The guy pictured on the left is Jeffrey Okafor, the UK police is
searching for him over the 2009 murder of Carl Beatson Asiedu (pictured
right - who is also Nigerian). He was stabbed to death in the early
hours of August 1 2009 outside a night club after an argument with
Jeffery and his friends. Jeffery then fled to Nigeria after the murder.
Read full story from the Independent UK below
"The family of a children’s television actor murdered outside a London
club have made an emotional appeal for information as the police offer a
£10,000 reward.
Carl Beatson Asiedu, who appeared in CBBC’s MI High series, was stabbed to death in five years ago aged just 19.
Police
believe they know the identity of his killer but have been unable to
find him for five years after he allegedly fled to Nigeria. Continue...
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| CCTV of Jeffrey Okafor at Heathrow Airport in 2009 - the last time he was seen. |
Jeffrey
Okafor left the UK on 17 August 2009, days after the murder, and was
last captured on CCTV boarding a flight to the country at Heathrow
Airport using his brother’s passport, the Metropolitan Police said.
Four
men, including Okafor’s brother, have been convicted of charges
relating to the murder but police are offering £10,000 to anyone who can
help them trace the man they believed stabbed the teenager.
Mr
Asiedu, the son of a pastor and a midwife, died in the street after
being stabbed in the heart in the early hours of 1 August 2009.
Known
as DJ Charmz, he had just performed a set at the Club Life nightclub in
Vauxhall, south London, and was walking to a car with friends when he
was attacked.
Police said another group approached and an argument broke out with
one of Mr Asiedu’s friends, apparently over a “trivial” college dispute.
Mr Asiedu and his friend Peter Lama, who survived, were stabbed in the following attack, while their friends fled.
They
returned to find Mr Asiedu collapsed in the road and tried to drive him
to hospital but despite first aid from police and paramedics, he was
pronounced dead in the car.
His father, John Asiedu, said he will
never be free of the pain of his son’s death and suffers fresh grief
every time he hears of a stabbing. He said:
“Part of me died with
him and I have to carry on living with what is left of me. Carl's tragic
death has changed my view of life, people, the justice system and the
world. I would urge Jeffrey Okafor to do the right thing and give
himself up. I believe there are people in Nigeria who know him but
don't know who he really is.
“I believe he is living comfortably
with a new life. Sometimes I wonder how such killers can lead normal
lives with their families and friends who sometimes protect and shield
them from the law.
"I am still serving the life sentence of sorrow and pain embedded in my consciousness.”
Detective Inspector Alison Hepworth, from the Met’s murder division,
said Okafor could be living a “comfortable life” in Nigeria while his
family’s heartache continues.
“We know there are people in UK supporting him in his new life in Nigeria and are shielding him from facing justice,” she added.
“I
would appeal to those people - his friends or family - if you have in
some way helped to aid his escape, now is your opportunity to do the
right thing and tell us where he is.”
Junior Okafor – the
suspect’s brother – was sentenced to four years imprisonment in 2010 for
assisting his brother’s escape to Nigeria.
Members of the group
involved in the confrontation with Mr Asiedu’s friends, Bolaji Kako-Are
and Abu Mansaray, were convicted of violent disorder in 2011 and each
sentenced to three years in prison.
Another of Okafor’s
associate’s, Junior Ademujimi-Falade, was found guilty of violent
disorder and manslaughter and jailed for eight years in 2011.
Scotland Yard has been working with Nigerian authorities in their efforts to trace Okafor.
Anyone
with any information is asked to contact police on 0208 721 4005,
calling Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or by emailing
jeffreyokaforwanted@met.police.uk.
Has he been found yet?