A teenager who stabbed his best friend to death in an attack sparked by a row over a computer game was yesterday given a life sentence.

Yonis Jama, 19, was found guilty of murdering Steven Siewlal in September 1999.

He slashed his schoolfriend 60 times on the face and neck at the victim’s home in Tottenham, north London, the Old Bailey was told.

Steven’s body was later found tightly wrapped in a vacuum cleaner flex by his horrified mother.

Judge Neil Denison ordered Jama, also of Tottenham, north London, to be detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure.

Jama, who suffers from Asperger’s syndrome - a form of autism which disturbs the level of empathy for others - was told he would have to serve eight years before being considered for parole.

Jama had pleaded not guilty to murder. His plea of guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and provocation were rejected by the prosecution.

Jama lashed out in a furious argument over a computer game called Xenogears and a PlayStation when he and Steven were both 16, the court was told.

The pair shared a passion for computer games and they were so close that Steven, a sixth form student, had helped Jama write love letters to his girlfriend, said Mark Ellison, prosecuting.

On the day Steven died Jama was seen walking with him to his home in the afternoon when Steven’s parents were at work.

Police discovered Jama’s fingerprints in his victim’s blood in the bedroom and two knives from Steven’s collection dumped in a local park.

After Steven’s death Jama told police three different stories about his whereabouts during the murder.

Press Association

• Update added on 17 June 2024: On 6 March 2006, the Court of Appeal Criminal Division allowed the Jama’s appeal against conviction for murder, substituted a conviction for the offence of manslaughter and imposed a sentence of custody for life with a hospital and limitation direction under the Mental Health Act 1983.