Robber guilty of murdering financier

[Exeter]

Robber guilty of murdering financier

Staff and agencies
Thursday December 15, 2005


Police handout photograph of Damien Hanson, 24, who murdered John Monckton
A robber was convicted today of the murder of wealthy London financier John Monckton, who was stabbed to death in front of his wife and nine-year-old daughter.

Damien Hanson, 24, was also convicted of the attempted murder of Mr Monckton's wife, Homeyra - who was stabbed and left seriously injured - and of robbery.


The jury at the Old Bailey heard how Hanson, who was obsessed with the rich and collected articles about them, had previous convictions for attempted murder and robbery.


Hanson tricked his way into the Moncktons' £3m home in Chelsea, west London, with his childhood friend Elliot White, also 24, at around 7.30pm on November 29 last year.


White has admitted robbery but denies murder and attempted murder. After delivering their verdicts on Hanson, members of the jury were sent home for the night.


The jury sent a note to the judge saying members could not make "any further progress" considering their verdicts on White.


Blood from White was found at the scene of the bungled robbery and he admitted tricking Mr Monckton, a 49-year-old senior bonds director with Legal & General, to open the door by posing as a postal worker with a package for him.
When the door was opened, the trial heard that White and another man wearing a balaclava, and carrying a handgun and a knife, forced themselves inside.
Hanson had denied he was the masked man and claimed he had been visiting his sister that evening in Brixton, south London.


But the jury - which was told he had previous convictions and a propensity to raise alibi as a defence - rejected his alibi for the killing of Mr Monckton. As the verdicts were read out, Hanson showed no emotion but then glanced fleetingly at his co-defendant.
The prosecution, which argued the Moncktons were targeted because of their wealth, said Mr Monckton could have been knifed eight times by his killer. He tried to fend off the repeated thrusts to his body and had defence injuries to his hands.
Ms Monckton, 46, who now needs a stick to walk, told the trial she saw the masked man fighting with her husband. She was stabbed twice herself in the back as she tried to reach an alarm button on the first floor and blacked out. The court heard she was left "on the brink of death" by the attack.


The Moncktons' youngest daughter, Isobel, who was upstairs when the raiders burst in, saw part of the attack. She came to her injured mother's aid after hearing her calling out for her. Isobel called the emergency services after the robbers fled.


Hanson was released from a jail sentence for attempted murder and robbery only three months before he murdered Mr Monckton, it emerged during the trial. He had served just over half of the 12-year term.
Richard Horwell, prosecuting, told jurors the law now permitted the jury to hear about and assess the relevant bad character of the defendant.


Mr Horwell listed Hanson's previous convictions to the jury. In July 1995, aged 14, he burgled a home at night when the residents were asleep inside. His fingerprints were found inside the letterbox.


A hand had been placed in the box to release the Yale lock, Mr Horwell told the jury. "He contested the allegation, raising alibi as a defence, but was convicted of burglary."


On November 12 in the same year Hanson robbed a 17-year-old youth of £20 at knifepoint. He was with another robber but Hanson had the knife. The youth was kicked and stabbed by Hanson, Mr Horwell said.
Hanson again raised alibi as his defence, saying he was visiting friends in east London at the time. But he was identified by the victim and convicted of wounding at his trial.

The trial continues.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/arti...668219,00.html

[Exeter]

Times Online December 19, 2005

Mistakes that left criminals free
to kill
By Sam Knight and Richard Ford for the Times

Charles Clarke launched an inquiry today into the failures that allowed Damien Hanson and Elliott White to kill John Monckton and severely wound his wife while under the supervision of the Probation Service.

The Home Secretary said Andrew Bridges, the Chief Inspector of Probation, would seek to answer "a number of serious questions about the release from prison and supervision in the community of Damien Hanson and Elliott White".

"Mr Bridges will look carefully at what happened in this case, and whether there are wider implications for the release and management of offenders," said Mr Clarke.
The inquiry will report early next year and is expected to focus on the early release from prison of Hanson, who was freed seven years into a 12-year sentence for attempted murder, just a year after his application for parole was denied because he was thought to be a risk to the public.

Despite being assessed as 91 per cent likely to re-offend, Hanson was treated as a low risk case, and asked to report to a probation officer in Hammersmith - the neighbourhood where he had grown up, and from which he was supposed to be barred.
Hanson's release was not even reported to the police until he had been free for two months. His supervision was managed solely by the Probation Service, rather than entrusted to a multi-agency network that is designed to monitor the most dangerous offenders. He spent the two weeks after the Monckton attack holed up in a probation hostel in Essex.

Looking ahead to the inquiry, the National Probation Service, Metropolitan Police and the Prison Service issued a joint statement today and offered their sympathy to Mrs Monckton, her family and "all those affected by this horrific offence".
"We confirm at the time of this offence that Damien Hanson and Elliott White were under the supervision of London Probation Area," the statement said.


"Probation areas undertake a thorough review of the case management of all offenders who commit a specified serious offence while under probation supervision. This has been completed.


"In addition London Probation has undergone external scrutiny of the management of these cases by a Chief Officer from another probation area. London Probation is implementing a root and branch overhaul of the way it manages offenders in the community. The lessons it has learnt from this case have aided this process."


But the Probation Service stressed that there is no such thing as a ’zero risk’ approach to supervising offenders: "Despite all the measures taken, the criminal justice agencies can never fully eliminate the risks posed by dangerous offenders," the agency said.


Last year, more than 500 offenders were charged with serious offences including murder, manslaughter and rape while on probation.


Twenty-six were convicted of murder, twelve of attempted murder and fifteen of manslaughter. A further one hundred were convicted of other serious violent and sexual offences including armed robbery and hostage taking.


Twenty were convicted of arson with intent to endanger life and eight with kidnappings, according to latest Home Office figures.

Two of the most notorious murders committed while offenders were supposed to be under supervision occurred in Nottinghamshire two years ago. David Parfitt, who killed a police officer, was free to offend because of serious failures to supervise him by Nottingham Probation Service.

Parfitt, 26, a drug addict with 50 previous convictions dating back to when he was 11, killed PC Ged Walker after regularly breaching the terms of the conditions on which he was freed early from jail.

He failed tests and missed appointments within weeks of being released from jail under the Government’s early-release scheme. An official report into the death of Mr Walker blamed individual probation officers, managers of the Nottingham Probation Service and the National Probation Service.

No disciplinary action was taken against staff who failed to act on Parfitt’s breaches because the report identified a "heavy workload". The chief officer of Nottinghamshire Probation Service took full responsibility for the failures of his staff.

In 2003, serial offender Peter Williams murdered Marian Bates, a jewelry shop manager, while he was supposed to be monitored by Premier Monitoring Services, a private security firm.

An inquiry into the death of Mrs Bates during a raid on her shop in Nottingham listed a catalogue of failings by the Youth Offending Team and Premier who were supposed to be supervising Williams.

The case manager in charge of Williams had no formal qualifications in youth work, probation or social work. The report made no recommendations for disciplinary action against those who failed. Premier is to be fined for breaking the terms of its contract with the Probation Service.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...3439_1,00.html