Man guilty of 'brutal' murder and dismembering body

A labourer has been found guilty of murdering a 20-year-old man and dismembering his body in a "sustained and brutal" attack.

Dajour Jones, 27, stabbed to death Jamie Gilbey before cutting up the body and distributing the remains in undergrowth at South Norwood Lake and Grounds in south London in January 2022.

Jurors at the Old Bailey had been told it was a "deeply disturbing" case in which the victim was a "defenceless" man.

Jones refused to attend the court hearing by video link from Belmarsh Prison for the verdict.

He had claimed he had hit the victim with a broom in self-defence after Mr Gilbey confronted him with a knife and stole his phone.

Prosecutor Simon Dennison KC said Mr Gilbey was an "innocent victim of a highly dangerous man" and had been "too trusting" and "too eager to please".

He was a "very vulnerable, physically unimposing 20-year-old man who above all wanted to have friends", he said.

Mr Dennison dismissed the defendant's claim of self-defence, saying Mr Gilbey was "incapable of presenting any physical threat to the defendant let alone taking out a knife and threatening to stab him with it".

After deliberating for five hours, jurors convicted Jones of murder following a two-month trial.

This article contains details that some people may find distressing.

The court heard both men were seen returning to the Fitze Millennium Centre housing and support facility on the evening of 27 January, and CCTV showed them going into the defendant's room.

"Jamie Gilbey was never seen alive again," Mr Dennison said.

"The defendant murdered him there in a brutal, sustained, and particularly disturbing attack in which he inflicted multiple blunt force injuries to Jamie's head, and he stabbed him multiple times with a sharp weapon."

Jurors heard Jones set about removing Mr Gilbey's dismembered body from his room without being seen to do so.

The prosecution said Jones acquired a large suitcase on 28 January that he took back to his room and made three trips with over the next few days.

Jurors were told the trips included two visits to Cantley Gardens, where Jones disposed of Mr Gilbey's body.

A third trip was made to Love Lane Green in South Norwood, where clothing and bedding "heavily stained with blood" were disposed of, the prosecution said.

Having "calmly disposed of the body", Jones also carried out a "remarkably thorough" clean-up operation in his room and seemed "extra ordinarily relaxed and cheerful", the court heard.

Evidence of the clean-up could be seen when chemicals were applied to the floor, the jury heard, but no murder weapon was recovered.

Police found the suitcase containing the bloodstained clothing on 27 February 2022.

Jones was arrested on 3 March but when questioned, he declined to answer any police questions or tell them what had happened to the body, the court heard.

Giving evidence at the trial, the defendant said he acted in self-defence.

He also denied dismembering the body, saying he took it away from the hostel in one trip and handed it to others to dispose of, and stabbing the victim's feet after he was already dead.

The trial heard that at the time of the murder, Jones was on licence having been released from prison after attacking a man in a cycle shop in London Bridge.

Police said he had a history of violence.

Sentencing was adjourned to 13 December with Judge Nigel Lickley KC saying Jones would be required to attend.

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