Startled thug Neil Jones stared back at police officers in disbelief as he was arrested for the murder of a man kidnapped and burnt alive. Jones, 49, from Liverpool, was heavily involved in the twisted revenge plot to kidnap and kill 45-year-old Tomasz Samel, a dad and organised criminal, after he was deemed responsible for the loss of illicit cigarettes worth £1m.
Jones was told he would likely die in prison after being sentenced to life with a minimum term of 34 years in custody. New body-worn footage released by investigators showed the moment a startled-looking Jones was arrested for the first time. The footage shows a dazed and anxious-looking Jones as an officer is read a horrifying list of charges of murder, manslaughter, conspiracy to kidnap, conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm and conspiracy to falsely imprison his victim.
Arrest after return from Greece
Jones was arrested as he stepped off a plane after being brought back to the UK from Greece, where he had been jailed for trafficking £42m worth of cocaine. Jones and Tobiasz Kozlowski, 39 and from Kirkby, were the "organisers" and were said to have "motive to punish" Mr Samel due to the financial stake they had in the cigarettes, which had been smuggled from Poland and held in a lock-up belonging to the murdered man.
Jones travelled to Europe in the wake of the seizure to discuss next steps. He and Kozlowski travelled to Birmingham in March 2019 to meet the three men paid £18,000 to kidnap Mr Samel.
Kidnap and murder plot
The hired help - Kevin Wooden, Kye Arthur and a third man who has never been identified - posed as Interpol workers as they turned up at Mr Samel's home. With his wife and children present Mr Samel was subjected to a fake arrest by the trio who bungled him into the back of a Peugeot van and drove him to Liverpool.
Jones was among the men present as Mr Samel was stripped naked, tied to a chair and set on fire in a garage in Merseyside. The victim initially survived the torture and was dumped in a remote location where he was able to seek help. But he tragically died in Whiston Hospital three months later having suffered burns to 75% of his body.
Sentencing and international investigation
Mr Justice Wall, sentencing, said: "I am sure that the two of you intended that Mr Samel would die," adding the victim had been "stripped naked, and, while seated and defenceless, petrol was thrown over him and he was set alight". The judge said: "The level of his suffering between the time at which the injuries were inflicted and his death is difficult to imagine."
Those involved in the plot fled the country. Jones initially went to Ireland and then Europe before he went on to South America, where he met up with kidnapper Kevin Wooden. He was later located in prison in Greece, where he was serving the sentence for drugs importation. The police footage also shows Wooden buying a high-visibility vest moments before the kidnapping and his eventual arrest following extradition from the Dominican Republic.
The police investigation saw inquiries carried out in Poland, Greece, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Colombia, France, Scotland and Wales, where the gang had operations or had fled to in the aftermath of the kidnap. Hannah Sidaway, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: "This case shows what can be achieved when prosecutors and law enforcement work together across borders." Support from our partners in Poland, Greece and the Dominican Republic, together with Eurojust, was instrumental in securing evidence, progressing enquiries across jurisdictions, and ensuring those responsible faced justice in the UK.
Jones was found guilty of murder after trial having already admitted conspiracy to kidnap and falsely imprisoning him. David McLachlan KC, defending, said: "The reality is he knows and accepts he is likely to die in prison." Kozlowski was convicted of the same charges and sentenced to life with a minimum term of 33 years. Wooden, aged 46, from Banbury in Oxfordshire and Arthur, 35, from Bristol, confessed to the kidnap and false imprisonment charges and were found guilty of manslaughter. They were respectively jailed for 23 years and 22 years. Kozlowski's wife, Sandra Kozlowska, aged 38 and from Kirkby, received a three-year suspended sentence for assisting her husband after the killing.
