CHINDAMO: HEADTEACHER’S KILLER REGARDED MURDER AS A ‘BADGE OF HONOUR’ DURING STREET ROBBERY

The killer of head teacher Philip Lawrence ‘used his infamy as a weapon’ to rob a teenager four months after getting out of jail, a court heard today (Mon).

Learco Chindamo, 30, appeared to think his conviction for the 1995 murder was a badge of honour, it is claimed.

The victim, 19 year-old David Sexton, was ordered to hand over money after ‘disrespecting’ Chindamo as he withdrew cash outside a supermarket, jurors were told.

Flanked by co-defendants Gregory Jananto, 32, and Saeed Akhtar, 32, Chindamo allegedly asked him: ‘Do you remember the head teacher in Maida Vale?’

Oliver Glasgow, prosecuting, said the line was ‘quite plainly a reference to Chindamo’s previous conviction for the murder of Philip Lawrence.’

‘The only reason for disclosing such a fact to a total stranger must have been to frighten him, which is, of course, exactly what happened.’

Mr Glasgow told Blackfriars Crown Court in south London that Chindamo ‘appeared to regard his murder conviction as a badge of honour’ and ‘used his infamy as a weapon’.

The incident, which was captured on CCTV, is alleged to have occurred outside a Sainsbury’s Local branch on Chalk Farm Road branch, Camden, north London, at around 4am on November 13 last year.

The trio are said to have ‘threatened and intimidated’ Sexton, while Jananto brandished a glass bottle.

Mr Sexton, who is to testify at the trial from behind a screen, eventually handed over the £20 note he had withdrawn and left, turning down a bystander’s offer to call the police.

Officers later traced him from his bank records after off-duty tube engineer William Mulligan rang 999 and told call-handlers that Philip Lawrence’s murderer had been involved, the court heard.

Defence lawyers earlier questioned jurors on their knowledge of the notorious case before they were sworn in, asking if they or their family had been pupils at St George’s School in Maida Vale.

Chindamo, of no fixed address, Akhtar, of Lavita House, Chalton Street, Kings Cross, northwest London, and Jananto, of Percy Road, Shepherd’s Bush, west London, deny robbery.

Mr Lawrence, 48, was knifed through the heart outside St George’s Roman Catholic School in Maida Vale, in 1995.

The trial continues.

ends