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Denis Petkov

Age: 19

Sex: male

Date: 12 Mar 2017

Place: East Hanningfield Road, Rettendon, Essex

Denis Petkov was found stabbed to death in a stairwell at some flats in the early hours of 12 March 2017.

A man was charged with his murder but the case was later dropped due to lack of evidence.

It was said that one of his two neighbours had stabbed him in the neck but that the police could not determine which one it was.

It was said that Denis Petkov had gone to his neighbours flat and kicked in the door and gone in to attack the occupants who had been in bed asleep at the time and that he was then stabbed in the neck in the bedroom there by one of them.

It was heard Denis Petkov had spent the evening drinking with his flatmates and that for no known reason, just before midnight, he had 'stormed out of the flat' and gone to his neighbours flat, kicked the door in, and gone inside to attack them.

A witness that saw him said that he had been 'like a typhoon' and it was said that he had been behaving in an aggressive manner.

It was said that the two men had sought sanctuary in another room.

Denis Petkov was found shortly after at the bottom of a stairwell outside the flat in a collapsed state having been stabbed. His post mortem revealed that he died from a single stab wound to his neck.

Shortly after Denis Petkov was found the police arrested five people that had occupied the flat that Denis Petkov had stormed into but had released three of them shortly after without charge. However, they charged the other two men with murder.

The men denied the charges and a trial date was set but the Crown Prosecution Service announced that they were not going to offer any evidence ahead of the trial and the trial was cancelled.

After the Crown Prosecution Service announced that they were not offering any evidence, they said, 'This decision means that the case cannot proceed and so we have offered no evidence against him'.

Additionally they said, 'A man was charged in March 2017 on the basis that there was a reasonable suspicion he had committed the offence and there were reasonable grounds for believing the continuing investigation would provide further evidence within a reasonable amount of time. In order to proceed, all cases have to meet the tests under the Code for Crown Prosecutors, namely that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest to go ahead. The continuing investigation has not provided us with the necessary further evidence. We have therefore reviewed the case with senior police officers and independent counsel and CPS East of England has concluded there is insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction against the man. This decision means that the case cannot proceed and so we have offered no evidence against him'.

At the inquest, the Coroner summarised the police report, saying, 'The investigation failed to identify which of the two people in the bedroom stabbed Mr Petkov and neither made any admissions, and there was a potential defence of self-defence'.

An open verdict was returned at his inquest with the Coroner saying that there was insufficient evidence to record unlawful killing.

A comment on the Basildon, Canvey and Southend Echo web site read, 'Another one slips through the net, thanks to the incompetent C.P.S. criminal protection service', whilst another comment read, 'What a joke! No wonder the public have lost it with Law and Order. What was this a self-inflicted fatal stabbing, a self-defence incident. Surely the public needs to know what happened as the guy charged originally is out and about??'.

Denis Petkov was from Bulgaria and had worked at a hand car wash at a Sainsbury's supermarket in Chelmsford and had only been living in East Hanningfield Road for three weeks.


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