Four men have been sentenced for killing a member of an organised crime group who was tortured, doused in petrol and set alight.
Tomasz Samel, 45, was kidnapped in 2019 in Birmingham by three men claiming to be from Interpol, before being driven to the Liverpool area and attacked over the loss of cigarettes worth £1 million.
In August, a jury unanimously convicted Neil Jones, 49, of no fixed address, and Tobiasz Kozlowski, 38, of Kirkby, Merseyside, of Mr Samel’s murder and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.
Co-defendants Kevin Wooden, 46, of Banbury, Oxfordshire, and Kye Arthur, 35, of Lockleaze, Bristol, were found guilty of manslaughter.
Kozlowski’s wife, Sandra Kozlowska, 38, also of Kirkby, was convicted of assisting an offender by helping him to avoid detection by police.
CCTV shows Kevin Wooden driving the van used to kidnap Mr Samel and attempting to buy a fluorescent jacket. Police footage shows the moment Wooden and Neil Jones were arrested.
On Friday, Jones was jailed for life with a minimum term of 34 years in prison, while Kozlowski received a life sentence with a minimum term of 33 years in prison.
Wooden was sentenced to 23 years in prison, while Arthur was jailed for 22 years. Kozlowska received a three-year prison sentence, suspended for three years.
Mr Justice Wall told the defendants at Birmingham Crown Court: “You all chose to involve yourselves in a truly horrific series of events.
‘It must have been terrifying for him’
“The motive for this was that he was in possession of a consignment of cigarettes worth £1 million illegally imported from Poland, when they were seized by HMRC.
“He was held responsible for their loss. Following his kidnap, Mr Samel was detained in the Liverpool area for some time.
“I do not sentence you on the basis that he was tortured during this time. However, this lengthy period of detention must have been terrifying for him.
The cigarettes, which had been illegally imported from Poland, had been in Mr Samel’s possession – in a unit in Aston, Birmingham – when they were seized by HM Revenue and Customs on 22 February 2019.
Mr Samel, who was the subject of an international arrest warrant, was kidnapped from his home in Raleigh Road, Handsworth, at about 8.35am on 27 March 2019.
After being placed in a white van, he was driven to Merseyside before being dumped in a remote location near Bickerstaffe in Lancashire, where he knocked on the door of a property for help at 11.10pm that day.
The judge said the descriptions of Mr Samel’s injuries by attending paramedics and those who saw him at the scene were “harrowing and disturbing”.
“He was in hospital for almost three months before he died,” the judge said.
“The level of his suffering between the time at which the injuries were inflicted and his death is difficult to imagine.”
Kye Arthur, Neil Jones, Tobiasz Kozlowski, and Kevin Wooden were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court. Credit: West Midlands Police
‘A sustained and merciless attack’
Mr Samel died at Whiston Hospital in Prescot on 21 June 2019, as a result of his injuries.
Kate Seal, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This was a sustained and merciless attack on a man taken from the safety of his own home.
“Bringing all those responsible to justice required years of painstaking work, including close co-operation with West Midlands Police and international partners across three countries, to gather the forensic, digital and witness evidence needed to secure these convictions.
“Mr Samel’s family have shown extraordinary strength throughout this ordeal.
“Our thoughts remain with them, and I hope these sentences reflect the severity of what was inflicted on Mr Samel and provide the family with a sense of justice being achieved, though nothing can undo their loss.”
The police investigation saw wider 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.
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