Four men have been jailed for the killing of a member of an organised crime group who was tortured, doused in petrol and set alight. Father-of-two Tomasz Samel, 45, was abducted in March 2019 in Birmingham by three men posing as Interpol officers, before being driven to the Liverpool area and brutally attacked as a means of being "taught a lesson" over the disappearance of cigarettes worth £1 million.
He died in hospital three months after being set alight while "naked and outnumbered". Mr Samel's death was connected to the seizure of illicit and counterfeit cigarettes that had been smuggled into the UK from Poland.
Life sentences for organisers
Neil Jones, 48, and Tobiasz Kozlowski, 38, identified as among the principal organisers of Mr Samel's abduction and subsequent killing, were sentenced to life imprisonment at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday, with minimum terms of 34 years and 33 years respectively, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed. Mr Samel had been kidnapped from his home in Raleigh Close, Handsworth.
Jurors deliberated for more than 11 hours in August before unanimously convicting Jones, of no fixed address, and Kozlowski, of Crosland Road, Kirkby, Merseyside, of Mr Samel's murder and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm. Both men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to falsely imprison before the trial commenced, while Jones had also admitted manslaughter.
Sentences for co-defendants
Co-defendants Kevin Wooden, 46, of Alma Road, Banbury, Oxfordshire, and 35-year-old Kye Arthur, of Copley Gardens, Bristol, who were cleared of murder and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm but were found guilty of manslaughter, were sentenced to 23 years and 22 years respectively. Both had admitted conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to falsely imprison.
Kozlowski's wife, Sandra Kozlowska, 38, also of Crosland Road, Kirkby, was handed a three-year prison sentence, suspended for three years, after being convicted of assisting an offender by helping him evade detection by police, concealing evidence and transferring money through bank accounts on his behalf.
Judge's remarks
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Mr Justice Wall told the defendants they had each chosen to embroil themselves in a "truly horrific series of events". He said: "You played different parts in what happened. I am sure that you, Kozlowski and Jones, were organisers of these events. You both had a financial stake in the cigarettes that went missing and had a motive to punish the man whom you considered had lost them."
"You both went to Poland after they went missing. I am sure that this was part of the planning process". He added: "I am sure that the two of you intended that Mr Samel would die. If you had intended anything short of death, you would have made some arrangement for his being returned to Birmingham after he was assaulted. Rather, you disposed of the van he was brought to Liverpool in and sent the kidnappers away without asking them to wait to take Tomasz Samel home."
"Your chosen method of inflicting violence was fire. Fire is self-evidently not a weapon which can be controlled to a nicety allowing for the infliction of serious injury rather than death." In any event, even if your intention had been that he should not be killed but be really seriously injured, this affords you no mitigation for an attack carried out as it was. "The distinction between an intention to kill and one to cause grievous bodily harm when someone is set alight with petrol is paper thin if it exists at all."
The judge stated that life imprisonment was "richly deserved" for Kozlowski and Jones. He continued: "There was a very high degree of mental and physical suffering inflicted on Tomasz Samel before he died – both in the period where he was being held hostage and the period of three months while he was in hospital." "Your victim was vulnerable at the time he was set alight – he was naked and outnumbered."
Regarding Wooden and Arthur, the judge said he accepted that the pair had been enlisted into the scheme and paid to pose as Amazon delivery men and subsequently law enforcement officers in order to abduct Mr Samel. He said: "The jury's verdicts of guilty of manslaughter make clear that you knew that violence was to be meted out to Mr Samel after you had delivered him." He added: "The kidnapping was committed in the victim's own home... This was a highly planned activity in which you did not become involved at the last moment."
Turning to Kozlowska, the judge remarked that her attempts to assist her husband were "persistent and varied and they allowed (him) to evade justice for some time".
Investigation and aftermath
During a six-week trial, the court heard that Mr Samel, who was subject to an international arrest warrant, was abandoned in an isolated location in Lancashire after being set alight. He managed to walk to a nearby property and was given water after knocking at the door of a house near Bickerstaffe at 11.10pm on March 27. He was subsequently taken to Whiston Hospital in Prescot, where he died on June 21 2019 as a result of his injuries.
The police investigation into Mr Samel's death involved extensive enquiries across Poland, Greece, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Colombia, France, Scotland and Wales, where the gang had either conducted operations or fled to in the wake of the kidnapping. The CPS revealed that Wooden was apprehended in the Dominican Republic under a false identity and had to be extradited ahead of the trial.
Hannah Sidaway, roving liaison prosecutor at the 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 inquiries across jurisdictions, and ensuring those responsible faced justice in the UK." "The CPS is grateful to all our partners, and our thoughts remain with Mr Samel's family."
