LANSIQUOT: ACCUSED KILLER CLEANED FLAT BEFORE SETTING IT ON FIRE

A man stabbed his drugs supplier to death before setting his flat on fire, the Old Bailey heard today (Mon).

Charles Lansiquot, 41, repeatedly knifed 54 year-old crack cocaine ‘runner’ Ibrahim Kledat in the chest and back.

He then attempted to clean blood from the victim’s body and the walls and floor of the hallway in a bid to cover his tracks, jurors were told.

In a final bid to hide the killing he started a fire before filling the property.

Police and fire crews arrived at Mr Kledat’s flat on the third floor of Lugard House, Bloemfontein Road, Shepherds Bush, west London at 8am on October 20 last year.

The fire alarm was sounding and smoke could be seen drifting from under the front door of flat 27.

Firefighters forced the door and found Mr Kledat lying face down on the living room floor.

Prosecutor Rebecca Poulet QC said: ‘He had a number of stab wounds and these were immediately visible to his back.

‘The fire had caused damage in the flat and soot and debris covered the floor.

‘The fire had mostly burnt out by the time the fire brigade arrived although some places were still smoldering.’

Firefighters then found several inches of bloodstained water in the bath tub.

Mrs Poulet said Mr Kledat was pronounced dead at the scene and a murder investigation was launched.

Around four hours later Lansiquot walked in to Shepherds Bush police station and claimed to have witnessed a murder, telling the officer at the front desk: ‘I saw someone stabbed this morning. I was there.’

He said Mr Kledat, known as ‘Abs’, was a friend of someone he knew and he had been inside his flat when two balaclava-clad men turned up armed with a gun.

Lansiquot claimed he was held at gunpoint, stripped to his underwear and had his wallet searched by the intruders.

‘More than once he said he could not get the smell of blood off his hands,’ said Mrs Poulet.

‘He had been forced to clean up the blood which was on the walls and floor behind the front door.

‘There was blood everywhere and he could still smell it despite taking several showers.’

He then claimed that when the chance arose he made a run for it, jumping over a fence and running home in his pants and socks.

The prosecutor said detectives were unhappy with his ‘disjointed account’ at 1.30pm arrested him on suspicion of murder.

Mrs Poulet added: ‘It is the prosecution’s case that this defendant has invented these two assailants in an attempt to cover up his own responsibility for the killing.’

Inquiries revealed heavy-drinking Lansiquot had recently been staying with his mother in nearby Bathurst House and he was a regular visitor at Mr Kledat’s flat to pick up crack cocaine.

Both men had a ‘somewhat haphazard lifestyle’ and would frequently use drugs.

Mr Kledat was not a dealer and did not store drugs at his home, but would go out with small amounts of cash given to him by associates to buy crack.

The court heard that on the day of his death, Mr Kledat’s flatmate Angela Lane had not been at home because magistrates had remanded her in custody after she turned up late for a court appearance.

Lansiquot, who was living at Bathurst House in the White City Estate, Shepherds Bush, denies murder and perverting the course of justice.

The trial continues.

ends