Four jailed for death of man tortured and set alight

Warning: This article contains details that readers may find distressing

Four men have been jailed for killing a member of an organised crime group who was tortured, doused in petrol and set alight.

Father-of-two Tomasz Samel, 45, was kidnapped in March 2019 in Birmingham by three men claiming to be from Interpol, before being driven to the Liverpool area and attacked over the loss of illicit cigarettes worth £1m.

Passing sentence at Birmingham Crown Court, Judge Mr Justice Wall said Samel "was vulnerable at the time he was set alight – he was naked and outnumbered".

Neil Jones, 49, of no fixed address, and Tobiasz Kozlowski, 38, from Kirkby, Merseyside, were jailed for life after being convicted in August of murder and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.

The pair pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to falsely imprison before the trial began, while Jones had also admitted manslaughter.

Kevin Wooden, 46, of Banbury, Oxfordshire, and Kye Arthur, 35, from Lockleaze, Bristol, who were found guilty of manslaughter after being cleared of murder and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm, were given 23 years and 22 years respectively.

They had previously admitted conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to falsely imprison.

Kozlowski's wife, Sandra Kozlowska, 38, also from Kirkby, was convicted of assisting an offender by helping him to avoid detection by police, hiding evidence and moving money.

She received a three-year prison sentence, suspended for three years.

Samel's killing was linked to the seizure of illicit and counterfeit cigarettes which had been smuggled into the UK from Poland.

HM Revenue and Customs seized the cigarettes from a unit he kept in Elkington Street, in the Aston area of Birmingham, during a raid in February 2019.

During the sentencing Wall told the defendants they had all chosen to involve themselves in a "truly horrific series of events".

He described Kozlowski and Jones as the "organisers" and said they had a "motive to punish" Samel due to the financial stake they had in the missing cigarettes.

Samel, who was the subject of an international arrest warrant, was kidnapped from his home in Raleigh Road, Handsworth, on 27 March 2019.

"I am sure that the two of you intended that Mr Samel would die," Wall added, telling the court he had been "stripped naked, and, while seated and defenceless, petrol was thrown over him and he was set alight".

"He suffered extensive burns to most of his body," the judge added.

After being set on fire he was dumped in a remote area of Lancashire, where he managed to walk to a house in the village of Bickerstaffe to ask for help. He was taken to Whiston Hospital in Prescot but died on 21 June 2019.

Wooden and Arthur were paid to kidnap the man, along with a third person who has not yet been identified, Wall said, adding that it was impossible to say how Samel was treated before being set alight due to his burn injuries.

He also stated Samel was in hospital for almost three months before he died and said: "The level of his suffering between the time at which the injuries were inflicted and his death is difficult to imagine."

A police investigation saw inquiries carried out in Poland, Greece, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Colombia, France, Scotland and Wales, where the gang had operations or had fled to in the aftermath of the kidnap.

The CPS said Wooden was arrested in the Dominican Republic under a false name and had to be extradited before the trial.

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