Talented dancer Kajetan Migdal murdered in 'cold-blooded' prom night attack in Stevenage

The killer of a talented 18-year-old who had appeared on BBC TV’s Greatest Dancer has been found guilty of murder.

The family of Kajetan Migdal shouted "Yes!" and clapped as the verdict that Patrick Sharp-Meade had been convicted was read out.

Kajetan, a Year 13 student from John Henry Newman Catholic school in Stevenage, had been out with three friends after his school prom.

Sharp-Meade, now 20, mistakenly believed the group had spoken to his ex-girlfriend. He pulled a large zombie knife from his trousers and plunged it into Kajetan’s chest, the court heard.

He was rushed to hospital, where he died in the early hours of the next morning, Luton Crown Court heard.

A jury at Luton Crown Court heard Sharp-Meade pulled the knife from his trousers and plunged it into 12.5cms (5ins) into Kajetan’s chest while his friends fled.

He was taken to Stevenage’s Lister hospital, where he died in the early hours of the morning.

Kajetan, who was a member of a dance group called Prospects Fraternity, had also won first place in an under-14 category of the World Street Dancing Championships in 2017.

Over 700 people attended the funeral of the popular teenager at St Hugh of Lincoln Catholic Church in Letchworth

Prosecutor Jane Bickerstaff KC told the jury: “It wasn't gang-related, he wasn't armed, he wasn't even rude to the defendant.

"This was cold-blooded murder, premeditated, motivated by jealousy and perpetrated on the one boy who did not manage to run away from the defendant fast enough."

Sharp-Meade of Cuttys Lane, Stevenage, denied murder, but the jury of six men and six women found him guilty, rejecting the defence case he was guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

The court heard said Sharp-Meade lived in a flat in Cutty’s Lane near where Kajetan had parked his grey Skoda to be near the Holiday Inn, where the prom was being held.

Ms Bickerstaff said: “It was a wholly unprovoked attack in a residential street in Stevenage. This defendant and Kajetan Migdal were both 18 and complete strangers.

“What was supposed to have happened is that Kajetan should have enjoyed a school prom at the Holiday Inn hotel in Stevenage. Then he should have headed on with his friends - three of them - to Cambridge to join his classmates at a club bar for an after-party. None of that should have brought him in contact with the defendant.”

The prosecutor went on: “They never made it to Cambridge. They were approached by the defendant who was armed with large zombie style knife. He had it concealed down his tracksuit trousers.

“He verbally challenged Kajetan and his friends in the pretence that they had been following or speaking to his ex-girlfriend as she walked past the group.

“It caused Kajetan’s friends to back away. He had not quite finished changing and momentarily stood his ground. The defendant approached, pulled out a knife and stabbed him him straight into chest. It pierced his heart. Kajetan staggered into the road and the defendant fled the scene.

“Kajetan was treated in the road and quickly transferred to the Lister Hospital, but the injury was catastrophic. He died at 4.05am in the morning.“

The jury was told the defendant’s ex-girlfriend was heading to Sharp-Meade’s flat to collect a fur hood. As she walked past the group she was talking to a friend on her mobile.

The defendant, who was in the flat with the person taking the call, heard the conversation and could hear the four teenagers talking in the background.

The prosecutor said: “As a result of hearing them in the background, he became irrationally jealous.

She said the defendant had been “enraged by something that had not happened.”

After the stabbing Sharp-Mead returned to his flat and hid the knife in his mattress. He left the scene but at 2am was spotted by the police and arrested.

Four mental health experts were called upon to give their assessment of Sharp-Meade's autism and there was disagreement over the extent it affected his judgment.

Sharp-Meade also has a diagnosis of ADHD and is suspected to have antisocial personality disorder.

Defending Sharp-Meade, Deanna Heer KC acknowledged to jurors that "a dreadful thing happened at Cuttys Lane".

Ms Heer said: "Something went wrong with the development of his brain and it went wrong at a very early age, when he was a baby or perhaps when he was born.

"We say that his development disorders, however they are categorised, explain this killing. We say his actions that night make sense only as a result of these disorders.

"On that night, the combination of the different neuro-developmental disorders substantially impaired his ability to form a rational judgment and exercise rational control.”

Sharp-Meade will be sentenced on 17 May.

Following the verdict, Det Insp Justine Jenkins of Hertfordshire Police said: “This has been a devastating case for everyone involved. Kajetan was celebrating a milestone moment in his life and was looking forward to attending university after the summer break.

"He was a bright young man who had his whole life ahead of him. He was a fantastic dancer and a wonderful son and brother."

She added: "This was a senseless act of violence, which resulted in a young man being killed in cold blood because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, by an enraged teenager who imagined a situation that simply did not exist."

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