Worker convicted of murdering site colleague

A man has been found guilty of killing his colleague on a construction site in Clapton, east London.

Polish national Dawid Wycik, 28, of no fixed abode, was found guilty on 29 July at Inner London Crown Court of murdering his 67-year-old compatriot Czeslaw Swiatkowski.

Police were called to a residential address in Mount Pleasant Lane at 23:29hrs on 24 January this year following reports of a disturbance. 

Officers and the London Ambulance Service attended. Swiatkowski was found inside the property suffering from stab injuries and was declared dead a short time later. 

Wycik was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder and was charged the following day.

A post-mortem examination gave cause of death as a stab wound to the abdomen.

Detective inspector Brett Hagen, of the Specialist Crime Command, said: "Justice has been served today with this verdict. Wycik violently assaulted his 67-year-old work colleague in a drunken rage after he was politely asked to leave a property the victim had been renovating. 

“Not content with punching Czeslaw multiple times in the face and knocking him to the ground, he then proceeded to pick up a kitchen knife from nearby and stab him while he lay prone on the floor. 

“This was a cold, calculated and cowardly act of murder committed against a defenceless man some 40-plus years his elder. I hope Czeslaw’s family can take some small comfort from this outcome, albeit they’ll never comprehend why Wycik decided to use the lethal force he did."