Asylum seeker is guilty of hotel worker’s murder

AN “UTTERLY callous” asylum seeker seen dancing and laughing after stabbing a hotel worker 23 times on a railway station platform has been found guilty of murder.

- MATTHEW COOPER

Deng Chol Majek, who is believed to have entered the UK by small boat less than three months before launching a frenzied attack on Rhiannon Whyte, showed no emotion in the dock as the verdict was returned.

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.

A two-week trial heard that Majek had been reported to security at the Park Inn hotel in Walsall, West Midlands, where he lived and Rhiannon worked, after “spookily” staring at three female staff members for prolonged periods on October 20 last year.

Rhiannon finished work at 11pm and was then “tracked” on foot by Majek to the nearby Bescot Stadium station, where he inflicted 19 wounds to her head, including a fatal brain stem injury.

CCTV played at Majek’s trial showed he disappeared from view on to a deserted platform for 90 seconds at about 11.18pm to attack Ms Whyte, 27, the mother of a five-year-old son.