A man has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years for murdering a teenage Syrian refugee after he brushed past his girlfriend in Huddersfield town centre.

Leeds crown court heard how Alfie Franco, 20, stabbed Ahmad Al Ibrahim, 16, shortly after Ibrahim brushed past Franco’s girlfriend in April. He was found guilty of murder on Thursday.

Ahmad, who fled war-torn Homs after being injured in a bombing, had been living in the West Yorkshire town for only a couple of weeks when he crossed paths with Franco, who had been for a jobcentre appointment that day and was going to buy eyelash glue with his girlfriend.

Ahmad Al Ibrahim. Photograph: West Yorkshire police/PA

Leeds crown court heard that Franco – who had consumed cannabis, cocaine, diazepam, ketamine and codeine – took “some petty exception” to Ahmad “innocuously” walking past his girlfriend in the street.

CCTV footage showed Franco saying something to Ahmad, and calling him over after a short verbal altercation. As Ahmad walked over, Franco opened the blade on a flick knife he was carrying in his trousers and drove it into the boy’s neck.

Franco denied murder, but was found guilty by a jury who deliberated for just over three hours. He pleaded guilty to possessing a knife in a public place.

While handing Franco his sentence on Friday, judge Howard Crowson said that upon seeing Ahmad, Franco “identified him as a target and lured him to within your range to strike before killing him”. He said Franco’s claim to have seen a weapon in Ahmad’s waistband was “a lie”.

Crowson said of Ahmad that “it is a testament to the medical personnel trying to save his life and his will to live he even made it to the hospital alive, but in truth his wounds were unsurvivable”.

Reading out a statement drafted by Ahmad’s uncle Ghazwan Al Ibrahim, with input from his parents, Richard Wright KC told the court that the teenager’s father had suffered a heart attack upon hearing the news of his son’s death, causing him to require surgery.

“I am unable to describe the impact of their heinous crime and the impact it had over everyone,” the statement read. “His mother still cries over his clothes as they smell of him.”

Ghazwan, who said Ahmad was like a son to him and he felt ashamed he could not protect him, went on to state that Ahmad had thought he had found “the land of peace and the fulfilment of dreams” in Britain, but instead was “cruelly taken away by the senseless and unprovoked act”.

“As Ahmad’s uncle, I will always carry the guilt that Ahmad had come to the UK, and I could not keep him safe,” he said in a statement after the sentencing. “Ahmad we love you, we miss you and we will do for ever.”

The court heard Ahmad had travelled for three months to reach the UK from Syria, stopping in a refugee centre for teenagers in Swansea and attending college in the Welsh city before arriving in Huddersfield. The teenager had aspired to be a doctor, driven in part by a desire to look after his mother, who suffered from a chronic medical issue.