Shoreditch: Drug addict jailed for strangling friend

Darren Ammon was strangled with a cord and found three days later

A drug addict who killed his friend and stole his television which he pawned for £15 has been jailed for a minimum of 19 years at the Old Bailey.

Salieu Seray-Wurie strangled 47-year-old Darren Ammon in the victim's flat in Shoreditch on 15 October.

Seray-Wurie, 26, had denied intending to seriously hurt Mr Ammon but was found guilty of murder, having admitted manslaughter on day two of his trial.

The mother of Mr Ammon said she was "totally broken".

He had let Seray-Wurie stay at his flat but on the day of his murder called police because he wanted him to leave, jurors heard.

Seray-Wurie returned later to retrieve his bank card and at this point used a cord to throttle Mr Ammon as he pleaded for his life.

Handing down a life sentence, Judge David Aubrey KC told the defendant: "You were angry and in a rage. I am satisfied you intended to kill him and did so in such a calculating way."

He added: "The family are broken. You took a father away from his sons and a son away from his mother."

Mr Ammon's son Kieran, who was 18 at the time of the murder, said in his statement he was "everything a father should be".

He told the defendant: "You do not deserve to feel the sun on your skin or the wind in your face or the sand between your toes, just the same as my father won't. You deserve to live the rest of your life behind bars."

In mitigation, Bernard Tetlow KC said Seray-Wurie had suffered abuse at the hands of his father and was separated from his family in Sierra Leone.

Mr Tetlow told the judge: "He has asked me this morning to express to your lordship, and most particularly to Darren's family, his sincere apologies for what he did and the terrible impact that had on the family."

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