Iwan Romanowskyj

Iwan Romanowskyj was found stabbed at his home on the afternoon of 16 October 1985.

An open verdict was returned.

Iwan Romanowskyj had been a Ukrainian exile.

He was found lying on the kitchen floor of his two-bedroom terraced house in Ryecroft Street, Gloucester by a long-time friend who lived nearby in Falkner street, Gloucester, with whom Iwan Romanowskyj had come to the UK in the late forties.

It was initially reported that he had died from head injuries, but his post mortem examination stated that he had numerous stab wounds.

His kitchen was described as blood-spattered.

However, at his inquest, the jury could not decide how he came to die and an open verdict was returned. The inquest heard that there were no signs of a struggle at his home and that the two severe stab wounds that caused his death through blood loss could have been self-inflicted.

The police also ruled that his death was not murder.

However, the police said that they were baffled by his death, and stated that the sequence of events leading up to it were a mystery.

However, friends of Iwan Romanowskyj said that they didn't believe that he had taken his own life and claimed he had been murdered.

It was noted that Iwan Romanowskyj had been involved in a bitter religious division among Ukrainians in Britain. He had been a supporter of Ukranian Roman Catholics who wanted Rome to recognise Cardinal Lubachiwsky as Patriarch rather than Archbiship Hornyak, the leader of the Ukrainian Catholics in Britain.

It was also noted that he had been burgled earlier in the year, amid rumours that he kept a large amount of cash there.

Since coming to the UK Iwan Romanowskyj had worked at the Walls Ice Cream plant until he retired after which he kept himself busy collecting scrap from around the area and travelling around the country and abroad. He was said to have been a well-known character in Tredworth and was often seen wheeling a wooden barrow through the streets to collect firewood and scrap.

He was said to have fled Russia to escape the terror of the Stalinist purges.

His friend said:

He said that Iwan Romanowskyj had still been strong for his age and was generally in good health. He said that he hadn't seen him for three days before he found him dead and that he eventually went round to see how he was. He said that when he first went round he got no reply and returned home and that when he called round a second time and still got no response he went back home and got the key and returned and let himself in and found him dead.

He said that when he opened the door he saw a small axe on the floor and had to push it out of the way before he could open the door enough to get in. He said that he could then see into the kitchen at the end of the corridor and saw Iwan Romanowskyj lying on the floor.

He said that he then rushed over to where Iwan Romanowskyj was and found him lying partly on the floor and partly against the wall and then checked the backdoor and found it locked and then went for the police. However, other reports suggested that Iwan Romanowskyj was found lying with his head in a cupboard under the sink and that his body was covered in horrific stab wounds.

It was heard that Iwan Romanowskyj had suffered from the heart disease angina, which he took pills for, and that he had suffered a heart attack in 1984. However, it was noted that the pills would not have affected his mental state.

Iwan Romanowskyj had lived next door to a shop and the owner of it said that he last saw Iwan Romanowskyj two days before he was found dead. He noted that on 15 October 1985 that he was woken by a loud bang, followed by a sort of vibration, and had thought that his shop window had been broken, but that when he went to investigate he could find nothing wrong.

The Home Office pathologist said that he found numerous cuts and abrasions on Iwan Romanowskyj's body, and gave his cause of death as loss of blood due to knife wounds, which he characterised as being self-inflicted. He noted that in particular there was a severe gash to his left wrist and another to his face, but that there were no obvious defence injuries to indicate that he had been fighting off an attack.

A detective added that there was no evidence of any struggle having taken place in the kitchen or any other part of the house.

The detective noted that a penknife, another kitchen knife found in a drawer, a hammer found near his body and the axe were all sent away for forensic examination.

He added that a thorough search of the house found £808 in cash that was not particularly well hidden in various cupboards and drawers. He also noted that it was obvious that Iwan Romanowskyj had been a very religious man, temperate, quiet and introverted.

The detective noted that there was no evidence that anyone else had been in the house.

A forensic scientist said that there had been a considerable amount of blood splashed around the kitchen and that he found blood on each of the items submitted for examination, the penknife, which he noted was quite sharp, the kitchen knife, the hammer and the axe. He noted that it was most likely that the penknife had caused most of the cuts to Iwan Romanowskyj's clothing and body.

Iwan Romanowskyj's funeral was conducted at St Barnabus Church in Gloucester instead of the Ukranian Church in Derby Road because of the religious split. More than 100 members of Gloucester's Ukrainian community attended his funeral on Thursday 8 November 1985, however, it was noted that friends present said that they didn't believe the report that Iwan Romanowskyj had taken his own life, claiming instead that he had been murdered.