Zygmunt Dlugoborski

Zygmunt Dlugoborski was killed in a street robbery.

He was found unconscious in the street and taken to St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington where an emergency operation was carried out on him but died on Sunday 17 December 1950.

He had suffered from a fractured skull and brain injuries after he was knocked down by two men shortly before midnight on Saturday 16 December 1950 in Hereford Road, Paddington. The two men were seen to run off when passers-by approached.

Other injuries included a large bruise on his jaw which indicated that he had been knocked out and had fallen unconscious.

It was thought that the motive had been robbery and the police said that they had visited cafes and lodging houses in an effort to trace his assailants.

He was a Polish engineering student and had lived in Hereford Road, Bayswater.

A Cypriot cook who had also lived in Hereford Road said that he had been on his way home on the night of 16 December 1950 said that he was at a coffee stall in Hereford Road at 11.30pm when he saw two men walking in his direction. He said, they looked like drunks or were pretending to be drunk and I stepped out of their way. After they had passed me about five yards, I heard very bad swearing from one of the men. I turned my face and I saw the big man just hitting a man with his hands in his pockets'.

The Cypriot cook said that the big man then hit another man and that the two men then went off into Chepstow Road and then turned into an alleyway. The Cypriot cook said that he then went in search of a policeman.

When the Cypriot cook was asked whether he recalled anything about the man that had done the hitting, he said, 'He was a stout, broad man, aged about 34-35, with fair skin and brown hair. He was wearing a light American gaberdine coat. The other man was a little fellow, wearing a black overcoat'.

When the Cypriot cook was asked whether he thought he would recognise either of the men again he said, 'Perhaps. I can't be sure'.

A dustman who lived in Southam Street in North Kensington said that he had been walking towards the coffee stall when he saw Zygmunt Dlugoborski lying in the road groaning. He said, 'I went to him and lifted his head up. He was unconscious and was bleeding heavily from the mouth and from the back of his head'. He said that he then dialled 999 for an ambulance and then went to a person’s house to see if he could borrow a cushion but couldn't obtain one.

However, he noted that he saw nothing of the men that had attacked Zygmunt Dlugoborski.

Whilst Zygmunt Dlugoborski was at the hospital, a policeman said that he made a search of Zygmunt Dlugoborski's belongings for some means of identification and found a diary but said that he had no wallet on him. Zygmunt Dlugoborski's wallet was later found by a postman from Grafton Road in Acton as he was delivering mail in Chepstow Road, lying in the garden of one of the houses. He said that he didn’t see any money in it.

A doctor who examined Zygmunt Dlugoborski when he arrived at the hospital shortly after midnight said that he was semi-conscious and had injuries to his mouth and the back of his head and had apparently been punched in the mouth and had fallen back and struck his head on something hard. He said that in the operating theatre he drilled a hole through Zygmunt Dlugoborski skull and put a needle into his brain to relieve the pressure and said that other operations were also carried out on him, but that he died at 4.48am that same morning.

The pathologist that carried out his post mortem stated that Zygmunt Dlugoborski's cause of death was due to lacerations of the brain from fractures of the skull.

The police later said that they had taken possession of a watch from a pawnbroker's shop in Praed Street, Paddington that was determined to have belonged to Zygmunt Dlugoborski and to have been stolen during the robbery. The pawnbroker had given the person that brought it in £1 for it. The pawnbroker said that the man that brought the watch in gave the name of Johnson and said that he was aged between 30 and 35 and had been well built.

The watch was identified by one of Zygmunt Dlugoborski's friends who had lived in Onslow Gardens in South Kensington. He also identified Zygmunt Dlugoborski's wallet and said that he thought that it would have contained about £6 when he was robbed of it.

Zygmunt Dlugoborski's inquest on Friday 23 February 1951 returned a verdict of 'Murder by some person or persons unknown'.

Zygmunt Dlugoborski was said to have taken part in the Warsaw Uprising and to have served in Italy. His friend said that he had known Zygmunt Dlugoborski since 1944 and that they had both been in the Warsaw Uprising and had also both been German prisoners-of-war in a camp in Germany and had both served in Italy after the liberation.

A cousin of Zygmunt Dlugoborski who had lived in Alma Terrace in Kensington said that Zygmunt Dlugoborski was born in Russia but that he had gone to Poland when he was a baby. She said that he was single and said that he had no enemies that she was aware of.