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Thread: Murders Abroad

  1. #201
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    Ayanle Adan jailed for life after near-decapitation in Streatham



    A petty criminal addicted to chewing the stimulant plant khat has been jailed for life after nearly decapitating a former friend.

    Ayanle Adan, 26, killed Hanad Osman, 24, with two knives he bought from a Sainsbury's store.

    He pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Osman in the courtyard of a cafe in Streatham, south London, in August.

    Adan will serve a minimum term of 26 years for the attack. Co-defendant Ahmed Hassan was found not guilty of murder.

    The court heard Adan used a "double slashing motion" with a knife in each hand to cause the "partial decapitation" of Mr Osman's head.

    The Recorder of London Judge Brian Barker said Adan had earlier been asking about khat at the cafe which was frequented by Somalian men.

    The court heard he was addicted to the drug.

    Judge Barker said: "This killing shows a complete disregard for human life.

    "The real background of this killing may never emerge."

    Adan, of no fixed address, had 18 previous convictions for 26 offences ranging from assault to vehicle taking.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22272166



    Apparently Adan pleaded guilty to murder this morning part-way through his trial at the Central Criminal Court. I would have said a minimum term of 28 years was appropriate had he been convicted by the jury, so this 26-year minimum term also seems appropriate.
    "I have adopted the Italian way of life... I may stab you!"
    — Heidi

    "You make the British Lion seem like a declawed, toothless, neutered fat tabby with the mange."
    — Weidmann1939

    "Maybe you think your being clever."
    — Weidmann1939

  2. #202
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    Stephen Nolan jailed for life for Ebrahim Nekoo murder



    A cab driver has been jailed for life after murdering a fellow taxi driver at an Edinburgh park.

    Stephen Nolan, 48, from Edinburgh, had denied chasing and murdering Ebrahim Aryaei Nekoo, 41, with his black cab in Saughton Park on 24 March 2012.

    At the High Court in Glasgow, Nolan was told he will have to serve at least 15 years before he can apply for parole.

    A post-mortem examination found that Mr Nekoo suffered a broken skull, 40 rib fractures and a smashed pelvis.

    A Vauxhall Zafira, which he used as a private hire taxi, was parked nearby with the lights still on when he was found.

    Passing sentence, judge Lady Wise told Nolan: "Nothing can be said today that will alleviate in any way the immeasurable loss that the family of Mr Nekoo has suffered."

    She added: "The evidence showed that at no time did you apply the brakes, not even after you ran over Mr Nekoo.

    "The jury clearly rejected your claims to the police that Ebrahim Nekoo came at you with a knife and that he ended up under your car by accident."

    Jurors at the High Court in Edinburgh were shown tyre tracks which prosecutors claimed showed how Mr Nekoo was chased by Stephen Nolan, who was driving his black cab.

    Pathologist Dr Clare Bryce said Mr Nekoo's injuries were consistent with being run over by a vehicle.

    Widow Mobina Jafari, 32, who has gone back to Iran to live since her husband's death, was in court when the unanimous guilty verdict was returned last month.

    Nolan did not give evidence but defence QC Donald Findlay said Mr Nekoo went to Saughton Park for "a physical confrontation."

    Mr Findlay said: "He does express genuine and profound contrition for the part he knows he played in the death of Mr Nekoo, because he was the driver of the car which went over him and took his life."

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-fife-22266447
    "I have adopted the Italian way of life... I may stab you!"
    — Heidi

    "You make the British Lion seem like a declawed, toothless, neutered fat tabby with the mange."
    — Weidmann1939

    "Maybe you think your being clever."
    — Weidmann1939

  3. #203
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    Up later today:


    The Crown Court
    at Central Criminal Court


    Daily List for Wednesday 24 April 2013 at Old Bailey London EC4M 7EH



    Court 2 - sitting at 10:30 am

    HIS HONOUR JUDGE WORSLEY QC
    [...]

    NOT BEFORE 02:00 pm
    For Sentence
    T20127175 DANBY James P
    01JI4573912
    HALL Emma J
    01JI0272112
    O'TOOLE Tony
    01JI0272112
    DUGGAN Billy
    01KW0404512

    Last week at trial, James Danby was convicted of murder, causing grievous bodily harm with intent, perverting the course of justice, and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

    Emma Hall was convicted of murder, causing grievous bodily harm with intent, and perverting the course of justice.

    Tony O'Toole was convicted of murder, perverting the course of justice, and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

    Billy Duggan was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

    The crime of which they stand convicted is a despicable one:


    The court heard Danby and O'Toole jumped on Luke's head until it popped "like a marshmallow" then hid the 18-year-old's body under a mattress in a stream in May last year.

    Danby spent the following day bragging how the young father's brains spurted all over his jeans and that the killing had promoted him into the 'A-Team' of crime.

    He planned to slice off Luke's fingers and pull out his teeth to prevent his body being identified.

    But he was arrested on the journey to the body with a pair of pliers and three kitchen knives after Hall could stand the violence no longer and called the police.

    One police officer said: "There is only one word you can use to describe James Danby - psychopath."

    The killers, who were living with Luke at a council house in Crow Lane, Romford, tried to blame each other for the killing and O'Toole said Danby was a "monster" who had destroyed all their lives. [...]

    Luke, who was 5ft 7ins tall and weighed just seven stone, was one of a family of six children and had an eight-month-old son.

    He had been living with his son and his mother but in the weeks before he had been arguing with his girlfriend and had asked to be rehoused by the council.

    On the night he died he moved to the room at the council bungalow at Crow Lane, where Danby and the others lived.

    The house had been divided into seven bedsit rooms with five on the ground floor and two more in the loft.

    Behind the house were two more buildings not controlled by the council.

    By chance an 18-year-old girl visiting the house that evening saw Luke and claimed he had raped her two years before.

    Her complaint had been dropped after she was interviewed by police, who found her accusation was untrue.

    But when the girl repeated her claims, Hall vowed to kill him.

    The victim insisted he was innocent but police believe Danby may have been just looking for an excuse to kill someone.

    Danby had never had a job and had only been in trouble for low level crime before the killing.

    He was convicted of robbery when he went through the belongings of a man asleep on a bus and attacked him when he woke up.

    Danby took a photograph of him on his mobile and showed it to the girl to confirm it was the man she claimed had raped her before he launched his ferocious, two-hour assault.

    Luke was repeatedly punched in the face in his bedroom and in a shower room, spraying blood over the walls and floor.

    The girl told the court: "His nose was bent and there was blood everywhere. It was awful."

    He was so badly beaten that Hall said he looked like 'The Elephant Man' as he was bundled into her blue Fiat Punto.

    Luke was repeatedly elbowed in the face by Danby on a journey to playing fields in Broadmead Road, Woodford Green.

    Hall was driving and O'Toole was also in the car as Danby held a knife to the teenager's neck and said he was going to "slit his throat."

    Luke was "finished off" on the bank of the stream with repeated stamps and kicks.

    Hall told jurors she waited in the car while Danby and O'Toole took Luke down a path out of view.

    According to O'Toole, Danby suddenly tried to strangle Luke by putting him in a "sleeper hold" before repeatedly stamping on his head.

    O'Toole said he was so shocked by the attack he vomited near a fence.

    'It's something a monster would do,' he told the court.

    When Danby returned to the car he had blood spattered all over his jeans, top and hands and confessed to Hall: "I killed him, treacle."

    They went back to Crow Lane and Hall then drove Danby, O'Toole and Duggan to Hou Hatch in South Weald where Luke's belongings and Danby's clothes were doused with petrol and burnt.

    The following day when Hall announced she had killed a spider with her shoe, Danby replied: "Oi, you f***ing murderer, you're just like me."

    Danby then insisted on Hall, O'Toole and another flatmate Billy Duggan going back to see the body.

    Danby rolled the body into the stream and put the mattress on top of it.

    Back at the house the group mopped and scoured Luke's bloodstains from the house as attempts were made to "remove all trace of him."

    But Hall tipped off the police on the evening of May 28 after Danby announced he was going to return to the body for a second time remove the hands and teeth.

    "He was laughing and joking about cutting Luke's head off," Duggan recalled.

    Hall said she had been so sickened by the violence and Danby's horrific boasts she had to shop Danby.

    Officers lay in wait at the stream and arrested the group as they returned with the knives and a pair of wire cutters.

    It was claimed that Hall had initially attacked Luke after hearing about the rape claim.

    O'Toole and Roberts were said to have joined in the attack.

    But they all insisted they took no part in the violence and had to help Danby afterwards believing otherwise they would be killed next.

    The convicted defendants are due to be sentenced on April 24.

    http://www.thisistotalessex.co.uk/Tr...ail/story.html


    This is an exceptionally serious case and will result in lengthy minimum terms for each of the three offenders. Danby is clearly the ringleader: indeed, I suspect Luke Harwood might well be alive today had Danby been absent that fateful night. Danby is a violent man, labelled by police a "psychopath" and described even by one of his codefendants as a "monster." It seems the rape accusation against the victim was but an excuse for him, an outlet for his concealed brutality. He obviously derived sadistic pleasure from his prolonged attack on Luke Harwood and used gratuitous violence far exceeding that which could be expected to be offered by an otherwise reasonable and level-headed person acting in the heat of the moment. Danby, having taken Luke Harwood's life, then conspired with his codefendants to destroy all forensic evidence of Luke's very existence. He returned to the crime scene the very next day intending to mutilate Luke's remains thereby hindering identification of the body. He was fully equipped for that sordid task. That his plan to defile the corpse was not carried through to execution is not, on any rational view, a mitigating feature. It is only because the police, acting on O'Toole's tip-off, had him in custody at the time.

    It might be said in mitigation for Emma Hall that she was not physically responsible for the murder, even if she is legally responsible. She drove the victim, with Danby and O'Toole, to where he was murdered. She must have known the terrible fate which awaited him there. I am nonetheless struggling to find a basis on which to distinguish between Hall and O'Toole. It may be the case that Hall was the individual who recognised the victim as the person against whom the accusation of rape had been laid. She played, however, a lesser role in assaulting Luke Harwood. Yet O'Toole, the more violent and physically involved of the two, also has his notification to the police available for use in mitigation.

    It is inevitable that each of these individuals will be sentenced to life imprisonment. For Danby, a minimum term of 28 to 32 years is legally appropriate, and personally I feel that a term of not less than 30 years should be imposed. Hall and O'Toole will be viewed as being less culpable, and I expect minimum terms between 22 and 27 years.

    Left to right: James Danby, Emma Hall and Tony O'Toole
    "I have adopted the Italian way of life... I may stab you!"
    — Heidi

    "You make the British Lion seem like a declawed, toothless, neutered fat tabby with the mange."
    — Weidmann1939

    "Maybe you think your being clever."
    — Weidmann1939

  4. #204
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    April Jones murder case: Mark Bridger trial date set for Mold Crown Court


    Mark Bridger to stand trial for April Jones' murder next week

    The trial of the man accused of murdering five-year-old April Jones will begin next week, a judge has said.

    The jury for Mark Bridger's trial will be selected on 29 April.

    Bridger was initially scheduled to be tried at Mold Crown Court in February, but defence lawyer Brendan Kelly QC successfully applied for an adjournment so further inquiries could take place.

    However, Mr Justice Griffith-Williams has set a firm date. "I am very anxious that when we have the start of the trial, that there is no interruption and we just get on with it," he said.

    "I am mindful of the fact that April's parents and family will have some certainty and know that the trial will start."

    Bridger denies murdering April, who went missing while she was out playing near her home in Machynlleth in October.

    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/46...trial-mold.htm



    Mr Justice Griffith-Williams is currently overseeing the murder trial of Melanie Smith, also in the Crown Court at Mold. I had not expected that trial to conclude in the next few days, but apparently the judge does. Alternatively, if he is unavailable but wishes for the trial to proceed, I cannot see how he could do anything other than transfer the case to another judge, which would be an exceptionally unusual event. He has handled this case from the beginning, and a murder case of this severity will inevitably have to be overseen by a High Court judge: I cannot imagine it would be assigned to a circuit judge. The case garnered intense coverage from the national media for weeks after April's disappearance. She has still not been found. And the statutory starting point for sentencing the abduction and murder of a child is life without parole: another reason for the case to be before a High Court judge.



    Jury retires to consider verdict in Natalie Jarvis murder trial

    The jury has gone out in the Natalie Jarvis murder trial at Maidstone Crown Court this morning.

    Jurors retired to consider their verdicts at 10.55am.

    Adam Whelehan, 23, of Roseberry Gardens in Sidcup, and Tom Fuller, 23, of Oakley Drive in Eltham, are accused of her murder.

    Both defendants deny murdering Miss Jarvis, who was found dead on the ground in Swanley Village Road on October 3 last year.

    The prosecution alleges Whelehan murdered his girlfriend Miss Jarvis because he "wanted out of the relationship and the only way out he could see was to kill her."

    During the trial, jurors have heard Whelehan picked up Miss Jarvis from her home with his best friend Fuller hiding in the boot of his car at about 10.30pm.

    He drove to a country lane car park in Swanley Village before getting out with Miss Jarvis about 10.50pm and "by the time he returned to the car, then driven by Fuller, she lay dead."

    Whelehan has admitted killing Miss Jarvis, but claims it was in "lawful self-defence."

    Miss Jarvis, aged 23, was found dead after suffering more than 20 stab wounds.

    It is also alleged Fuller was the "getaway driver."

    http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/10..._murder_trial/
    "I have adopted the Italian way of life... I may stab you!"
    — Heidi

    "You make the British Lion seem like a declawed, toothless, neutered fat tabby with the mange."
    — Weidmann1939

    "Maybe you think your being clever."
    — Weidmann1939

  5. #205
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    Adam Whelehan guilty of murdering girlfriend Natalie Jarvis in Swanley Village

    A man has today been found guilty of murdering his girlfriend by slitting her throat in the street in Swanley Village.

    Adam Whelehan, 23, hatched a plot to kill Natalie Jarvis - whom he believed to be pregnant - because he saw it as the only way of ending their relationship.

    He will be sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court tomorrow.

    A jury this afternoon convicted him of murder - and acquitted his friend Thomas Fuller, also 23, of the same charge.

    http://www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford...l_retires.aspx



    The starting point here is 25 years. Nothing that has been reported on this case has led me to conclude that there are significant mitigating circumstances.
    "I have adopted the Italian way of life... I may stab you!"
    — Heidi

    "You make the British Lion seem like a declawed, toothless, neutered fat tabby with the mange."
    — Weidmann1939

    "Maybe you think your being clever."
    — Weidmann1939

  6. #206
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    Roxie Jo-Anne Archer: Boyfriend 'beat toddler to death'


    Roxie Jo-Anne Archer

    A 23-month-old girl was beaten to death by the boyfriend of her mother who had flown to New York to celebrate her 21st birthday, a jury has heard.

    Ben Raftery, 21, "forcibly and repeatedly punched" Roxie Jo-Anne Archer in March 2012, Manchester Crown Court was told. He denies murder.

    Roxie's mother Sophie was informed of the toddler's death as she arrived in the US.

    Mr Raftery was looking after Roxie at her home in Ashton-under-Lyne.

    The court was told Roxie's mother was taken to New York by her father on 9 March as a surprise with Mr Raftery, her boyfriend of 16 months, due to look after the toddler overnight before being passed to the child's grandmother.

    Mr Raftery dialled 999 at 00:30 GMT on 10 March to say he had left a stair gate open and Roxie had fallen down the stairs at the terraced house in Elizabeth Street.

    She died the next day in Tameside Hospital, having suffered extensive bruising and retinal haemorrhaging.

    Kate Blackwell QC, prosecuting, said paramedics found the child lying on a bed in an upstairs bedroom.

    She told the court: "One of the paramedics thought it strange that she had been carried back up the stairs.

    "Her breathing rate was slowing, she was very pale and had a blue tinge to her skin. She was in a very sick and critical condition."

    Mr Raftery's behaviour at the hospital "seemed somewhat strange," the prosecutor said.

    She added: "He seemed only to be concerned about his own welfare.

    "He was heard to say, 'I'm scared, they are going to do me for this'. He failed to apologise for what had apparently happened to Roxie in his care."

    Ms Blackwell said Roxie was seen by a pathologist, a neuropathologist and an eye specialist after her death, who found that "the only credible explanation" for the toddler's head and brain injuries was that she was "forcibly and repeatedly punched and also possibly slapped across the head."

    Mr Raftery moved in with Sophie Archer within weeks of meeting in November 2011 and at first appeared to bond with her daughter, the prosecutor said.

    "He taught her to call him daddy," she said.

    But he would also "engage in cruel behaviour towards her" such as holding her upside down by her ankle to "toughen her up" and picking up one end of a sofa by surprise as she sat on it, the court heard.

    By February 2012 Roxie did not want to play with him, jurors were told.

    The trial is scheduled to last up to two weeks.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...ester-22280680



    This trial began today before Mr Justice Saunders sitting in the Crown Court at Manchester.
    "I have adopted the Italian way of life... I may stab you!"
    — Heidi

    "You make the British Lion seem like a declawed, toothless, neutered fat tabby with the mange."
    — Weidmann1939

    "Maybe you think your being clever."
    — Weidmann1939

  7. #207
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    Trio jailed for life for murdering Luke Harwood

    Two men and a woman convicted of the brutal murder of teenager Luke Harwood have today been jailed for life.

    James Danby, 27, of no fixed abode, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years for murder, causing grievous bodily harm with intent, perverting the course of justice by burning items linked to the murder and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice for plotting to mutilate the dead man's body to conceal his identity.

    Tony O'Toole, 30, of Crow Lane, Romford, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 17 years for murder, perverting the course of justice by burning items linked to the murder and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice for plotting to mutilate the dead man's body to conceal his identity.

    Emma Hall, 21, of Crow Lane, Romford, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 15 years for murder, causing grievous bodily harm with intent and perverting the course of justice by burning items linked to the murder.

    Billy Duggan, 20, of Crow Lane, Romford, was jailed for nine months for perverting the course of justice by burning items linked to the murder and two years for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice for plotting to mutilate the dead man's body to conceal his identity, the sentences to run concurrently and suspended for two years.

    http://www.theenquirer.co.uk/read.aspx?id=10219



    These are some extremely concerning sentences.

    Danby's minimum term of 25 years is undoubtedly lenient, but in my opinion it is not unduly lenient - the standard which must be met before the Court of Appeal may interfere with it.

    O'Toole and Hall's minimum terms also seem rather low, but are probably not unduly lenient. I am not convinced that Hall deserves greater leniency than O'Toole, however.

    Duggan's sentence is pathetic. Not only is a nine-month sentence for perverting the course of justice in a murder case itself pathetic, it was also suspended for two years. This is definitely unduly lenient. He should have been sent immediately to prison, and for a longer period than nine months.
    "I have adopted the Italian way of life... I may stab you!"
    — Heidi

    "You make the British Lion seem like a declawed, toothless, neutered fat tabby with the mange."
    — Weidmann1939

    "Maybe you think your being clever."
    — Weidmann1939

  8. #208
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    Galashiels man jailed for life for murdering wife

    A Galashiels man has been jailed for life today after being convicted of murdering his wife at her home in the south of England.

    Miroslav Wosik, 42, of Beech Avenue, stabbed Bernadeta Jakubszyk to death in her bedroom at the house in Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire in May last year.

    Wosik was found guilty by a jury at St Albans Crown Court and sentenced to a minimum of 18 years behind bars.

    http://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk...wife-1-2907663 (HHJ Gullick)
    "I have adopted the Italian way of life... I may stab you!"
    — Heidi

    "You make the British Lion seem like a declawed, toothless, neutered fat tabby with the mange."
    — Weidmann1939

    "Maybe you think your being clever."
    — Weidmann1939

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    Adam Whelehan jailed for life for murdering girlfriend Natalie Jarvis

    A young man has today been jailed for life for murdering his girlfriend in a quiet street in Swanley Village.

    Adam Whelehan, 23, shook his head as he was told he must serve a minimum of 26 years after slitting the throat of Natalie Jarvis in a "callous and savage" attack.

    The "evil" BT apprentice engineer hatched a plot to kill the 23-year-old - whom he believed to be pregnant - because he saw it as the only way of ending their relationship.

    He was sentenced today at Maidstone Crown Court after yesterday being convicted of murder - when jurors acquitted his friend Thomas Fuller, also 23, of the same charge.


    Natalie Jarvis

    Outside court, Natalie's father Mark said: "Our family has been horrifically ripped apart by the sensleless, savage slaughter of the most loving sister and daughter anyone could ask for.

    "No sentence is long enough for the evil perpetrator Adam Whelehan."

    Prosecutor Ian Acheson spoke of the "extraordinarily eloquent" nine-page victim statement submitted to the court by much-loved Natalie's grieving family.

    Judge Philip Statman said Whelehan had not decided to kill Natalie the night before, but it was premeditation nurtured over many weeks.

    Whelehan stared ahead as the judge told him: "On October 3, 2012 you lured Natalie Jarvis from her home address with an offer sent by text of casual sex which was to have taken place in your vehicle.

    "She made the journey with you to the area of Button Street to a quiet location, as we can see from our photos, and where you had journeyed before. You had with you in your vehicle a multi-tool which had within its body a knife.

    "You took that weapon of offence with you, in my judgement, with the express purpose of stabbing Natalie Jarvis to death.

    "On arrival at Button Street both of you exited the car. You then proceeded to stab Natalie Jarvis to death, inflicting 20 stab wounds to her neck.

    "From the computer graphics and the blood distribution from Natalie, we can follow her last steps up Button Street and into Swanley Village Road – and you left her to die in a country lane and returned to your vehicle.

    "Your attack upon her was callous, it was savage and it was premeditated. I am fortified in each of these views by the manner in which you gave your evidence before the jury – no sign of or, indeed, a flicker of emotion."

    Judge Statman said Whelehan had tried to create a false picture that Natalie had sought to threaten him in the past or that she had inflicted a wound on his hand at the start of the incident.

    Natalie's family - who attended the whole trial - spoke of their relief at the verdict on a Facebook group in her memory that has attracted more than 6,500 "likes".

    Father Mark posted: "Though no sentence will be long enough in the eyes of our family he will be behind bars for a very long time."

    Whelehan, of Roseberry Avenue, Sidcup, and Fuller, of Oakley Drive, Eltham, were jointly accused of murdering Natalie on October 3 last year.

    Maidstone Crown Court heard during a three-week trial that Whelehan collected Natalie from her Swanley home at about 10.30pm and drove her to Button Street.

    Fuller was hiding in the boot of the Renault Clio. Having pulled up in a quiet area, Natalie - who was wearing pyjamas, dressing gown and slippers - got out of the car and walked off down the road with Whelehan.

    Whelehan then slit her throat and left her to die. Natalie suffered more than 20 knife wounds to her neck, as well as defensive injuries.

    Whelehan had accepted he killed Natalie, but claimed he acted in lawful self-defence.

    He claimed she repeatedly lunged at him with a multi-tool he used for work before grabbing it from her.

    Judge Statman today said the murder came after a series of text messages showing Whelehan's "utter contempt" for Natalie.

    He said: "What led to this lively young woman, this much-loved young woman, being deprived of her precious life?

    "The answer, in my judgement, lies in the text messages passing between you and your friends between July and October of 2012.

    "You met Natalie, you had sex with her on an occasion and then, as the days and weeks progressed between July and October, you showed in the text messages you sent utter contempt for her, vilifying her wherever possible when speaking to others about her."

    Texts Natalie sent might have led Whelehan to believe she was pregnant, and he found it extraordinary to believe.

    "You had many other ways you could have dealt with the situation within this conflict with Natalie Jarvis," added Judge Statman. "You complained bitterly about the number of texts she sent you.

    "You could have changed your phone number, you could have come off Facebook or changed your account. You could have spoken to her in a civil way about what the future may hold.

    "Instead of taking any of these courses in the weeks you plotted to kill her, you convinced yourself against all the opinion of any of your friends that she might be pregnant by you."

    Judge Statman added: "I heard together with the jury, the events of the night of October 3, reconstructed by means of CCTV which shows during that night your demeanour and attitude.

    "I can see the texts you sent that night and that final chilling text you sent to your friends Woods and Hughes – 'Done. Not lying. Covered in blood. So sorry I let you boys down'.

    "Not a thought for what you had done to her or what you had done to her beloved family. Thereafter is noteworthy of your onward behaviour – going to a supermarket to purchase alcohol and cigarettes and then on to drink further with your friends.

    "Finally, going to the police station to tell them what occurred – that you had acted in self-defence."

    Judge Statman said the starting point for sentence was a minimum term of 25 years. It was increased to 26 years to reflect the significant degree of premeditation, he said.

    He told members of the victim's family in court they had behaved "with the utmost dignity."

    "It is very difficult for me to express just how important the statement you have presented to me today has been," he added.

    "I wish, if I may, to express to you, now this case is over and my task has come to a conclusion, my sincere condolences to all of you.

    "I very much hope with the passage of time this terrible grief will be something with which you are able to cope with all the assistance I hope you will be provided with in the community. I wish you all well."

    http://www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford...entence-1.aspx
    "I have adopted the Italian way of life... I may stab you!"
    — Heidi

    "You make the British Lion seem like a declawed, toothless, neutered fat tabby with the mange."
    — Weidmann1939

    "Maybe you think your being clever."
    — Weidmann1939

  10. #210
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    Now here is an interesting case:


    Rimas Venclovas appeals over murder location



    A man who murdered his ex-wife wants to appeal against his UK conviction because prosecutors could not determine which country she was killed in.

    Lithuanian Rimas Venclovas, 47, was jailed for life for kidnapping Vitalija Baliutaviciene, 29, in Peterborough and dumping her body in Poland in 2011.

    The issue of where she was killed was raised at last year's trial, but the attorney general allowed it to proceed.

    However, his counsel's law firm said the appeal process had begun.

    A directions hearing was held at the Court of Appeal in London earlier.

    Venclovas was jailed for life with a minimum of 20 years at the Old Bailey in November for the murder and kidnap of his ex-wife, who moved to Cambridgeshire to escape her "obsessed" and "jealous" ex-husband.

    Miss Baliutaviciene was last seen on CCTV being abducted on her way to work in Peterborough, at 05:15 on 12 August 2011.

    At about 11:50, Venclovas's van was caught on CCTV boarding a ferry at Dover.

    Lithuanian-born Miss Baliutaviciene's naked body was found in a field in western Poland two months later, but prosecutors never found out where she was killed.

    The issue was raised during legal argument in the trial, when Paul Scothern, from the Crown Prosecution Service, confirmed it had been discussed before the trial.

    He said: "As the reviewing lawyer, I looked into the issues raised and obtained the consent of the attorney general that the prosecution should be conducted under the powers in the Suppression of Terrorism Act 1978, which gives jurisdiction for certain offences carried out abroad to be tried here.

    "I have never dealt with a case where the issue of jurisdiction has been settled in this way or the attorney general's consent obtained in these circumstances."

    The Court of Appeal will decide at a later date whether to grant Venclovas permission to appeal.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-22283073



    This application for leave to appeal was heard yesterday in the Court of Appeal before Mr Justice Irwin. As the article says, section 4 of the Suppression of Terrorism Act 1978 allows a defendant to be indicted in a British court for certain specified offences committed outside the United Kingdom if the Attorney General consents to such prosecution. Murder is one of those specified offences (the full list is here).

    Early in the morning of 12 August 2011, Vitalija Baliutaviciene was abducted by her ex-husband, Rimas Venclovas, who pulled her from the street and bundled her into his car. This act was caught on CCTV. Her badly decomposed remains were uncovered in a shallow grave in Poland on 30 October that year. He was extradited from his native Lithuania back to England, where he was indicted for the abduction and murder of his ex-wife. He was convicted at trial in the Central Criminal Court before Mr Justice Fulford and, on 13 November 2012, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years.

    His complaint appears to turn on the fact that prosecutors could not prove whether she was murdered in England or murdered in a foreign country: all they could prove is that she was murdered. In my view, the issue is ultimately irrelevant. It is obvious that Miss Baliutaviciene was murdered and it stands to reason that her ex-husband was responsible. He was recorded leaving England via the port of Dover just six-and-a-half hours after the abduction in Peterborough. It does not take six hours to drive from Peterborough to Dover, and he may well have murdered her in England. There would be obvious dangers in taking her on board the ferry where she might have been able to alert a third party to her plight, but so too are there obvious dangers in attempting to convey a dead body across an international border. His ferry would have sailed to France or to Belgium, and from there he would have driven across Germany into Poland. So where should he be prosecuted?

    I think only Poland and England have any serious claim to jurisdiction in this case, and whether he could be prosecuted in Poland must depend on how venue is determined in Polish law. English law does allow for such prosecutions and, in any case, he received here a longer sentence than he would have done in Poland (or any of the other countries I mentioned). Even if the Court of Appeal ultimately rules in Venclovas' favour, which I don't think it will, Parliament will undoubtedly legislate to close the newly opened loophole.
    "I have adopted the Italian way of life... I may stab you!"
    — Heidi

    "You make the British Lion seem like a declawed, toothless, neutered fat tabby with the mange."
    — Weidmann1939

    "Maybe you think your being clever."
    — Weidmann1939

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