Arash Ghorbani-Zarin A father and his two sons have been found guilty of the murder of student Arash Ghorbani-Zarin, who was killed to "vindicate a family's honour".

Mr Ghorbani-Zarin, 19, was found dead in his car in Spencer Crescent, Rose Hill, Oxford, on November 20 last year. He had been strangled and stabbed 46 times.

At Oxford Crown Court yesterday, friends and relatives of Mr Ghorbani-Zarin cheered and wept as the jury returned the unanimous verdicts on Chomir Ali, 44, and sons Mohammed Mujibar Rahman, 19, and Mamnoor Rahman, 16, all from Oxford.

The defendants looked on without emotion.

In a statement issued outside the court, the Ghorbani-Zarins said: "Our son was intelligent and loving and had a wonderful lifetime ahead of him.

"We miss him every second, every minute and every hour of every day. His death has crushed our family.

"This verdict gives us some comfort that justice has been done, but it does not bring him back."

Det Ch Insp Tolmie, of Thames Valley Police, described the murder as "a horrific, violent attack on an innocent young man who had a lot to live for".

He added: "No one has the right to take away someone's life, for whatever reason, and people who choose to do this will be punished, as shown today.

"Our thoughts are with Arash's family who have been through an extremely distressing ordeal.

"I hope the verdict today will give them some comfort that justice has been done."

Judge Mr Justice Gross adjourned sentencing until a date yet to be decided, to allow pre-sentence reports to be drawn up.

But he said: "There is in fact only one sentence for murder and that is life imprisonment, or for those under 18, detention at Her Majesty's pleasure."

He praised those who helped bring the killers to justice, including Oxford City Council street cleaners Kevin Barrett and Victor Herne, and allotment worker Richard Heggerty, who discovered the Tesco bag containing the butterfly knife used to stab the 19-year-old, in allotments in Cowley.

He said he would look into appropriate ways of showing public appreciation.

Following an application from the Oxford Mail, Mr Gross also lifted a ban on naming 16-year-old Mamnoor, who was 15 at the time of the murder.

Mr Ghorbani-Zarin, an Oxford Brookes electronic engineering student, had begun a relationship with Ali's daughter, Manna Begum, 19, who already had a marriage arranged for her.

Despite her family's disapproval, the pair continued to see each other and got engaged. Manna later became pregnant with his child. Following his arrest, Ali told police that her behaviour had "dishonoured the family".