A drug dealer who bragged about fatally stabbing a university student after a row over £50 worth of MDMA has been jailed for life. Dino Donaldson, 22, was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday after being convicted of murdering 21-year-old accounting student Anojan Gnaneswaran at Strawberry Hill station in Twickenham.
Attack at Strawberry Hill station
The court heard how the violence erupted on the evening of April 3, 2024, after a dispute involving 10 MDMA tablets worth around £50. Mr Gnaneswaran suffered fatal stab wounds to his chest, abdomen and thigh after Donaldson chased him on to the railway tracks during the attack. He was pronounced dead at the scene despite the efforts of emergency services.
Jurors heard the killing unfolded after two groups of men met at the south-west London station. What began as a disagreement quickly escalated into violence, with Donaldson arming himself with a knife before pursuing the victim. The attack was captured on CCTV and witnessed by horrified bystanders.
Boasts and arrest
During the trial, prosecutors said Donaldson showed no remorse in the immediate aftermath of the killing. Less than an hour after the stabbing, he was recorded on CCTV laughing and smiling aboard a night bus. Further evidence came from a doorbell camera recording in which Donaldson was heard boasting about what he had done. He said: “I stabbed him through the back bro, I stabbed him fully. I watched it and I felt it go in him, yeah.” The footage became a key part of the prosecution case and was played to jurors during the trial.
Police launched an urgent manhunt following the killing and traced Donaldson to his home several days later. When officers arrived to arrest him, they found him hiding inside a cupboard. A search of his bedroom uncovered 74 wraps of crack cocaine and heroin with an estimated street value of more than £1,000.
Sentence and impact
British Transport Police previously described the killing as a shocking act of violence in a public place, with the station forced to close while detectives and forensic officers carried out their investigation. The death of Mr Gnaneswaran prompted tributes from friends and relatives, who remembered him as a hardworking young man with a promising future ahead of him. In a statement issued earlier in the case, his family spoke of their devastation at losing a son and loved one in such sudden and brutal circumstances.
Donaldson was convicted of murder after a trial at the Old Bailey. On Friday, a judge jailed him for life and ordered that he serve a minimum term of 23 years before he can be considered for release. The sentence means he will remain behind bars until at least his mid-forties, subject to any future decision by the Parole Board. Addressing the consequences of the killing, the judge said a young man's life had been cut short over a dispute of almost no value, leaving his family to live with the consequences for the rest of their lives.
