Stephen Akinmurele

Other details

Stephen Akinmurele was accused in connection with the deaths of multiple pensioners in Blackpool and on the Isle of Man.

Background

Eric Boardman was 77 when his body was found. Joan Boardman was 74 when her body was found. They had been married for 27 years and were described as well-known in the area.

Jemmimah Cargill was 75 when her death occurred.

Dorothy Harris was 68 when her death occurred.

Marjorie Ashton was 72 when her death occurred.

Timeline

• Friday, November 1, 1998 — Detectives charged Stephen Akinmurele, a 20-year-old man, over the murder of Eric Boardman, 77, and his wife Joan, 74, after their bodies were found at their home in Bispham, near Blackpool, Lancashire.
• Friday, November 6, 1998 — Stephen Akinmurele, then accused of murdering Eric and Joan Boardman, was charged with another murder, after Jemmimah Cargill, 75, died in a flat fire on Caunce Street in Blackpool last month.
• Tuesday, November 10, 1998 — A fourth murder charge was added against Stephen Akinmurele, in connection with the murder of Dorothy Harris.
• Friday, December 11, 1998 — Stephen Akinmurele appeared in court charged with murdering a 72-year-old woman on the Isle of Man, Marjorie Ashton, found dead at her home in Ballasalla in May 1995.
• August last year (August 1999) — An inquest heard that Stephen Akinmurele tried to kill himself by overdosing on medication after his arrest, and was later moved back to the segregated wing where he killed himself two days later.
• August 28, 1999 — Stephen Akinmurele died by hanging in prison.

The offence

Eric and Joan Boardman were found dead at their home. Mr Boardman’s body was lying in the hallway under a toppled wardrobe, and his wife’s body was on the floor in a living-room. A bloody cosh made from batteries bound together was found under Mr Boardman’s body and a murder inquiry was started. Post-mortem examinations found Eric Boardman had head, neck and facial injuries. His wife had neck injuries. The cause of their deaths has not been determined. Lancashire Police later said the couple had been strangled.

Jemmimah Cargill died in a flat fire on Caunce Street in Blackpool. The cause of her death had not been determined.

Dorothy Harris died after a fire at her home in Ballasalla on the Isle of Man in February 1996. The body was found after the fire. Mrs Harris was described as partially blind and deaf.

Marjorie Ashton was found dead at her home in Ballasalla in May 1995. Her death was regarded by police on the island as the only unsolved murder in recent years.

Investigation

Detectives re-opened files on fatal arson attacks in north-west England over the last two years. Files were re-examined in Lancashire and on the Isle of Man, including fatal house fires in Blackpool, and sudden deaths dating back to 1994. Officers set up a joint incident room between detectives in Lancashire and on the Isle of Man. Police were also contacting relatives of a number of individuals whose deaths were being reassessed as potentially suspicious.

Police dug up moorland on the island after receiving information about a missing local man.

Arrest

Stephen Akinmurele was arrested on 1 November for the murder of Mr and Mrs Boardman at their home in Blackpool on 31 October.

Trial

Stephen Akinmurele appeared in court for additional murder charges.

On Friday, December 11, 1998, he was taken before magistrates in Blackpool on Friday, charged with the murder of Marjorie Ashton. He was remanded in custody for a further week during the one-minute hearing.

He had already been charged with the murders of Eric Boardman and his wife Joan Boardman whose bodies were found at their home in the resort in October. He was also accused of killing his former landlady Jemimah Cargill, and the 68-year-old Dorothy Harris.

Sentencing

No sentencing outcome was stated; instead, an inquest recorded a verdict of suicide.

Appeals

No appeals were described.

Outcome

At an inquest in Manchester, a jury recorded a verdict of suicide on Stephen Akinmurele, 21, who died in August last year. He was discovered hanging by a ligature from a window in his cell in Manchester prison, formerly known as Strangeways, weeks before he was due to stand trial for murdering three Blackpool pensioners.

The inquest heard that Akinmurele was Nigerian-born and left a note to his mother saying: "I couldn't take any more of feeling like how I do now, always wanting to kill."

The inquest also included statements attributed to Amanda Fitch, who was described as his girlfriend. Miss Fitch said: "He told me he wished the police had never found him and he didn't want to go to trial,"

A prison hospital doctor, Andrzej Rozyki, said:

A prison hospital doctor, Andrzej Rozyki, said that Akinmurele told him he would lie in bed at night thinking about murder.

In the note found in his pocket after his death, Akinmurele wrote: "I know it's not right always thinking like this but it's always on my mind." "I can't help the way I feel, what I did was wrong - I know that and I feel for them - but it doesn't mean I won't do it again." "I'll keep on having this feeling I'm going mad because I can't take any more of this and that's why I'm saying goodbye."

Aftermath

After his arrest, Akinmurele was placed in a segregated unit. In August 1999, he tried to kill himself by overdosing on medication. He was put in the prison's health care ward on self harm watch, but staff then found he had a sharpened toothbrush and fantasised about taking a female member of staff hostage. He was moved back to the segregated wing, still on self harm watch, where he killed himself two days later.

A consultant forensic psychiatrist who interviewed Akinmurele decided he was fit to stand trial and said he was "haunted by the images of his victims".

A warning had been given to prison authorities by his girlfriend, Amanda Fitch, that he was a danger to himself.