrous' claim that he did not see the men he mowed down

Hove Crown Court heard how Khondaker, of Caithness Road, Mitcham, was on licence from prison for a remarkably similar offence.

In 2014 he was convicted and jailed for ten years for inflicting grievous bodily harm on a victim by driving a car them.

Ms Lumsdon told Khondaker: "The red mist had come down. You thought those boys had cut my face and you just lost the plot.

"As you drove you could see them crossing and kept your foot down constantly on the accelerator and went straight into them, quite deliberately. It was effectively retribution."

He will be sentenced next week.