A Bangladeshi waiter and his two teenage sons were found guilty of stabbing a student to death to salvage the honour of their family today.

Chomir Ali, 44, and his sons, Mohammed Mujibar Rahman, 19, and Mamnoor Rahman, 16, all from Oxford, were found guilty of murdering Arash Ghorbani-Zarin, a university student who fell in love with Ali's daughter, Manna Begum, and made her pregnant.

Ghorbani-Zarin, an Iranian electronic engineering student at Oxford Brookes University, was found dead in his car in Rosehill, a suburb of Oxford, on November 20 last year. His head had been tied to a headrest and he had been stabbed 46 times, mostly in the chest.

During the month-long trial at Oxford Crown Court, the jury heard that Ali had ordered his sons to kill Ghorbani-Zarin because of the "shame and dishonour" incurred by the student's relationship with his 19-year-old daughter.

Julian Baughan, QC, prosecuting, said that Ali, a devout Muslim, had become angry during the summer of 2003 when his daughter began going out with Ghorbani-Zarin, 19, who was also a Muslim.

Mr Baughan told the trial that Ali had already arranged the marriage of his daughter to someone else and tried to prevent her from leaving the family home. The arguments between Ali and his daughter prompted her to attempt suicide and to run away.

Miss Begum also continued to meet Ghorbani-Zarin, and the couple got engaged in the summer of 2004, over her family's disapproval, when she became pregnant with Ghorbani-Zarin's child.

Miss Begum returned home but Ali ordered Ghorbani-Zarin, who had dropped out of university to work in a toy shop and earn money for his new family, to stay away.

On the evening of his murder, Ghorbani-Zarin intended to go to a friend's house and watch a DVD but he never arrived. His body was found by passers-by. Rahman, Ali's elder son, who was 18 at the time, was arrested the next day.

Three days later, two Oxford City Council street cleaners spotted Ali throwing a plastic bag into an allotment. The bag turned out to contain bloodstained clothes belonging to Ghorbani-Zarin, a knife and DNA evidence linking Ali and his two sons to the murder.

During the trial, the prosecution argued that the evidence against Ali and his sons was overwhelming. Although "Muji" Rahman, the elder brother, acknowledged that the murder weapon belonged to him, he said it had gone missing in the days before the murder.

The prosecution said it was likely that Mamnoor Rahman, who was just 15 at the time and whose identity was protected during the trial, delivered the fatal wounds to Ghorbani-Zarin. Manmoor's blood was found on the murder weapon and two small pieces of the blade, thought to have broken off during the ferocious attack, were found in Ghorbani-Zarin's car.

The jury's verdict was greeted by loud cheers today. The judge, Mr Justice Gross, said that all three men would serve life sentences. He adjourned the setting of minimum prison terms until pre-sentencing reports had been carried out for Mamnoor Rahman, whose lawyer said he was "in denial".

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