Malcolm Barnett

Malcolm Barnett died after being beaten with a baseball bat when six men burgled his home in Dagenham, East London, on 10 June 2006.

He suffered head injuries and was taken to hospital where he died five days later on 15 June 2006.

The men had come in through a back door that was unlocked. Two other women, his sister and niece, lived in the house and the men demanded money from them and then went into Malcolm Barnett's bedroom where he was sleeping and attacked him. They took jewellery and cash.

Five of the men were described as being black whilst the sixth man was said to have been of mixed race. They were all wearing hooded tops and aged between their late teens and mid 20s. It was thought that they ran off to a car that was in Witham Road and then drove off in the direction of Reede Road.

Three men were later arrested in 2006 but no charges were made. Later in October 2007 a man was charged with aggravated burglary, robbery and actual bodily harm and then later with the murder of Malcolm Barnett but the charges were all dropped in February 2008. In total nine people were arrested in relation to his murder but none charged.

The police said that they didn't think that the attack was random.