A predatory homeless thug took over a vulnerable middle-aged man's life, inflicted 60 injuries on his victim during a deadly beating.
Mohammed Assri
James Dowdell, 55, fought for his life when attacked by Mohammed Assri, 47, who was found with the deceased's bank card and a large amount of bloodstained cash.
He moved into Mr Dowdell's address in St. Mark's Grove, West Brompton and took over his finances and tried to exclude his carers.
He was convicted of murdering Mr Dowdell on February 17, last year and received life imprisonment, with a twenty-one year minimum.
Assri made a frantic call to police, reporting he had returned to the property to and found the frail Mr Dowdell dead.
Officers and paramedics attended to find Mr Dowdell with head injuries.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Assri was arrested and detectives began an investigation, which found the relationship between him and Mr Dowdell to be unclear.
Assri claimed his name was Adam and that Mr Dowdell was his uncle.
Assri had been homeless prior to moving into the flat in late January.
Having moved into the flat, Assri quickly established control, seeking to exclude James’s carers.
He took over his finances, including using his Halifax debit card regularly and pawned a valuable watch-strap belonging to Mr Dowdell.
Officers found Assri lied about his whereabouts in the hours before Mr Dowdell's death.
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| James Dowdell |
A post-mortem examination revealed bruising on Mr Dowdell's wrists and marks to his hand suggesting he had tried to defend himself from the fatal attack.
The cause of death was blunt force trauma and compression of the neck.
Assri claimed Mr Dowdell's injuries were sustained by falling and were self-inflicted.
This was disproved by pathologists and medical evidence.
Detective Inspector Maria Green, from Specialist Crime said: “This has been a truly tragic case and my thoughts are with James Dowdell’s family as they continue to come to terms with their loss.
“I pay tribute to them and the strength that they have shown.
“Assri is a violent and manipulative man, who has taken no responsibility for his actions.
“He used his court appearance as an attempt to dishonour the memory and life of James and delay the trial causing great upset to James’ family.
“I hope that this conviction, and the sentence imposed, will send out a clear message to those intent on committing violent acts – that tackling violence in London is a top priority for the Metropolitan Police and we will continue to apprehend those responsible for causing misery and fear in our communities.
“The community will be a lot safer as a result of Assri now being behind bars.
“People must remember that they can play a really important role in tackling violent crime and if you have information about crime, we urge you to tell us, so that we can tackle violence together and help keep our neighbourhoods safe.”
Mr Dowdell's Mother said: “As a family we arrived expecting a two week trial.
“In the event it ran to six weeks.
“One of the traumas of this was that it appeared that the timetable could be puppeteered by a lying manipulative murderer who seemed to thrive on all the attention.
“It felt that the defendant could simply produce a new story at will to keep everyone dangling.
“James' body riddled with more than sixty injuries shows how courageously he fought for his life.
“It highlights the levels of venom and savagery within this murderer that he could almost casually and for no possible motive brutally destroy James.
“The blood splatters on every wall and devastation in James' room are graphic testament to that.
“It is simplistic to say life is made up with two types of people those who "give" and those who "take", but I know which one James was and it isn't the same as his murderer.
“So I suppose, it was inevitable that someone like James with no hatred or violence in his soul was too late in recognising such evil in another.
“We have heard how he was slowly becoming aware of the increasing threat, but when asked by his friend Grainne if he would survive until she came to him, he replied: 'Hopefully!!!!'
“This will resonate with us for ever more."
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