A caretaker at an exclusive London gentleman’s clu

A caretaker at an exclusive London gentleman’s club was jailed for life at the Old Bailey today (fri) for murdering a bank worker with a plank of wood just because they bumped into eachother.

Milwall fan Danny Board, 27, smashed father-of-two Simon Kenworthy, 38, so hard over the head that one witness likened the force of the blow to a cricketer hitting a six.

Married man Mr Kenworthy, from Southend, Essex, suffered a brain haemorrhage and despite the best efforts of Chelsea and Westminster Hospital he died 10 days later.

Board, of no fixed address but living in the Harrow area of London, slumped down into his seat as a jury unanimously convicted him of murder.

Friends and family of the defendant wept along with Board as he was told by Judge Graham Boal, QC, that he had been convicted of the murder on ‘compelling evidence.

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The judge added: ‘There is only one sentence I can pass and that is the sentence of life imprisonment.

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Board clashed with a group of Barclays Bank employees having an after-work drink when he was leaving the Red Lion pub in Pall Mall, London on September 3 last year.

After the group swore at him, Board returned with a plank he retrieved from his workplace, the Oxford and Cambridge Universities Club.

‘What seemed to have happened was that the defendant pushed or bumped into Simon Kenworthy and his friends, who didn’t move to one side quickly enough to let them pass,’ said David Waters, QC, prosecuting.

‘It may have been that Kenworthy and his friends expressed themselves in words it was better to avoid.

‘We’re here for a quiet drink so p*** off’ may have been what was said.

‘It was the sort of thing that happens quite frequently in a crowded city like London that is soon forgotten,’ continued Mr Waters.

‘But Board was unwilling to let it go, and gave the impression that he wasn’t prepared to leave it there and was spoiling for a fight.

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Board returned to the Oxford and Cambridge club and picked up a ‘two-by-two’ piece of wood ‘for the purpose of attacking these men and any other member of the group who did not get out of the way.

‘The defendant walked straight up to the group,’ continued the QC.

‘He held the piece of wood in two hands – ‘like a baseball bat’ was how one person described it – and hit Simon Kenworthy and Stephen Rutherford with sideways swings to the head,’ said Waters.

He struck Mr Kenworthy, with the weapon, ‘which made a sickening noise’ the prosecutor said.

‘One witness described the force used as terrible, another as making a sickening noise on impact.

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Mr Waters said that as the defendant wielded the plank he shouted:

‘You f***ing bastards.

I’m going to get you, you bunch of f***ing w***ers.

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Earlier one of Mr Kenworthy’s colleagues, Rowan Thakra heard Board loudly talking about his Milwall FC at the bar.

Giving evidence Mr Thakra told how later he watched Board attack the victim with the wood.

He said Board gripped the wood with two hands four inches apart and smashed it over Mr Kenworthy’s head.

‘I heard a loud thud and all I can say is, I play cricket, and if you hit a six with the middle of the bat, that was the force.

Simon screamed out and fell to the floor.

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Mr Thakra said he looked down and saw a piece of splintered wood on the ground next to Mr Kenworthy.

Realising he too had been hit during the incident he ran away to safety.

Once the plank had been taken from Board, he ran off and went to ground.

Mr Kenworthy was taken to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital where he was found to have a brain haemorrhage.

He had made good progress initially but by the end of the week, he was transferred to Charing Cross hospital, where he died on September 13.

Board was caught when he returned to the Oxford and Cambridge club on September 6 and he was seen by the club secretary, Gordon Buchanan, who put Board in a taxi and told him to give himself up.

Board told Mr Buchanan: ‘I had to even the score.

There were six or seven of them.

I took out three of them with a two-by-two.

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He had admitted assault causing actual bodily harm to Kenworthy’s friend Mr Rutherford.

But he denied murder and was convicted of the charge.

Anthony Evans, QC, for Board, said the attack was not planned and was not for money:

‘Probably no one will ever know what happened and what caused him to do this.

He bitterly regrets what he did and at no time as he ever denied he was responsible for this.

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The court was told Board may have been suffering from clinical depression at the time of the murder, and a psychiatric report stated that this was probably caused by his young mother dying at an early age.

ends