A gang of six men who murdered two brothers with knives, a hammer and baseball bats were jailed yesterday for a total of 140 years.

Last year Imran Asif Ali (20), Imran Hussain (25), Usman Butt (19), Noor Kayani (24), Azam Butt (22) and Hassan Mir (20) were convicted of the double murder after an eight-month long trial at Croydon Crown Court.

Brothers Hayder and Mohammad Ali were murdered following a fight between two groups of men near Tooting High Street on Friday, April 21 2006.

The fight began following an argument between two local men two years before.

On the night they died the brothers had arrived in the Tooting area in a Mercedes Sprinter van along with nine other men at about 10pm. In the next two hours there were several disputes between the groups, which culminated in the murder of the Ali brothers just after midnight.

The brothers got out of the van and were set upon by the rival group who were carrying knives, a hammer, a knuckleduster, baseball bats and wooden stakes used to prop up "For Sale" signs.

Mohammad was stabbed once and Hayder was then stabbed five times as he ran back to help his brother.

London Ambulance Service attended the scene and the victims were taken to St George's Hospital in Tooting where they were later pronounced dead.

All defendants were given life sentences yesterday.