UK- Strangled paedophile may have been the victim of a vigilante

10-10-2008 United Kingdom:

A convicted paedophile who was found strangled and dumped in a wood may have been the victim of a vigilante attack.

Gordon Boon, 73, was found by walkers who saw his body partly hidden under old fencing panels in an area popular with fly-tippers.

The former cider factory worker, from Norwich, was jailed for six years in December 2001 for indecent assaults on a girl aged eight and two others aged 13.

He had plied one of the 13-year-old girls with alcohol and played strip poker with her, before taking explicit photographs and subjecting her to sexual abuse.

Boon admitted indecent assault and two serious sex offences against the youngster, two assaults on the second girl and one on the third.

But after his case was heard at Norwich Crown Court Judge Paul Downes told him that he had "failed to accept" responsibility for his actions.

He was jailed then placed on the sex offenders register for life and ordered to serve an extended licence of five years on his release. Police would not confirm how long he had been out of prison.

Detectives are keeping an "open mind" about the motive but are looking into the possibility that he could have been killed in a vigilante revenge attack.

A Norfolk Police spokesman said: "His past is a natural line of inquiry."

It is believed Boon, who was married, was reported missing by his son when he failed to meet for a drink as arranged. He was last seen on Friday October 3.

His body was found in Great Witchingham, just yards from the Bernard Matthews turkey factory, at about 12.45pm on Monday October 6. He had one sock and one shoe missing and there was blood around his nose and mouth. A post mortem later found he had been strangled.

Det Ch Insp Steve Strong, of Norfolk Police, said: "The investigation into the death continues and officers are following up a number of lines of inquiry." ..News Source.. by Lucy Cockcroft

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Phone and t-shirt of murdered sex offender found in park

10-24-2008 United Kingdom:

documents believed to belong to murdered paedophile Gordon Boon have been recovered from Eaton Park.

Officers carried out a search of the South Park Avenue area found the collection of items near to the tennis courts. The documents included a band card, a rent card and shopping receipts.

The 73-year-old strangled to death and his body was discovered at Rabbit Lane in Great Witchingham on Monday, October 6.

Mr Boon was last seen alive near the Maids Heads Hotel in Norwich on Friday, October 3.

DCI Steve Strong, who is leading the investigation, said: “We'd appeal to anyone who saw this property being discarded in the area to come forward and tell us. You may be someone who found it in another location and moved it, leaving it in the Eaton Park area or you may remember seeing the property lying on the ground while passing the location.”

Police have now reopened up the area of Eaton Park which had been cordoned off as part of the investigation.

DCI Strong added: “At this stage the motive for the murder of Gordon Boon is unclear. It is very important that we catch and charge the person responsible for this crime.

“Your information could lead us to identify the murderer, bring that person to justice and remove a dangerous criminal from our communities. Whilst the public can be reassured that an individual has been arrested, I need the assistance of the public to further this enquiry.”

Detectives are keen to hear from anyone who may have seen Mr Boon in and around Eaton Park between Friday, October 3 and Monday, October 6. Anyone with information should call DCI Strong on 0845 456 4567. ..News Source.. by LUCY BOLTON

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Police plea over paedophile murder

10-26-2008 United Kingdom:

A detective leading the investigation into the murder of a 73-year-old paedophile last night pleaded with the public to forget his past, saying: “we cannot allow vigilante rule on our doorstep”.

It has now been more than three weeks since Gordon Boon's body was found discarded beneath a pile of rubbish on Norfolk wasteland but officers are still struggling to piece together exactly what happened.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder and released on bail but Norfolk police's major investigation team admit progress has been slow as potentially key witnesses are reluctant to come forward, apparently lacking sympathy for the registered sex offender.

But Det Chief Insp Steve Strong spoke out to encourage witnesses to speak to the police saying that, no matter what people thought of Mr Boon's past, a dangerous killer is on the loose.

He added: “Whilst I can understand some people's disinterest in this investigation given Mr Boon's history, a murder has been committed and we need to solve this case.

“As things stand a killer whose motive remains unclear is still out there and while they remain at large there must be serious concerns for the public in general. If this person has killed once, they may well kill again and there is nothing to suggest that they don't pose a threat to the rest of the community.

“We cannot live in a vigilante society and law and order must be maintained. Whatever the circumstances, we cannot minimise any murder.”

Mr Strong added that, as well as being put off coming forward by concerns about Mr Boon's past, some witnesses may be under the mistaken belief that because an arrest as been made, the case has been solved.

He said: “We have identified a suspect but we need as much evidence as possible if we are to bring a successful prosecution and get this person off our streets.”

Mr Boon, of Westwick Street, Norwich, was found dead on October 6 at Rabbit Lane, Great Witchingham. He had been strangled and buried beneath fence panels and a car wheel.

Police say the isolated spot is regularly frequented by dog walkers, horse riders, fly-tippers and couples. They are keen to speak to whoever may have dumped the items used to bury Mr Boon - and have promised immunity from prosecution to any fly-tippers who come forward.

The victim was last seen near the Maids Head Hotel in Norwich on October 3 and it is thought he died that day or the following day.

Property belonging to Mr Boon has since been found in the Eaton Park area and officers would like to speak to anybody who saw him during his final days.

Mr Strong said: “We need to hear from friends, acquaintances or anybody who knew Mr Boon in anyway. Even if you don't think you have any information that can help, you may have one small detail which could prove crucial.”

Contact the major investigation team at Norfolk police 0845 4564567 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111. ..News Source.. by BEN KENDALL

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Norwich sex offender murder accused had killed before

3-4-2010:

A man accused of strangling a man in Norfolk had been jailed in the 1980s for killing a teenage boy, Norwich Crown Court has heard.

Jurors were told Royston Jackson, 43, of Pettus Road, Norwich, was convicted of murdering Stephen Raven in Dagenham in 1989.

He denies murdering Gordon Boon, 73, a convicted sex offender, in 2008.

His body was found under fence panels in a remote lane near Great Witchingham, the court heard.

Partially clothed

The men met at a bail hostel in Norwich following Mr Jackson's release from prison and both had moved out to separate properties shortly before Mr Boon's death.

Prosecutor Timothy Spencer QC said Mr Jackson murdered Mr Boon by strangulation on 3 October.

His partially clothed body was found three days later.

"This defendant drove the dead body to the remote location, dumped it and then covered it with some fence panels - no doubt in an attempt to cover it up for a short while at least," he added.

He told the jury that only Mr Jackson knew why Mr Boon was killed.

"We suggest that a possible motive is that there is some sort of sexual overtone given Mr Boon's state of undress," he added.

"We know that Royston Jackson had made sexual approaches to other males he had been at the hostel with, which had been rebuffed."

Speaking of Mr Jackson's earlier conviction, Mr Spencer said: "There are a number of important similarities between the death of Stephen Raven and Gordon Boon.

"Both were males - of course there is a big difference in age - Stephen Raven showed signs of attempted strangulation and we know how Gordon Boon was killed.

"Stephen Raven's clothing had been interfered with; although he was wearing clothes, they had clearly been taken off prior to his killing because his underpants had been put on inside out and back to front.

"Both men had been dumped in remote country lanes."

The trial continues. ..Source.. by BBC

Primal rage: 'pedo' stomped to death

7-22-2008 Australia:

A convicted pedophile represented everyone who had ever abused the young Adelaide man who killed him in a primal rage, a court was told today.

Timothy Hemi Schaefer, 19, went to the home of Jeffrey Edwin Payne, 56, in Adelaide in April 2007, called him a "pedo", punched him and stabbed him in the leg.

Drunk and taunting his victim, Schaefer followed Payne across parklands before strangling and stabbing him and stomping on his head, the South Australian Supreme Court has heard after Schaefer pleaded guilty to murder.

Prosecutor Jane Powell said there was an element of "sanguinary" to the crime, with Schaefer stopping to smoke a cigarette during the brutal and prolonged attack.

Schaefer had never expressed remorse for killing Mr Payne, who was an extremely thin man, weighing just 47 kilograms, with ulcers and emphysema, she said.

"In fact, during his interview with police he referred to Mr Payne as a sack of shit," Ms Powell said.

"He would have had to hear and feel the sounds of the bones fracturing under foot."

Schaefer's lawyer Greg Mead said there was no clear motive for the crime.

But it appeared that, in Schaefer's drunk and enraged state, Payne had come to represent all the people who ever had abused him.

"He snapped ... he said to police, 'I just got heaps angry,' " Mr Mead said.

One of nine children, Schaefer suffered "a living hell" at the hands of a violent, alcoholic father who beat him every day, his lawyer said.

After his mother left, his father would abandon the children for weeks at a time, leaving them at the mercy of two friends who would sexually abuse some of them.

"He was fed rotten meat, his father would have to scrape the slime off," Mr Mead said.

"It was the cruelty and brutality of those early years that led to this almost primal expression of rage."

Judge John Sulan said the crime had "all the characteristics of a frenzied attack" and Schaefer could expect to be jailed for a long time.

He also said Schaefer had been "destroyed" by his appalling early life.

He ordered a neurological report to investigate possible damage from Schaefer being beaten with hammers in an earlier, unrelated attack.

Schaefer, who faces a possible life term, was remanded in custody for sentencing at a date to be set. ..News Source.. by smh.com

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Abused teenager jailed for murdering pedophile

10-7-2008 Australia:

STATE welfare authorities "failed" an abused and damaged teenager who went on to viciously murder a convicted pedophile, the Supreme Court has heard.

Timothy Hemi Schaefer was today described as a "damaged little boy" whose pent-up anger erupted in a prolonged and barbaric attack on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Edwin Payne, 56.

Schaefer, 20, will spend at least 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to Payne's murder outside his Northfield home in April 2007.

The convicted sex offender had been throttled unconscious, stabbed in the leg and face and had his skull crushed in the late-night attack.

Schaefer took time to smoke a cigarette during the brutal assault and later described his victim as a "sack of shit" during a police interview.

Justice John Sulan said Schaefer and a number of other boys had regularly gone to Payne's home in the years leading up to the murder.

"For a number of years (Payne) was regularly visited by young boys and he provided them with cigarettes alcohol and marijuana in exchange for sexual favours," Justice Sulan said.

"He had convictions for offences of a sexual nature against teenage boys and had been imprisoned in the past for sex offences against young boys."

Payne was mentioned during sentencing submissions for convicted Snowtown serial killer James Vlassakis, who is serving a life jail term for four murders.

Justice Sulan said Schaefer was drunk and angry when he went to Payne's home on the night of the killing and found there were "sexual connotations behind the attack."

Justice Sulan said Schaefer had endured a chaotic and dysfunctional childhood with an alcoholic mother and an abusive father, who routinely beat his five children and fed them rotten meat.

The judge referred to a letter from Schaefer's aunt, who described him as "a bright and intelligent child who grew up in circumstances of chaos and dysfunction" and became a "damaged little boy."

"In my opinion the state failed him as a child," the letter said.

Justice Sulan said Schaefer's problems were compounded when he suffered serious head injuries when assaulted with a hammer as a 17-year old.

He said Schaefer needed intensive psychiatric help to overcome his many problems.

"Sadly, it appears that you will not receive the treatment that you require while you are in custody," he said. ..News Source.. by ANDREW DOWDELL, COURT REPORTER

UK- Man murdered his brother over sex abuse claim

7-10-2008 United Kingdom:

A MAN who murdered his brother because he believed he was a sex offender has been given a life sentence at the High Court in Glasgow.

David Thomson, 38, admitted killing 35-year-old John Thomson at the home they shared in Carstairs Junction in January.

He strangled his brother with a boot lace and stabbed him 15 times after an alleged confession to a sex offence.

Thomson was told that he would serve a minimum of 14 years for the murder.

The court heard John Thomson had allegedly sexually abused a young girl 20 years ago.

Defence QC Neil Murray told the court that Thomson claimed his brother, who had always previously denied the allegation, confessed to him that night that he had committed the offence.

The defence lawyer said Thomson, who described his brother as “his best friend” was profoundly upset by his death and “accepts what he did was totally inexcusable”.

Judge Lord Mackay of Drumadoon told Thomson that the only possible sentence was life imprisonment.

He said if it had not been for his early guilty plea he would have fixed the punishment part at 17 years. ..News Source.. by George Topp, Lanark & Carluke

Murdered prisoner should have been moved: lawyer

6-11-2003 Canada:

The lawyer for a murdered pedophile says his jailers failed to protect him.

On Monday, guards found 46-year-old Richard Hatton dead in his cell at the Regional Detention Centre.

His cellmate, 29-year-old Daniel Labelle, is charged with second-degree murder.

Richard Hatton had been in the Regional Detention Centre since his arrest for violating the terms of a long-term supervision order.

Carol Sparling, a spokeswoman for the National Parole Board, says Hatton was being held awaiting a hearing to see if he should go back to federal prison.

"The breach had to do with being in an area where he was not supposed to be," says Sparling. "It had to do with a breach of an alcohol condition that he admitted to doing. There wasn't anything of involvement with children."

But Hatton did have a long history of criminal involvement with children. He had been convicted seven times for sexual offences against children.

That history made Hatton a target for other inmates, and officials at the detention centre should have known that, says his lawyer, Joshua Zambrowski of Kingston.

"There is a legal onus on any detention centre, prison or penitentiary to take reasonable care to protect all prisoners. And the fact that he was sharing a cell with some other offender is in my view irresponsible and negligent," says Zambrowski.

Hatton had spent about a month at the provincial detention facility, according to Zambrowski. He says his client, a federal inmate, should have been moved much sooner to a federal prison where he would have been safer. ..more.. by CBC News

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Inquest probes pedophile's slaying by cellmate
6-19-2007 Canada:

Mentally ill inmates should be housed separately from other prisoners, a schizophrenic man who killed his cellmate four years ago told a coroner's inquest.

Daniel Labelle was testifying Monday via videoconference at the inquest in Ottawa into the death of 46-year-old Robert Hatton in 2003.

Hatton was intellectually disabled and had been convicted seven times for sexual offences against children, but was being held in the Ottawa Carleton Regional Detention Centre for a parole violation.

Labelle strangled Hatton in June 2003 and was later convicted of manslaughter. He's now serving an eight-year sentence at Penetanguishene Psychiatric Hospital.

Labelle, speaking from the hospital, said that before the slaying, he was scared that his cellmate, who weighed about 300 pounds, would try to rape him.

He said he asked repeatedly to be moved to another cell, but his request was denied.

Labelle apologized for what happened, and wanted the inquest to recommend that people with mental illness be housed separately.

Sister backs separate housing idea

As part of the inquest, Hatton's sister, Beverley Poste, spoke from Ottawa to Labelle during the videoconference Monday.

She agreed that people with mental illness should be housed separately, and said so should people who have been convicted of sex crimes.

"Both of those types of individuals are ill in one way or another and really need to be segregated from the rest of the population," Poste told the CBC following the day's testimony.

Pedophiles, in particular, are often targets of violence by other prisoners.

Poste said the inquest was useful, allowing her and Labelle to tell their sides of the story.

"I've explained to him … my brother that I knew and grew up with," she said after testifying.

She described Hatton as being "like a monster bird in a little wee nest."

Despite his enormous size, she said, "he didn't have a mean bone in his body. He couldn't be riled, he couldn't be angered and he certainly would have fallen over if Daniel had even pushed him."

But she said she was not angry at Labelle, as she recognized he was a sick man.

"He expressed horrendous anxiety about being celled with my brother and he didn't feel that the powers that be listened to him," she said. "He didn't anticipate murdering, and I honestly believe that."

The inquest is expected to end Friday. ..more.. by CBC News

Coast Guard officer strangled after 'sexual moves' on men

12-13-2007 Trindad:

A Coast Guard officer was strangled at his Morvant apartment on Tuesday night, after he allegedly lured two young men into his apartment and attempted to sexually assault them.

The dead man was identified as Petty Officer Alister Joseph, also popularly known as "Big Joe", of Almond Court, Morvant.

Police said that around 11 p.m. on Tuesday, the two men, one aged 20 of Jogie Road, San Juan, the other, 22, of Picadilly Street, Port of Spain, went to Joseph's apartment after he reportedly told them he wanted to hire them to paint his apartment for Christmas.

Police said that after the two men entered, Joseph, 46, locked the door behind him.

With the men inside, the heavily built Joseph offered them alcoholic drinks, which they accepted. He then told the men he was going into his bedroom to change his clothes.

The two men in the meantime were in the sitting room.

Joseph later emerged from his bedroom, reportedly naked, and began "making sexual advances" towards the men. They tried to avoid him and headed to the door, but Joseph had the keys. The men then began fighting back.

One grabbed a cord lying nearby and placed it around the Coast Guard's neck while the other stabbed him. It is believed that both men pulled the cord around Joseph's neck during the struggle and he died on the spot.

The men then called the police.

A team of investigators from both the Homicide Bureau and the Morvant CID, led by Acting Assistant Superintendent David Abraham, visited the scene where they conducted enquiries.

Joseph's body was later removed to the Port of Spain mortuary. A post mortem done at the Forensic Science Centre in St James yesterday confirmed that death was due to strangulation.

Yesterday, one female relative described Joseph as a "private person" who was devoted to his Coast Guard job. The two suspects remained in police custody up to last night being questioned.

PC Phillip of the Homicide Bureau is continuing investigations. ..more.. by Trindad News

Inquest probes pedophile's slaying by cellmate

6-19-2007 Canada:
Mentally ill inmates should be housed separately from other prisoners, a schizophrenic man who killed his cellmate four years ago told a coroner's inquest.

Daniel Labelle was testifying Monday via videoconference at the inquest in Ottawa into the death of 46-year-old Robert Hatton in 2003.

Hatton was intellectually disabled and had been convicted seven times for sexual offences against children, but was being held in the Ottawa Carleton Regional Detention Centre for a parole violation.

Labelle strangled Hatton in June 2003 and was later convicted of manslaughter. He's now serving an eight-year sentence at Penetanguishene Psychiatric Hospital.

Labelle, speaking from the hospital, said that before the slaying, he was scared that his cellmate, who weighed about 300 pounds, would try to rape him.

He said he asked repeatedly to be moved to another cell, but his request was denied.

Labelle apologized for what happened, and wanted the inquest to recommend that people with mental illness be housed separately.

Sister backs separate housing idea
As part of the inquest, Hatton's sister, Beverly Post, spoke from Ottawa to Labelle during the videoconference Monday.

She agreed that people with mental illness should be housed separately, and said so should people who have been convicted of sex crimes.

"Both of those types of individuals are ill in one way or another and really need to be segregated from the rest of the population," she told the CBC following the day's testimony.

Pedophiles, in particular, are often targets of violence by other prisoners.

Post said the inquest was useful, allowing her and Labelle to tell their sides of the story.

"I've explained to him … my brother that I knew and grew up with," said Post after testifying.

She described Hatton as being "like a monster bird in a little wee nest."

Despite his enormous size, she said, "he didn't have a mean bone in his body. He couldn't be riled, he couldn't be angered and he certainly would have fallen over if Daniel had even pushed him."

But she said she was not angry at Labelle, as she recognized he was a sick man.

"He expressed horrendous anxiety about being celled with my brother and he didn't feel that the powers that be listened to him," she said. "He didn't anticipate murdering, and I honestly believe that."

The inquest is expected to end Friday. ..more.. by CBC News

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Construction put prisoner in killer’s way
6-19-2007 Canada:

Ideally, inmates with psychological problems are not supposed to be put in the same jail cell as high-risk offenders such as pedophiles, a coroner's inquest heard Tuesday. But crowding is often a problem at the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre - and in the spring of 2003, construction made the situation even worse.

That is how Daniel Labelle, a schizophrenic inmate at the facility, ended up in the same cell as Robert Hatton, a convicted pedophile, Jean-Marc Joly, security manager at the centre, testified.

The match turned out to be deadly, as Mr. Labelle killed Mr. Hatton on June 8, 2003. An autopsy revealed Mr. Hatton died of asphyxiation.

"We just didn't have the cell space to have everyone who has a psychological disorder to have their own cells," Mr. Joly testified. A lack of cell space wasn't the centre's only problem.

A lack of communication between departments in the facility also may have been a contributing factor in Mr. Hatton's death. Tuesday, the psychiatrist contracted to assess Mr. Labelle once a month testified he did not have access to the inmate's psychological, health and criminal files.

Dr. Rufino Balmaceda, a psychiatrist with the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, said Mr. Labelle appeared "fit" and "not psychotic" just less than a week before he murdered his cellmate. It was determined only after the killing that Mr. Labelle suffered from serious psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and, on June 8, 2003, he was taking one-tenth of the medication required to maintain a healthy mental state.

Mr. Labelle, 33, is now serving an eight-year sentence at the Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre, after admitting to the crime in November 2006.

Mr. Labelle and Mr. Hatton shared a cell at the detention centre for nearly three weeks starting in late May 2003 as the facility was undergoing renovations. At that time, prison staff placed inmates in cells together based on their psychological problems and their behaviour in jail, but did not take their crimes into account, Mr. Joly said. He did not explain why the decision was made to place Mr. Labelle in a cell with Mr. Hatton.

In recent years, Ontario judges have declared illegal the practice of sending mentally ill people who have been charged with crimes to jail until beds come open at the forensic units of psychiatric hospitals. Yet, because of a lack of beds, the practice continues.

Mr. Joly testified that Mr. Labelle got into repeated fights with other cellmates, and often lashed out, exhibiting erratic behaviour. But Dr. Balmaceda said he was unaware of any such behaviour.

On May 28, in his last report before the killing, he wrote that Mr. Labelle was "not as anxious" and was "sleeping well. I didn't get any sense he was going to be acting up," he testified Tuesday, suggesting that the system would better serve inmates if there were just one health file accessible by all departments.

Currently, psychological, psychiatric and criminal files are not available between departments in order to protect the inmates' privacy, Dr. Balmaceda said.

The inquest also heard from Nick Kennedy, the corrections officer who first noticed Mr. Hatton was unresponsive on June 8, 2003.

Mr. Kennedy said he was serving lunch to the inmates just before 1 p.m. when Mr. Hatton, who appeared to be sleeping, did not respond. He said Mr. Labelle answered for his cellmate, saying that Mr. Hatton "doesn't want to eat."

Suspicious, Mr. Kennedy said he entered the cell and discovered Mr. Hatton was not breathing and did not have a pulse. He called for medical treatment and began to perform CPR.

Mr. Labelle appeared calm that day and seemed content with his cellmate, Mr. Kennedy testified.
But just the day before, the inquest learned Mr. Labelle approached corrections officer Pierre Patenaude at least seven times with written and verbal requests for a cell change.

On Monday, Mr. Labelle testified via video-link from Penetanguishene, saying he wanted to change cells because he didn't want to be housed with a pedophile. Because his numerous requests for a cell change were denied, Mr. Labelle told the inquest he planned to start a fight with Mr. Hatton to get the attention of jail officials. He said he never intended to kill Mr. Hatton.

Mr. Patenaude testified he was fed up with Mr. Labelle's constant requests and threw one of his written requests in the garbage can.

"You could never reason with inmate Labelle," Mr. Patenaude said. "There was always an issue. It was never smooth sailing, never a good day with him."

The inquest continues Wednesday. The five-member jury is expected to make recommendations on how to prevent a case like this from happening again. ..more.. by Ottawa Citizen