Man jailed for life for CBBC star's murder

A man who sparked a five year international manhunt when he fled to Nigeria following a murder has been jailed for life today.

Jeffrey Okafor, who's 24, of no fixed address, will serve a minimum of 17 years after he was found guilty of murdering 19-year-old Carl Beatson-Asiedu in 2009.

Carl, who appeared in the BBC children's series M.I. High, died in the street after he was stabbed in the heart as he left a club with friends. Known as ‘Charmz’, he was a university student and a part-time DJ who was well known on the clubbing scene.

On the night he was killed, Carl was with friends and had performed a set at the Club Life nightclub in Goding Street in Kennington.

Afterwards, they were walking along Goding Street, when they were approached by a group of men. Some were known to Carl and his friends as they had previously attended the same college.

There had been a minor dispute between the groups in the past, with one of Carl’s friends being targeted and threatened. Despite this, since leaving college the two groups had seen each other often at parties and there had been no further issues until that night.

An argument broke out between one of the men and one of Carl’s friends which led to an altercation, during which Carl became separated from his friends and was fatally stabbed by Okafor.

Carl collapsed in the street and was found lying in the road by other friends who were driving past. They took him in their car and drove towards the hospital.

On the way, police officers came across the car in Bayliss Road and discovered Carl in the back seat, where they gave him first aid. The London Ambulance Service and London’s Air Ambulance also attended but despite their efforts he was pronounced dead.

A post-mortem held at Greenwich Mortuary that same day gave the cause of death as a single stab wound to the heart.

The friend who was with Carl in the moments leading up to his murder was also stabbed during the incident. He recovered from his injuries.

Within an hour of the attack Okafor telephoned his girlfriend and told her that he had been involved in the incident stating “there had been a madness.”

Okafor later told his girlfriend that he had stabbed ‘Charmz’ in the stomach. He gave her a pair of black gloves he had worn on that evening and asked her to look after them. Days later he also asked her to dispose of his distinctive t-shirt in a bin in the road.

When police spoke to his girlfriend she handed them the gloves which were found to have Carl’s DNA on them.

Detectives attended Okafor’s home address on Landcroft Road, Dulwich early on 13th August 2009 but he was not there.

It became apparent from enquiries and from his account at trial that he managed to escape out of the back window into a neighbour’s garden, coming back when the police had left.

Okafor then went to the bank and withdrew all his money before travelling to Barking where he checked into a hotel for three days.

On 17th August 2009, Okafor was captured on CCTV with his brother Junior at Heathrow Airport. The brothers swapped clothing and Jeffrey Okafor left the UK on a flight to Lagos, Nigeria, using Junior's passport.

In Nigeria, Okafor began building a new life, but in the lead up to the fifth anniversary of Carl’s murder, detectives supported by Carl’s family, renewed their appeal to trace him. A reward of £10,000 for information was secured and promoted worldwide.

Vital information was provided to detectives and with the help of the Nigerian authorities and the British High Commission. Okafor was arrested on 23rd September 2014. He was apprehended in Warri, Delta State by Nigerian police officers.

During his five years on the run, officers discovered he led a relatively comfortable life helped by others. He studied at Novena University and even joined the National Youth Service Corps completing part of the equivalent of national service.

Okafor was extradited back to the UK on 6th November 2014, where he was arrested and charged with Carl’s murder.

She added: "This was an international manhunt and Okafor’s detention would not have been achieved had it not been for the assistance of the Nigerian Police Force, the British High Commission in Abuja and the Nigerian Ministry of Justice. I would like to thank them all for the help they provided in securing Okafor’s return to the UK. I am pleased with the sentence that has been handed down today and I hope that this brings some small measure of comfort to Carl’s family."

On 12th August 2010, Junior Okafor was sentenced to four years in jail after pleading guilty to assisting an offender. Lynn Kanebi, their mother, was acquitted of the same charge following a trial that same year.

John Beatson-Asiedu, Carl’s father, released a victim impact statement following the verdict.

He said: "Carl was a very ambitious individual who made every effort to be the best at all he did. He used the phrase “I came, I saw, I conquered” whenever he successfully achieved a goal he had set for himself.

Carl’s tragic and untimely death on 1st August 2009 has created an enormous void in all our lives and is an unbelievable loss to his family, friends, loved ones and fans who followed his music career and his love for humanity.

Carl was precious, loving, charming and was always smiling. After Carl’s death we received letters from all the organisations he worked with, the university and college he attended and over 10,000 people who joined a tribute group on the social networking site Facebook, there were hundreds of messages that showed Carl was truly loved and admired; he touched so many lives in such a short life time."