Azeem and Zeeshan Aslam get 15 years for killing Anthony Dryden Two brothers who battered a man to death after a feud between kebab shops escalated into a deadly rivalry have been jailed for 15 years. Azeem and Zeeshan Aslam were found guilty of killing Anthony Dryden after he smashed a window on the premises of their family takeaway business in Airdrie. The pair raced out of the premises in Chapel Street, cornered the 42-year-old in a nearby garden and beat him with a baseball bat and a piece of wood that was lying on the ground. The incident on March 23 was the culmination of a long-running feud between Ali's Kebabs and Nico's takeaway, which Mr Dryden's aunt owned, the High Court in Glasgow was told. Nico's was set up by Hamid Shah last year in Chapel Street, just a stone's throw away from Ali's Kebabs, after the Aslam family's objection to planning permission was dismissed. The court was told that Mr Shah and his staff were subjected to intimidation, windows were smashed and on one occasion the premises were set on fire. The brothers had both stood trial at the High Court in Glasgow accused of murder. But a jury found them guilty of the reduced charge of culpable homicide. Azeem Aslam, once a promising cricketer, was sentenced to eight years in prison with three years of supervision after his release and Zeeshan was jailed for seven years. Judge Lord Stewart told them: "I have the impression that your counsel are correct when they say that in your different ways you are both capable of making a positive contribution to the community when you have the opportunity to do so. I am also conscious that the punishment I am about to impose on you will also be a punishment for your family. There is some basis for distinguishing between you in that, first, you Azeem Aslam are older and have a criminal record for violence whereas you Zeeshan Aslam come to court as a genuine first offender. Secondly, you Azeem Aslam, though this is perhaps not a point of great distinction, were admittedly armed with a baseball bat before the final encounter with the deceased whereas you Zeeshan Aslam simply picked up a piece of wood on the spot. During the trial Mr Shah told the jury that one of the brothers made a cut-throat gesture as he passed the shop. He said: "It is because they are competition and they are trying to scare me." On the day of the killing, Azeem and Zeeshan Aslam chased Mr Dryden into a back garden and approached him in what was described in court as a "pincer movement." Azeem, 26, repeatedly smacked Mr Dryden with a baseball bat while his 23-year-old brother struck him a piece of wood that had been lying on the ground. Mr Dryden, of Motherwell, suffered serious skull and brain injuries from which he never recovered. Azeem Aslam was later heard saying: "Fixed that guy - even broke the baseball bat." Giving evidence in court, he admitted there had been "tension" between the two takeaways, but claimed he struck Mr Dryden in self-defence because the victim had a hammer. He insisted: "I had to do it - I had no choice." Advocate-depute Murdoch MacTaggart contended that Mr Dryden was the one defending himself as the brothers came at him in a "pincer movement" with "weapons raised."