Four sentenced over death of innocent man who intervened in a fight
Sidney Anthony Palmer sustained a single stab wound in Leicester last year
Three men and a woman have been sentenced following the death of an innocent man in Leicester who was stabbed while intervening in a fight.
Sidney Anthony Palmer, known to his family and friends as ‘Sid’, sustained a single stab wound and died shortly after in hospital on the evening of Saturday 30 September last year.
At around 6.15pm, there was an altercation with Nathan Pritchard and another man in Conduit Street, Leicester.
Shortly after, outside a store on London Road, Pritchard was punched by an unknown man who was believed to be acting on behalf of the man involved in the earlier altercation.
At around 7pm Pritchard, again in Conduit Street, challenged the first man in the altercation and called Michael Boleyn, who threatened the man.
Victor-Eduard Raja then received a call from Boleyn and made his way to the scene.
The prosecution believed he was instructed by Pritchard to attack an associate of the person he had been arguing with. Raja, on arriving to the location, saw the man and a fight started with Raja violently punching him.
Several people intervened - one of which was Sidney Palmer – who was not involved at all in the wider incident and tried to act as a peacemaker attempting to pull Raja away.
CCTV showed Raja arming himself with a knife he was carrying and swinging towards Sidney but missed.
Immediately repeating this action, he struck Sidney to the chest with a single stab wound.
All the defendants quickly left the scene as Sidney was taken to hospital where sadly he died a short time later.
A post-mortem examination later confirmed he died from the stab wound which had passed through his heart and lung.
A murder investigation promptly commenced, and officers were able to track that Raja had taken a taxi and was dropped off on Blackbird Road.
Raja was later picked up by his mother, Diana Bodrug, who drove him to Yorkshire and assisted in booking him into accommodation under false details and bought him a new phone SIM card.
Through extensive enquiries, Raja was traced to an address and arrested by armed officers in the early hours of Thursday 5 October.
After being interviewed by detectives, where he made no comment to questions asked, 25-year-old Raja, of no fixed address, was charged with murder and remanded into custody.
Michael Boleyn, 31, of Great Central Way, Leicester and Nathan Pritchard, 29, of Conduit Street were charged in the days after Sidney’s death with conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.
Following further investigation work and consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, they were charged with further offences. Prichard was charged with murder while Boleyn was charged with manslaughter.
Diana Bodrug, 49, of Melton Road, Syston was charged with assisting an offender.
Following a trial at Leicester Crown Court, which concluded on Wednesday 5 June, the defendants were found guilty as follows:
- Raja was found guilty of murder and possession of a bladed/pointed article in a public place
- Boleyn was found guilty of manslaughter
At the beginning of the trial, Pritchard pleaded guilty to manslaughter and Bodrug pleaded guilty to assisting an offender.
At the same court today, Raja was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years and six months before he is considered eligible for parole.
Raja’s sentence also takes into consideration previous offences of possession of drugs and false identity documents.
Boleyn was sentenced to eight years in prison and Prichard was sentenced to six years in prison
Bodrug was sentenced to two years and six months in prison.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Sinski, who was the senior investigating officer, said: “This was a tragic loss of life of a popular man, who was only trying to act as a peacemaker and stop the initial fight taking place.
“Sidney was a well known and loved man and his death has understandably had a devastating effect on his family and friends.
“CCTV of the incident clearly shows Raja swing his arm holding a knife, more than once at Sidney. This shows Raja’s obvious intent to stab the person pulling him away.”
“Our investigation moved at a fast pace to identify, trace, and arrest all those responsible for Sidney’s death and linked offences. This was a team effort with a significant number of officers and staff working long hours and using their provisional expertise to secure evidence to convict those involved’’
DCI Sinski added: “Knife crime maims, kills, and ruins lives, which is why it continues to remain an ongoing priority for the force. Our #LivesNotKnives campaign has been running for several years and continues to be committed to reducing knife crime offences.”