A man convicted of stabbing a talented athlete in the chest during a row over a “funny look” has been jailed for a minimum of 25 years. Tashan Daniel, 20, was murdered as he was on his way to watch Arsenal play Nottingham Forest at the Emirates Stadium in the third round of the Carabao Cup on 24 September last year. Alex Lanning, 22, and his co-defendant, Jonathan Camille, 19, had been on the opposite platform at Hillingdon station as Daniel and his friend Treyone Campbell waited for their train. Lanning, from Hillingdon, who had been on licence for a previous knife attack in Brighton, decided to pick a fight after accusing Daniel and Campbell of “looking at him” across the tracks. The two defendants allegedly got angry when Daniel told them to “be quiet and get on your train”. During the fight, Lanning pulled out a 14cm (5.5 inch) knife used by the German military to cut through vehicle windows and seat belts and stabbed Daniel once to the chest. The incident lasted 34 seconds. As the pair fled the scene, two separate witnesses apparently saw Lanning laughing about the attack. Lanning and Camille hid the knife beneath paving stones on a nearby housing estate and stole towels from a washing line to wrap around their heads to disguise their appearance. They were tracked down 10 days later in central London. Lanning admitted manslaughter but was convicted of murder at the Old Bailey on 6 August. Camille, from Fulham, was convicted of manslaughter after telling the jury he did not know his friend had a knife. Jailing Lanning for life with a minimum term of 25 years and Camille for six-and-a-half years, the judge, Mark Dennis QC, said: “This was a disgraceful display of violence for which there was no possible justification or excuse. “You are both comparatively young men, however you are both old enough and mature enough to know what you were doing and to make your own choices.” He said Camille had willingly participated in the attack and done nothing to restrain Lanning. Jurors heard Daniel was a talented athlete who trained up to four times a week at Hillingdon athletic club. He worked as a photographer and was described as a popular young man who made friends easily and was devoted to his family. Dennis said: “The deceased had just turned 20 two days before, he was a dedicated and talented athlete and he had a promising future before him. “His and Treyone Campbell’s lives could not have been further from the violence and aggression which they were unexpectedly subjected to on that day.” During the trial, the court heard that Daniel’s family had made it to the station as paramedics battled to save his life. In a victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing, his father, Chandy Daniel, said: “My son was taken from us so carelessly by a casual and needless act – it has affected the three of us, our wider family and friends and our community. “This person has taken someone that they would never be like in a million years, this is not fair and he has robbed us of our future.”