Patrick Linkavicus

Patrick Linkavicus died in a canal. Its unclear if he tripped and fell in, jumped in or was pushed.

A woman was tried for his murder but acquitted of murder and manslaughter.

An open verdict was returned.

Patrick Linkavicus was a Lithuanian and sold the Big Issue magazine in the Camden area. On the day, he had been drinking heavily with a number of other people on the canal bank between Camden Lock and Hawley Lock on 8 September 2006 when there was an altercation between them and Patrick Linkavicus went into the canal. One of his drinking partners and a passer-by then jumped in to save him and pulled him out

He was a powerful swimmer, however, when he was found he was unconscious. He was taken to the Royal Free Hospital but died the following morning.

At the trial, the prosecution said that the woman had pushed him in and then stopped him from getting out until he became ill.

One of the men that had jumped in to save Patrick Linkavicus, and a key witness, died before the trial, aged 30.

The court heard that the woman had gone into the water herself once it became apparent that Patrick Linkavicus was in trouble and had stayed to help the police. However, once she heard that she was to be charged with murder she fled. She was Polish. For a while she was on Scotland Yard’s Most Wanted List and a European murder warrant was taken out. She was later arrested in Dublin.