Latest news with #LutonCrownCourt
BBC News
16-05-2025
- BBC News
Bedford dealer guilty of killing man who wanted cocaine
A drug dealer is waiting to be sentenced after being convicted of killing a customer when an early-hours cocaine sale went Kamau, 25, had admitting stabbing 26-year-old Patrice Che with a kitchen knife at a house in Brereton Road, Bedford, in November 2024 but denied murder and of Rutland Road, Bedford, said he acted in self-defence after being found him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter on Friday after a trial at Luton Crown Court. Prosecutors said Kamau behaved with "jaw-dropping calmness" after the said he had posed with the blood-stained knife and taken a "trophy" photograph of denied the allegations and said he had taken the photograph with the intention of showing it to were told that police found the knife, which was 4cm wide and 18cm long, after Kamau threw it down a rubbish chute. A judge who oversaw the trial adjourned sentencing until 27 Justice Swift said he wanted a probation officer to prepare a report and consider whether Kamau posed a public heard how Mr Che, who came from Bedford, was attacked at the home of an died in hospital after being stabbed in the abdomen. Jurors were told that Mr Che had met Kamau in the early hours in a street and wanted court heard that the deal "had gone wrong".Barrister Neil Moore, who led the prosecution team, said Kamau had feared a "set up" and "got aggressive".He said evidence showed that Kamau had attacked Mr Che with a knife and scissors. Mr Che died after suffering a 13cm (5-inch) attack was neither reasonable nor proportionate, Mr Moore argued. 'Trophy photograph' "The defendant took the knife with him," Mr Moore told jurors."He took a photograph of himself holding it whilst it was still blood-stained."He says he was going to show the photograph to the police."It is nothing more and nothing less than a trophy photograph." 'Sorry' Kamau told jurors that he decided to leave the property because the situation became "dodgy".He said Mr Che was holding scissors and stood in his said he was "terrified" and picked up a knife from the kitchen."I am just trying not to get stabbed, not get injured," he told jurors. "In that process, I have lunged."He said Mr Che "started coming at me swinging" and told jurors: "I swung once with the kitchen knife. I didn't want to stab him."He added: "I am sorry that somebody has lost somebody that means a lot to them." Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
12-05-2025
- BBC News
Man with 'learning disability' goes on trial for Luton murder
A man with a "learning disability" has gone on trial accused of Hussain, 27, denies murdering David Dosa, 53, in Luton on 15 August 2024.A judge began overseeing a trial at Luton Crown Court on Monday and gave jurors some detail about the defendant's condition. Judge Michael Kay said Mr Hussain, from Buxton Road in the town, had a "communication difficulty" and had been "diagnosed with a learning disability". The judge said an intermediary would sit with Mr Hussain during the trial and could help him understand what was being were told the accused had pleaded not guilty to murder and not guilty to possessing a bladed have said that Mr Dosa died after being stabbed outside his home on Farley Court in Kay told jurors the trial was expected to end within a fortnight. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man, 84, admits killing his wife
A 84-year-old man has admitted killing his wife but has denied her murder. Margaret Worby, 84, was found dead in a house on Kingsbury Avenue, Dunstable, by police just after 13:40 GMT on 23 January. Roger Worby, of Kingsbury Avenue, appeared at Luton Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to murder. He is being held in custody. A further hearing is due to take place on 5 September with a trial due to begin on 3 November. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. HM Courts Service
The Independent
04-04-2025
- The Independent
Driver who ran red light is jailed for causing death of 14-year-old boy scout
A driver who accelerated through a red light and fatally struck a boy scout as he was crossing the road has been jailed for five years and six months. Evie Wiles, 25, was distracted by her phone when her Seat Leon car hit 14-year-old Christopher Arnett in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, judge Andrew Hatton said. Sentencing at Luton Crown Court, the judge said he rejected Wiles' account that the traffic light was on amber on the evening of February 2, 2023. 'I'm entirely satisfied that as you approached the traffic lights they changed to red,' he said. He said her knowledge of the junction meant she knew that if she had stopped at the red light, she 'would be there for some time before they changed to green'. The judge said it was 'difficult if not impossible to assess the speed' at which Wiles was travelling at the time of the collision, at the junction of London Road with Two Waters Road. He said that Wiles said in evidence that she approached the lights at 20-30mph, then accelerated to 30-35mph. He said she had been exchanging Whatsapp messages with her partner, who she had been travelling to collect. 'I'm satisfied you were distracted by your phone and that exchange of messages,' the judge said. Wiles denied causing Christopher's death by dangerous driving, but was found guilty following an earlier trial at the same court. Wiles, of Lockers Park Lane, Hemel Hempstead, looked straight ahead as she was jailed for five years and six months on Friday. She could be released on licence after serving half of this. The judge also handed her a five-year driving ban, with an extension of 30 months 'intended to ensure that on your release you're subject to a ban of around five years'. Christopher's mother, Claire Arnett, 52, earlier wiped tears from her eyes as she read a victim impact statement in court, and said: 'I mourn the fact I won't watch him grow into a man, he was one of my best friends.' The teacher, addressing Wiles in the dock, said: 'You've not once said sorry… you never even called 999.' Christopher's father, Lee Arnett, told the court that his son 'loved Lego and loved Star Wars and Dr Who and Explorer Scouts'. The 49-year-old, who is a shift manager for a distribution company, said: 'Since that day we've been living in a nightmare – the pain of losing Christopher is indescribable.' Christopher Martin, mitigating for Wiles, said the defendant had no previous convictions and was just 23 years old at the time of the collision. In a statement afterwards, Christopher's parents said: 'Losing a child is painful enough, but the brutal way that Christopher was taken from us will haunt us until our dying breaths. 'His killer destroyed not just his life but all of our lives that day, and we will never forgive her for that and her utter lack of remorse and refusal to accept any wrongdoing.' They said that Christopher 'was just one of those people you knew would do good in the world'. He had been a scout from aged five and was about to start his Duke of Edinburgh award. Sam Collard, a solicitor at Osbornes Law who represented the family in a civil action, said: 'It has taken more than two years to bring Christopher's killer to justice and, whilst nothing can bring him back, I hope that now legal action is at an end they can finally be left to grieve for their son in peace.'
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former Obama administration adviser flew to Britain to rape nine-year-old girl
A former policy adviser to Barack Obama's administration flew to Britain planning to rape a nine-year-old child. Rahamim 'Rami' Shy, 47, an investment banker who helped co-ordinate the US government's counter-terror response, travelled from New York to Bedfordshire to meet an English schoolgirl. He spent more than a month planning the trip and had packed his suitcases with cuddly toys and condoms, Luton Crown Court heard. On an online forum and messaging apps, Shy described the 'unspeakable acts' he was planning in graphic detail to someone he believed to be the girl's grandmother. But the grandmother, using the name Debbie, was in fact an online decoy created by an undercover officer from Bedfordshire Police. In his messages, Shy described the girl as a 'tad late' in starting sexual activity at the age of nine, and said that it was an 'honour' to be considered 'her first', the court heard. He flew to Gatwick on Feb 23 last year then drove to Bedford to meet the undercover officer, and was promptly arrested. His lawyers tried to claim that as he was in the US at the time of the messaging, he was jurisdictionally exempt from prosecution in the UK. But the Crown Prosecution Service successfully argued that English courts have jurisdiction to try offences committed abroad that are intended to result in criminal offences in England. During the trial, the court heard Shy, after arriving in Britain, tried to delete the 'depraved messages' he had sent. Other messages retrieved from his phone revealed he had discussed his sexual interest in children with others. A cache of indecent images of children were discovered on his phone by police. Officers also found several cuddly toys and condoms within Shy's luggage after his arrest. The prosecution argued the items demonstrated 'a clear intent to win the child over' before abusing her. On Wednesday, Shy was jailed for 11 years and six months after being found guilty of arranging the commission of a child sex offence – namely rape – and possessing indecent photographs of a child. Shy was previously employed at banking group Citi, and had worked in a senior role at the US treasury department from 2008 to 2014, advising officials on countering the financing of terrorism and assisting foreign governments to impose sanctions on hostile regimes, the Daily Mail reported at the time of his arrest. A spokesman from Citi said that Shy was no longer an employee following his arrest. Shy was also deployed to Afghanistan to provide expertise to the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), set up to maintain stability following the America-led invasion of the country. According to a LinkedIn page, he provided ISAF with counter-terrorist finance expertise, and went on to present the US's strategy on Afghanistan to a congressional hearing in 2010. Lorraine Telford, of the CPS, said: 'Rahamim Shy is a predator who was fully prepared to commit unspeakable acts against a child for his own sexual gratification. 'It was clear from his explicit conversations and items he brought to England that he had only one intention, to commit rape against what he knew was a vulnerable child. 'The fact the child in this case did not exist makes no difference, and it is a credit to the police operation and subsequent prosecution that Shy will no longer pose an immediate threat. 'All children have the right to feel safe and protected, and I hope this conviction sends a clear message that the CPS, working closely alongside law enforcement, will relentlessly pursue justice and prosecute those who seek to sexually exploit children.'
