News UK News Murder 'The Shining' axe murder gang facing jail for killing handyman who defended his girlfriend

Hayes gang claim they were acting in self defence when Paul Thrower ran after them in a row over their behaviour

Horror killing: Mr Thrower was killed with an axe and knife in scenes reminiscent of The Shining

A gang of teenagers who hacked a man to death in a grisly axe murder that had chilling echoes of the horror movie The Shining are facing years behind bars.


Paul Thrower was stabbed with a knife and hacked with an axe after confronting yobs who had sworn and spat at his girlfriend.
Mr Thrower, 46, was hit in the head and shoulder with the 4ft long axe and stabbed 10 times with a knife at a block of flats in Hayes, Middlesex, on February 20 this year.
Zakariya Subeir and Kiro Halliburton claimed they acted in self defence when Mr Thrower came at them in a rage, smashing through a reinforced glass partition they were hiding behind.

 

Attacked: Paul Thrower was defending his girlfriend when he was hacked

 

Following a trial at the Old Bailey Halliburton, who delivered the fatal knife wound, was found guilty of murder while Subeir and an accomplice, Mahdi Osman, also 18, were found not guilty of murder but convicted of manslaughter.
A 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was cleared of involvement in the killing.
The court heard how the victim had been drinking and became very angry when his girlfriend Geraldine Roberts told him the youths had swore at her, spat and threw drink over her.
When Mr Thrower confronted them, Subeir and Halliburton shut themselves into a bin chute on a first-floor communal balcony at St Dunstan's Close.
As the furious handyman hammered with his fists on the glass partition, the 17-year-old found an axe in a shed and Osman passed it up to Subeir, who had managed to get onto the roof of the adjoining porch.

 

Attack: In the horror film The Shining Jack Nicholson wields an axe as he loses his mind

 Osman told the court he only handed over the weapon to help his friends barricade themselves into the balcony - not to attack Mr Thrower.
But when Mr Thrower smashed the reinforced glass and began to crawl through the gap, Subeir hit him twice on the head and once on the shoulder with the axe and Halliburton stabbed him repeatedly in the back with a knife.
Halliburton said he delivered the fatal stab to the chest after Mr Thrower grabbed the axe from Subeir, who then ran off.

 

Savage: Mr Thrower was hit in the head and shoulder with the axe

 He told jurors that Mr Thrower had the axe in one hand and him in the other and he did not know what else to do.
The victim emerged from the bin chute covered in blood, staggering, holding the axe before he collapsed and died from a stab to the heart.
As the defendants ran away, Ms Roberts chased after them. She was one of a number of residents who had called 999 to alert police who arrived within minutes.

 

Facing jail: Kiro Halliburton, 18, was found guilty of murder

 Afterwards, all the defendants scattered because - according to them - they thought they would not be believed.
Halliburton shaved off his plaits and fled to Leeds in Yorkshire. When he was apprehended, he gave a false name. The red-handled lock knife he used to kill Mr Thrower has never been recovered.
Subeir flew to Somalia, via Dubai, but came back about three weeks later and was arrested on the plane at Heathrow airport.

 

Guilty: Zakariya Subeir, 18, was found guilty of manslaughter

 The 17-year-old and Osman went to ground and were arrested five days after the incident.
Before the murder, all the defendants apart from Halliburton had been involved in an incident earlier that evening at The Great Western pub nearby.
They were asked to leave and while they were standing outside, a landlord said one of them threatened to "shank or jook" him - street slang for stabbing.
The court heard that Halliburton had two previous convictions of possessing a knife or bladed weapon in 2012.

 

     Attacker: Mahdi Osman, 18, was found guilty of manslaughter

 Subeir, of Uxbridge, Halliburton and Osman both of Hayes and the 17-year-old had all denied murder.
Judge John Bevan adjourned sentencing until Friday December 19 so that pre-sentence reports can be prepared.
He said all the defendants were "very young" and Halliburton would inevitably be detained at her majesty's pleasure while the other two were likely to face a determinate sentence.