JAILED THIS WEEK: Murder, death by dangerous driving and others

Zbigniew Soj, 24 - murder, 31 years

Zbigniew Soj, 24. Picture: West Yorkshire Police

A MAN was jailed for life with a minimum of 31 years behind bars for the ‘sexual and sadistic’ murder of popular school worker Borbala ‘Bori’ Benko.

Zbigniew Soj, 24, was imprisoned for 14 years to run concurrently for attempting to murder her housemate Klaudia Rogozinka.

Soj was drunk and depressed and said ‘some demons got to me’ when he knifed Miss Benko, 24, and stabbed and attempted to strangle and smother Miss Rogozinka, 21.

All three were living in separate flats in Sherborne Road, Great Horton, Bradford, when the young women were attacked at night in their beds in the early hours of November 21 last year.

Soj took two knives from the kitchen at the accommodation, sharpened one of them, and stabbed each of the women multiple times, prosecutor Mark McKone QC told Bradford Crown Court.

The court heard that Soj had been drinking heavily when he attacked the women at The Discovery Centre building between 2.46am and 4.38am.

Miss Rogozinka phoned 999 after being stabbed nine times and said she was bleeding heavily. Then she began screaming when Soj came back into her room, shouting at him in Polish.

He told her he was suffering from depression and ‘jealous that other people can have normal lives and I can’t.’ He said he had got ‘smashed’ that night.

Mr McKone said Miss Benko was lying dead on her bedroom floor. She was almost naked and her body was smeared with blood. She had 40 stab injuries including to her back and chest.

She died from ‘catastrophic blood loss,’ the court was told and bony damage showed that some of the blows were delivered with severe force.

Soj was likely to have removed her clothing and there were indications of sexual activity although the scientist could not determine the exact nature of it.

Miss Rogozinka told the police she was in bed with her door unlocked when Soj ‘jumped towards her.’

He tried to strangle her and he put a pillow over her face until she felt dizzy. She too was stabbed, suffering wounds to her chest, shoulder and arm.

Soj told her he had murdered Bori because he was depressed.

Mr McKone said he stopped attacking Miss Rogozinka when she told him her family and friends needed her.

She had life-threatening injuries including a collapsed lung and she needed emergency surgery to insert a chest drain. She also had a blood transfusion.

Soj threw her phone out of the window and a knife was found outside the property.

He told the police at the scene: “I deserve to die right now. I was drunk. I have become a murderer.”

He later said he acted out of curiosity or jealousy, finding out what it was like to kill someone.

“She was such a good girl,” he said.

He went on to make no comment to the police but to speak to his psychiatrist about what had happened.

He said he went to the kitchen to get two knives and could recall little except moving Miss Benko’s clothing to touch her indecently.

Mr McKone said Soj had pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder ahead of his trial.

Richard Wright QC, Soj’s barrister, said he had snuffed out a brilliant life and caused far-reaching devastation.

Bori’s mother asked questions as to why this had happened and Soj too had grappled with this and could not properly answer.

Although it may count for little he was ‘genuinely and absolutely sorry, ashamed and appalled by his behaviour.’

The psychiatric report contained admissions that aggravated Soj’s position considerably, Mr Wright conceded. He accepted there had been sexual contact during the killing. That was an indication of his true guilt and remorse.

Soj was suffering with a neurotic depressive illness at the time and had been drinking while on medication. He was still a young man with no previous convictions and of positive good character until these ‘wicked’ offences.

He had always accepted he was responsible for the attack: the only issue had been fitness to plead.

Judge Jonathan Rose said Soj had no disagreement or dispute with the two young and innocent women. It was premediated, extensive and brutal violence at a property provided by a Christian organisation.

Miss Benko was to study theology and she spent much of her life in Bradford in and around the cathedral.

Miss Rogozinka had felt safe and secure at the accommodation until her life was shattered by the attack. After she rang the emergency services her dread and horror returned when he came back with a knife, Judge Rose said.

She had become isolated and had difficulty sleeping because of her ingrained fear. Her physical injuries had largely healed but she was conscious of the visible scarring she had.

Soj had been drinking heavily and had watched a violent horror film that night. He said he felt energised and had a feeling he was going to kill more than one person.

He sharpened a knife and took a second knife. He went into Miss Benko’s room and stabbed her.

She was dressed when he went into the room. He denied being sexually aroused and then he attacked Miss Rogozinka.

Soj then tried to kill himself but was saved by prompt medical attention.

Miss Benko was stabbed to the chest and pubis and traces of his semen were found at the murder scene. She had at least 40 sharp force injuries to her body from the brutal and sustained attack.

After Soj had killed and abused Miss Benko he attacked Miss Rogozinka, who like Miss Benko had never had a relationship with him and had no dispute with him.

“We got smashed and I guess some demons got to me,” he told her.

Judge Rose said Soj would not be released from his life sentence unless and until the Parole Board thought it was safe to do so.

He had deliberated before going to the kitchen. He got two knives and sharpened one and then set out with a settled intention to kill one or more people.

There were sexual acts involved in Miss Benko’s murder that increased its depravity.

It was a premediated, brutal and violent stabbing by an intoxicated man.

The attempted murder had left the Miss Rogozinka with serious physical and psychological harm.

They were vulnerable women in their beds at the time.

Soj was suffering with a depressive illness but that was ‘precious little mitigation’ when he mixed alcohol with his medication.

Judge Rose commended the police officers and paramedics involved in the case and offered his sincere condolences to the family of Miss Benko whose parents were in court for the hearing.

Jamie Taylor, 42 - death by dangerous driving, nine years

Jamie Taylor, 42. Picture: West Yorkshire Police

 

A MUCH-LOVED mother of five was killed when she was hit by a speeding driver while walking the short distance to collect her young daughter from school.

Jamie Taylor tested positive for cocaine after he ploughed into Iram Shahzada, known as Ruby, on the afternoon of May 10 last year.

He banged into a parked vehicle and was speeding off when he hit 39-year-old Mrs Shahzada on the pavement throwing her six feet in the air, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Taylor, 42, of Hendford Drive, Pollard Park, Bradford, wept in the booth at HMP Leeds as heart-breaking victim personal statements were read out by members of her family.

He also sat with his face buried in his arms when graphic footage of the fatal impact was played in court.

He pleaded guilty to causing the death of Mrs Shahzada by dangerous driving at the junction of Beech Terrace and Hinchliffe Street in Bradford Moor at 2.45pm.

Taylor was jailed for seven and a half years, plus 18 months to run consecutively for an unrelated offence of unlawful wounding, making nine years in all.

Prosecutor Chloe Fairley said Mrs Shahzada, who lived on Hinchcliffe Street, was just minutes from her home on her way to pick up her five-year-old daughter from Lapage Primary School on Barkerend Road.

She was on the pavement when she was hit by Taylor who was at the wheel of a silver Citroen C1.

A Parcelforce driver described seeing the car ‘swinging about’ and going ‘extremely fast’ downhill before the tragic impact.

Taylor staggered away from the vehicle making ‘no attempt whatsoever to check on the lady lying on the ground,’ Miss Fairley said.

Mrs Shahzada was unconscious with head injuries. An ambulance and the air ambulance attended at the scene but the paramedics were unable to save her.

A teenage boy said he saw a speeding car with the engine roaring hit her.

People came to help and used CPR until the emergency services arrived.

Mrs Shahzada was pronounced dead at the scene, the court was told.

A man handed the police a phone he said belonged to the driver of the Citroen.

Taylor was found by the police at 4pm at his partner’s home. When he was cautioned for the offence, he replied: ‘Are you joking?’

After he was arrested and taken into custody, he denied being the driver and said he hadn’t been there for weeks.

He claimed ‘local youths’ had been driving the car in that area.

Taylor then admitted he was driving but claimed it was an accident when the gearstick came out. Then he said his foot got stuck under the brake pedal.

An expert who examined the scene said the car had not slowed before the impact. No defect was found to the Citroen when it was inspected.

Mrs Shahzada’s sister-in-law, Aisha Saeed, fought back tears as she bravely stood up in court to read out her harrowing victim personal statement.

She said Mrs Shahzada, called Ruby by her family and friends, was walking to collect her youngest child, a girl aged five, from the school when she was taken from them in ‘a cruel and tragic manner.’

When she heard the terrible news that Ruby had died, ‘gravity was pulling me to the ground,’ she said. “It was the most heart-breaking feeling. I wish I could have said goodbye.”

She continued:  “The grief never gets any easier. All I can do is to think about her and the children. I am not the same and I will never be the same.”

Miss Saeed said she often cried herself to sleep and had sought the help of a bereavement support group.

“I feel like my world has gone,” she said. “It’s not just one life that was taken away. Five children lost their mother that day.”

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Richard Mansell QC, told Miss Saeed: “I know this is horrendous for you.”

Further statements from family members spoke of Ruby’s aspirations and dreams for her children.

Her brother said his whole world had come crashing down.

Ruby was ‘quiet, humble and caring,’ he stated.

“My sister has gone and my children don’t have their aunt anymore. Every single family member is shaken to the core.”

The court heard that Taylor had a previous conviction for dangerous driving and numerous other driving offences on his record. He was driving while disqualified and uninsured when he killed Mrs Shahzada.

He had also pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding and assault by beating at a gathering at a flat in Bradford in December, 2019.

Ian Hudson said in mitigation that Taylor hung his head in shame, remorse and guilt over Mrs Shahzada’s death.

He accepted that he left the scene in sheer panic after the fatal collision. He was deeply remorseful and ready to face his punishment for the offences.

Judge Mansell said it was ‘a disgraceful incidence of violence’ in December, 2019. Taylor struck a man on the head with a crowbar and a female on the head with a lump of wood. He was jailed for 18 months for those offences.

Judge Mansell said Mrs Shahzada was walking on the pavement to collect her young daughter from school when she was killed.

Taylor had aggravated vehicle taking and dangerous driving offences on his record and had never held a driving test.

He told the police he went to the area ‘to score drugs.’ He did a three-point-turn and banged into a parked car with some force.

He then drove down Beech Terrace towards Hinchcliffe Street as fast as he could to get away.  He was barely in control of the car as it went down the steep slope roaring the engine, Judge Mansell said.

Taylor drove straight on to the pavement, ploughed into Mrs Shahzada and threw her into the air. He then left the scene making no effort to check on her.

She had suffered a serious head injury and passed away at the scene.

Taylor left his phone behind in his haste to get away. He had a long-standing Class A drug addiction and he gave a positive test for cocaine afterwards.

He then lied to the police in a desperate effort to avoid responsibility.

He was jailed for seven and a half years for causing death by dangerous driving. The sentences run consecutively, making a total of nine years.

Taylor was banned from driving for nine and a half years.

Jordan Withey, 23 - dangerous driving and handling stolen car, 38 months

Jordan Withey, 23. Picture: West Yorkshire Police

A MAN was jailed for 34 months for dangerous driving offences and handling a car stolen in a house burglary in Oakworth.

Jordan Withey, 23, had 13 previous convictions for 33 offences on his criminal record, including theft from a vehicle and taking a car without consent.

He appeared before Bradford Crown Court on a video link to Hull Prison where he had been remanded since October.

Prosecutor Joe Culley said the first of the latest series of offences was aggravated vehicle taking on July 12, 2020.

Withey was seen going the wrong way down a one-way street in Bridlington on a stolen moped. He forced his way past a motorist trying to block his way before he was almost struck by a car. He went on to mount a kerb, crashing the £1,200 moped and writing it off. His blood was found on it and he was arrested and released on bail.

On May 31 last year, Withey was pursued by the police in an Audi A3 down the A165. He did up to 110mph travelling towards Bridlington and then 80mph in a 30 zone in the town.

He drove over a footpath and made off on foot with his passenger after hitting a parked car and bollards.

He was arrested soon afterwards and tested positive for cannabis and cocaine at the roadside. He refused to provide a blood sample at the police station and was just below the legal alcohol limit.

He was disqualified, uninsured and in possession of a small bag of cocaine.

Withey, of Prickett Road, Bridlington, was next found with a Peugeot 308 stolen in a house break-in at Fernbank Avenue, Oakworth, Keighley, on July 16. The car, worth more than £8,000 and on stolen plates, was parked outside his partner’s home.

He was charged with the burglary but the prosecution accepted his guilty plea to handling stolen goods.

Andrew Dallas said in mitigation that Withey was thoroughly ashamed. He was alcohol dependant at the time and determined to make a new start.

Judge Andrew Hatton said the only appropriate penalty was an immediate custodial sentence.

Withey was jailed for 10 months for aggravated vehicle taking, 13 months for dangerous driving, two months for driving while disqualified and nine months for handling the stolen car. All the sentences run consecutively, making a total of two years and ten months.

He was banned from driving for three years starting on his release from prison.

Kayle McGhie, 34 - dangerous driving, 18 months

Kayle McGhie, 34. Picture: West Yorkshire Police

A BMW driver fleeing across Bradford at ridiculously high speeds was jailed for 18 months after he injured three police officers and deliberately damaged their cars in the twenty minute pursuit.

Footage of the lengthy chase involving several patrol vehicles with lights flashing and sirens blaring was shown at Bradford Crown Court..

Kayle McGhie twice deliberately braked hard causing the police BMWs to smash into him and each other leaving three officers with whiplash, back and knee injuries.

McGhie pleaded guilty to dangerous driving but denied three offences of criminal damage to a West Yorkshire Police BMW and perverting the course of justice by lying to the police by saying his car had been stolen when it was pursued across Bradford at 1.30am on April 3 last year.

The court was told that the plea to dangerous driving was on a full facts basis. The Crown had accepted his denials to the remaining four counts which meant the maximum sentence available to the court was two years imprisonment.

Prosecutor Ella Embleton said that several police vehicles were involved in the lengthy pursuit that included Swain House Road, Kings Road, Wrose Road and Leeds Road.

Footage shown in court showed the BMW going the wrong way around a central reservation as it sped through the night with two passengers on board.

As it headed towards Shipley it went up a narrow off-road footway and was abandoned.

McGhie then reported it had been stolen after he had attended a party in Shipley.

He was identified by officers after he was caught on a speed camera during the pursuit.

He then made no comment when questioned.

He had 15 previous convictions for 28 offences, including driving with excess alcohol, no insurance, driving while disqualified, aggravated vehicle taking with an accident causing injury, and a further driving with excess alcohol.

McGhie, 34, formerly of Main Street, Wilsden, was living in a caravan before he was sentenced.

His barrister, Andrew Dallas, said in mitigation that he knew he was going to prison and had brought a bag along with him.

He had rehabilitated himself after his earlier offending and this was a single serious lapse. He had a full driving licence and he was insured at the time.

He had gone to pick up two people from a party and he was driving them home. He gave in to pressure to keep going when the police told him to stop.

It was in the early hours of the morning when there were mercifully very few members of the public around, Mr Dallas said.

McGhie was running a car repair business that would almost certainly fold while he was in prison.

References, including from his employee, spoke positively of him as hard working and not living a criminal lifestyle.

He had been on bail and had not committed any further offences in the 14 months since.

Judge Andrew Hatton said McGhie was pursued by the police at 1.30am on April 3 last year for twenty minutes.

He had sped down a good many major roads, residential roads, back streets and side streets in Bradford at ridiculously high speeds.

He had gone the wrong side of bollards and the wrong way up streets and caused a collision with three police cars by braking hard.

“It was a sustained and determined attempt to get the police off your tail,” Judge Hatton said.

McGhie then abandoned the car and lied saying it had been stolen.

He went on to make no comment when interviewed.

It was at times deliberately aggressive driving that left three police officers injured and their vehicles damaged.

McGhie was ordered to pay each of the officers £1,000 in compensation.

He was banned from driving for two years and nine months and until he passes an extended retest.