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Cleared: Artist Magdalena Zajdel |
ORDEAL ENDS FOR ARTIST ON THE RUN
Jury clears accused hunted in Europe after canal death
AN Old Bailey judge and jury this week cleared a young Polish artist of murdering a man who drowned in the canal at Camden Town, bringing to an end “a life of torment” that saw her hunted across Europe.
Magdalena Zajdel, 24, had been on trial, charged with killing Patrick Linkavicus, 30, between Camden Lock and Hawley Lock in 2006.
But after three years in which Ms Zajdel, known as Magda, was put on Scotland Yard’s Most Wanted List, the jury accepted the defence case that a terrible accident had ended a row among hard drinkers on the canal bank.
First, the judge threw the murder charge out of court, and when the jury cleared her of manslaughter on Monday the 24-year-old Polish artist walked free.
Ms Zajdel’s solicitor, Gina Cummings from Holborn-based O’Keeffe’s Solicitors, said: “It is fair to say it was a difficult case for the police. But in light of the material the police had available to them, it may be viewed as concerning that they pursued Magdalena for murder, because the evidence from the outset from eye-witnesses was that they witnessed an accident. Once this was seen, the judge withdrew the charge of murder immediately.”
Mr Linkavicus, a Lithuanian with two children, sold the Big Issue around Camden. According to friends at the inquest into his death, he was a trained chef and a powerful swimmer who spoke five languages.
He was drinking with a group that included Ms Zajdel between Camden Lock and Hawley Lock on September 8, 2006.
The clearest account of his death was given at the inquest in April 2007, when coroner’s officer Alan Pearce said: “The deceased was with others drinking on the canal bank when an altercation of some sort took place which resulted in the deceased believed to have been pushed into the canal.
“One of the group jumped in to find him, assisted by a passer-by. He was finally found and taken to the Royal Free Hospital, where he remained unconscious, dying the following morning.”
St Pancras coroner Dr Andrew Reid recorded an open verdict, saying he was unable to tell if Mr Linkavicus had slipped, tripped, jumped or been pushed into the canal.
As this inconclusive verdict was returned, Met detectives were calling on Polish authorities to allow them to interview Ms Zajdel’s family.
From being sought initially as a witness, Ms Zajdel became an official suspect, eventually appearing on Scotland Yard’s Most Wanted list and on a European murder warrant.
It is unclear whether any new evidence had come to light at this time.
She was arrested in April in Dublin. Once brought to trial at the Old Bailey, the prosecution alleged she had pushed Mr Linkavicus into the canal and stopped him getting out until he was fatally ill.
Prosecutor Richard Whittam QC said: “This case involves humanity in the raw.” The victim, the defendant and all the witnesses had been drinking heavily on the day of the death, he added.
A key defence witness, David Collins, who had dived in to try to save Mr Linkavicus, had since died, aged 30.
It took Judge Giles Forrester four days – including a visit under police guard to the Regent’s Canal – to direct the jury to reject a murder verdict.
The jury heard another day’s evidence before acquitting Ms Zajdel of a second charge of manslaughter.
Although Ms Zajdel was a promising artist whose landscape paintings were shown in at least one gallery in Dublin, according to her solicitor, the intervening years had been marked by a torment of remorse and fear of capture.
Mrs Cummings said Ms Zajdel had stayed at the scene and spoken to police on the night of Mr Linkavicus’s death, deeply upset by her part in the incident. The Old Bailey heard that she had gone into the water, along with two by-standers, to help Mr Linkavicus when it was clear he was in trouble.
But when what she thought of as a tragic accident became a murder investigation, Ms Zajdel fled.
“She wanted to surrender but when she made inquiries and found she was on the Most Wanted list and was wanted for murder, she was scared,” Mrs Cummings said.
“She was fearful of the police because of her experiences of Poland, and she foolishly stayed on the run. But she had been living her life in torment since he died. She was very remorseful and very emotional. She has always wanted to say she was sorry.” |
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