Asylum seeker found guilty of murdering hotel worker

An asylum seeker who was seen dancing and laughing after stabbing a hotel worker 23 times on a railway station platform has been found guilty of murder.

- BRYONY GOOCH

Deng Chol Majek, originally from Sudan, was described by prosecutors as “utterly callous” after he launched a frenzied attack on Rhiannon Whyte on 20 October last year.

Whyte had finished work at 11pm at the Park Inn Hotel in Walsall, in the West Midlands, when Majek “tracked” her on foot to the nearby Bescot Stadium station. He inflicted 19 wounds to her head, including a fatal brain-stem injury. Jurors at Wolverhampton Crown Court deliberated for two hours and five minutes yesterday before unanimously convicting Majek of murder and possessing a screwdriver as an offensive weapon. He showed no emotion in the dock as the verdict was returned.

A two-week trial heard that Majek had been reported to security at the Park Inn Hotel after “spookily” staring at three female staff members for prolonged periods on the day he killed Whyte.

In CCTV footage shown at the trial, Majek could be seen walking up the steps of the bridge that led to the platform, a few minutes after Whyte. He then disappeared from view, but jurors were told that this was when the attack took place.

Whyte, 27, was the mother of a five-year-old son. She was found injured in a shelter on the platform by the driver and guard of a train that pulled in about five minutes after the incident, and died in hospital three days later.

No motive for the killing was given at the trial, but Majek had brushed past Whyte earlier in the evening as he left the hotel to smoke.