GOGGLEBOX star Sandi Bogle’s nephew’s killers are still at large after four years despite a massive investigation, an inquest heard. Bjorn Brown, 23, tragically died in hospital five days after he was stabbed in the arm during an alleged robbery in March 2017. The mechanic, a childhood pal of rapper Stormzy, was knifed in Croydon, South […]
GOGGLEBOX star Sandi Bogle’s nephew’s killers are still at large after four years despite a massive investigation, an inquest heard.
Bjorn Brown, 23, tragically died in hospital five days after he was stabbed in the arm during an alleged robbery in March 2017.
The mechanic, a childhood pal of rapper Stormzy, was knifed in Croydon, South London, and desperately tried to cycle away from the scene before collapsing.
The father-of-one was found lying in the street by a passing motorist, who flagged down an ambulance.
CCTV captured Brown having a 20-second conversation with two men at the junction of Kelling Gardens and Bensham Lane in Croydon at 8.30pm on March 29.
The three are seen walking into Kelling Gardens – which is not covered by the CCTV – and 90 seconds later the two men appear to run away from the scene.
A “shiny” object can be seen being put in a bag by one of the men, South London Coroner’s Court heard, according to the Mirror.
A passerby initially thought the three men were fighting – but saw one of the suspects move his hand in a “stabbing motion” towards Brown’s arm and spotted a pool of blood.
Brown told the man who stopped to help him: “They tried to rob me.”
The 23-year-old told the paramedics he had been stabbed with a kitchen knife, the court heard.
Officers scoured 1,000 hours of CCTV footage to identify the suspects – but they have never been found and there is no known motive for Brown’s murder.
A post-mortem found he had injuries to the axillary artery in his left arm, which caused severe blood loss and a cardiac arrest, leading to multiple organ failure and a brain injury.
But a pathologist couldn’t identify what weapon had been used, how many stab wounds he suffered, or how deep the wound was, according to reports.
Brown’s aunt Sandi, who appeared on Channel 4’s Gogglebox for three years with pal Sandra Martin, pleaded for the killer to come forward at a press briefing two years ago.
She said: “I want the person who did this to realise that you can’t go on thinking you can kill somebody and there won’t be a consequence for it.
“You have taken someone’s life. You have not just destroyed our life, you have also destroyed the people around us, our friends and family.”
She told The Sun of the tragic moment she stroked her nephew’s hand as his life support machines were switched off and watched him take his final breath.
Paying tribute to Brown, his cousin Romika said “none of us will ever be able to move on”.
He said: “He loved bikes but motorbikes were his favourite.
As a family we can only cover the scar but I don’t think it would be healed until there’s justice.
Romika
“He was into ‘boy’ stuff but he loved animals especially cats and he loved music – we have Jamaican heritage and he had moments where he thought he was in Jamaica and would do funny dances to make us laugh.
“He was a mechanic and he would fix anything – cars and bikes. His loss hurts – it’s not going to go away. As a family we can only cover the scar but I don’t think it would be healed until there’s justice.
“None of us will ever be able to move on knowing someone has been taken from us – someone who was such a major part of our lives.”
Giving a conclusion of unlawful killing, assistant coroner Edmund Gritt said: “We have heard evidence that from examination of the CCTV available from the interaction, it did not appear that Bjorn knew these two men or they knew him.
“There was some conversation of about 20 seconds before the three of them had gone into Kelling Gardens. They did not go very far into it.
“What happened there was not captured on CCTV. It’s not clear what was happening in Kelling Gardens.
“He told a paramedic he had been stabbed with a kitchen knife. That seems to be the shiny implement one of the men was putting away in his bag.
“There’s no evidence on which I can conclude that those men were acting in self defence. It follows that means the actions were unlawful.
“I find on the balance of probabilities this was an unlawful act on his part that caused his death.”
