DETECTIVES have switched the focus of the investigation into the murder of an Afghan asylum seeker to the parks in Below Bar, Southampton.

Officers now believe 22-year-old Mohammed Isa Hasan Ali was attacked with a bottle-like weapon in one of the open spaces in the city centre as he returned home after a night out.

As revealed in later editions of yesterday's Daily Echo, Mohammed fled to Southampton after being brutally tortured by the Taliban, Afghanistan's former government.

Mohammed, who was born in the Afghan capital, Kabul, lost the sight in one eye and the post-mortem examination revealed he had suffered severe lacerations to his back during his ordeal in Afghanistan.

His father had also been abducted and tortured by Taliban officials.

The detective leading the hunt for Mohammed's killer today talked of the "tragic irony" that saw him murdered in the land where he sought refuge.

Mohammed, who worked at a fruit and veg packing company, had been out at an unknown pub in Below Bar before he set off back to his Ancasta Road home.

When he got there he told his housemates he had been attacked by a group of British lads. The next day he complained of feeling groggy. On Monday, he could not be roused and was later pronounced dead.

Det Supt Alan Betts said: "He fled Afghanistan and came to the UK with hopes for a brighter future and has been working to support himself, doing hard and menial work just to make ends meet.

"It is a tragic irony that this young man has fled his troubled homeland only to meet with a violent death in the country he sought refuge in.

"We want people who have any knowledge of any violent incident late on Saturday night or in the early hours of Sunday morning in the centre of Southampton to call us."

Anyone with information should call 0845 045 4545, or the Crimestoppers line on 0800 555 111.