Age: 26
Sex: male
Date: 13 Feb 2009
Place: 338 Western Road, Leicester
Krystian Jerzy Gidek was found beaten to death in a bedroom at his home at 338 Western Road in Leicester on 13 February 2009.
He was a Polish national but had only been in the UK for six months.
When he was found lying on his back in the property he had injuries consistent with an assault having been hit at least 70 times with a blunt object.
Several people were arrested for his murder and another man, a friend of his, was charged and tried but acquitted at Leicester Crown Court in December 2009.
There was no known motive for the attack although when his friend was tried for his murder it was said that they had had a drunken argument as they were both heavy drinkers. When police had gone to the address they had found several empty bottles of vodka and cider in the house.
The friend that was tried said that Krystian Gidek was a cannabis user and had been murdered by someone else in a row about an £80 drug debt.
It was noted that the man that was tried had changed his story a number of times. At first he had said that he had known nothing at all but when the police found Krystian Gidek's blood on his clothes he said that he had seen the murder and then run off. The friend said that he had seen four people come into the property and that when Krystian Gidek slashed one of them with a knife the men had attacked him. He said that he then fled and went and told some friends about it. However, whilst it was determined that Krystian Gidek was murdered on 13 February 2009, his body was not found until 16 February 2009 and the prosecution said that if it was the case that the friend had told his friends about the assault then Krystian Gidek's body would have been found on 13 February and not 16 February. The court heard that the friend told the friends about the attack on Krystian Gidek on 16 February 2009 and that those friends had then gone round to see Krystian Gidek and when they didn't get a reply they broke in and found him dead in the bedroom.
However, the defence noted that blood and saliva was found in the house that belonged to another unidentified man. It was also stated in court that Krystian Gidek did owe money to people. The court heard that Krystian Gidek had previously been assaulted in central Leicester by four men a few months before he was murdered over a similar drug debt.
The defence said that the friend had not said anything because he had feared reprisals whilst the prosecution said that he had not said anything because it would be clear that he had been involved in what had happened.
see www.leicestermercury.co.uk
see BBC
see Leicester Mercury Man accused of murdering his friend found not guilty
see BBC Fifth arrest made after body find