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Shumin Hussain

Age: 29

Sex: male

Date: 7 Sep 2003

Place: Flat 51 Telford Court, Alma Road, St Albans

Shumin Hussain died after falling from the ninth floor of Telford Court in St Albans, about 100ft, at about 10.15pm on 7 September 2003.

The flat that he had fallen from was a well-known drug den and it was thought that there might have been an argument there after some money had gone missing. It was reported that the walls were covered with blood.

Neighbours had heard an argument and screams coming from the ninth floor and called the police. Whilst on the phone to the police one man who lived on the seventh floor said that he saw a body go past his window and said that he found it quite shocking. He said that he had heard people shouting and running up and down the stairs, coming and going.

When the police arrived, they sealed off the flats and later arrested several people on suspicion of murder but no one was ever charged.

There had been a disturbance in the flat, which was a known drug den, where a number of people had been, some of whom were never traced.

It was said that Shumin Hussain had been glassed in the face before being manhandled out of the window.

It was thought that Shumin Hussain might have clung on to the window by his fingertips after he was manhandled out. The doctor that examined his body said that he found scrapes and bruises on his hands and fingertips which made him think that he had tried to hold on to something, such as the window ledge, before he had fallen.

The home office pathologist said that he found marks on Shumin Hussain's face that indicated that he had been hit by glass or a glass object before he had died.

He said that they key piece of evidence to indicate that Shumin Hussain had been manhandled out of the window was a footprint found on the window ledge of the flat below and the fact that there were no footprints on the window ledge that he had come out of. He said that he thought that he had held onto the window ledge until he was forced to let go or had been no longer able to hold his own weight. He said that the evidence was not consistent with someone that was thrown out of a window or someone that had taken a running jump out of a window.

The Coroner's inquest heard that a man had said that he had been to the flat to buy crack cocaine from a man and that Shumin Hussain had been in the flat. The man said that he had known Shumin Hussain for quite a while and said that he was shocked to see him there as he didn't expect that it was the sort of place he would be. He said that he spoke to him for a while about college. The man said that two girls then arrived at the flat and that one of the men there was shouting a lot and running about and noted that the man had injected crack cocaine.

Another person said that four men and a woman later forced their way into the flat. He said that one person had knocked on the door saying their name whilst the others hid against the walls to the side of the door and that after the man opened the door they all forced their way in and that guns had been produced. The people were later identified and were present at the inquest. Several of them were in prison at the time for other offences. The woman said that she had gone with the men to the flat after she had had money stolen from her. The men that were said to have burst into the flat said at the Coroner’s inquest that they couldn't remember anything about the evening. They had earlier been drinking and had run up to the flat and then run back in time for last orders at a pub. It was heard that the men had been seen on CCTV running from the Vintry Pub in St Albans and going down London Road towards Telford Court and then returning in less than 30 minutes, which was said to have been the time period in which Shumin Hussain was killed. When they returned to the pub one of them was seen to hug one of the others and one person was heard to say, 'Keep calm, nothing happened'.

The blood from one of the men from the Vintry Pub was found on glass that was thought to have been used to attack Shumin Hussain with. However, he said that after leaving the Vintry Pub he had gone home on his own and not been to the flat. When the Coroner asked how his blood came to be on the piece of glass he said that he had earlier cut his hand when opening a can of coke and had then drunk from a glass.

It was said that the owner of the flat was said to have been heard shouting whilst the police attended to Shumin Hussain on the pavement outside and that he had been saying 'Is the motherf***er dead? He deserves to f***ing die.', but he denied ever having said that. He said that when the flat was raided he had gone into the kitchen looking for a knife and said that when he came out Shumin Hussain was gone. He had a head wound and was bleeding heavily from it. It was said by forensic experts that the blood, which was everywhere in the flat, was from the flat owners head injury. It was said to have been in the bathroom, in the kitchen and inside cupboards.

Forensic experts also said that the vast majority of footprints in the flat were the owners and Shumin Hussain's, including some near the window.

It was also heard that two people that were thought to have been in the flat were never traced and also that two that had been there died before the inquest. One of them was said to have died in strange circumstances within 24 hours of Shumin Hussain's death after walking down the centre of the London Colney bypass that night. He had had blood on his trainers. Another witness also later died.

One of the people that was never traced was said to have possibly been living in the Costa del Sol in Spain although it was later said that that person had later returned to Jamaica.

Shumin Hussain had been a criminologist student and had lived in Doggetts Way.


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