Monica Szmecht murder trial: Anthony Clarke found guilty

May 1 2008

A LIVERPOOL businessman has been found guilty of the kidnap and murder of a young Polish waitress.

Anthony Clarke, 27, bundled his Polish-born ex-girlfriend, Monika Szmecht, into a van and held her hostage for more than four hours.

He then drove her to an isolated country lane in St Helens where she was repeatedly stabbed and set on fire.

When she did not die, jurors at Liverpool Crown Court were told, Clarke continued the stabbing frenzy before leaving her for dead.

But the 21-year-old survived long enough to crawl 150 yards to a house on Blindfoot Road and, moments before she died, named Clarke as her attacker when paramedics asked who was responsible.

Clarke, a former soldier, of Halsey Crescent, West Derby, Liverpool, had denied murder but today the 11 jurors returned a unanimous guilty verdict after five hours of deliberations.

Clarke, the owner of a tyre firm, motor garage and a taxi company in Liverpool, stood emotionless as the verdict was returned.

Mr Justice Teare told him he would be sentenced tomorrow.

As he turned towards the cells, Clarke winked at the mother of his two children, who was crying in the public gallery alongside his own mother.

Ms Szmecht’s sister, Kalina Adamska, who also works as a waitress in Liverpool, was hugged by her police liaison officer.

She made no comment as she left the court.

During the four week trial, Andrew Menary QC, prosecuting, told how Clarke had ended a year-long relationship with Ms Szmecht shortly before the murder.

Mr Menary said that although Clarke had asked Ms Szmecht to leave the house they shared, which he owned, and he had moved his former partner and their children back in, he refused to allow Ms Szmecht to see other men and became jealous.

He said Clarke had been violent towards Ms Szmecht on a number of occasions and she had reported him to police.

He also said Ms Szmecht had demanded £1,000 from Clarke for her to withdraw her statement.

It was this blackmail attempt, labelled naive and out of character by Mr Menary, that led to Ms Szmecht meeting with Clarke on 11 June last year.

Clarke had told her he would pay her the money and the couple agreed to meet in the car park of a fire station near her home in Croxteth, Liverpool.

But instead Clarke forced her into his van, locked her inside a cage at the back and left her inside for four hours, with the car alarm sounding, as it was parked at his garage business.

He later drove her to Blindfoot Road, near the village of Rainford, St Helens, where the murder took place.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Dale, who led the investigation, said: "Monika came to this Country in 2005 to find work. She met, and started a relationship with Clarke in 2006.

"Prior to making an intended complaint about him to police she agreed to meet with Clarke on the afternoon of 11 June.

"We do not know exactly what happened to her after that, until she turned up, seeking help in Blindfoot Road at 9pm, brutally stabbed and set alight. It was a truly brutal and tragic end to a young life.

"I would like to thank my team for their hard work in this investigation, and Monika’s family for their support throughout.

"My thoughts are now with the family and I hope that the conclusion of this trial can give them a small element of closure and allow them to start the process of coming to terms with their devastating loss."

Clarke was originally charged with murder alongside his uncle, David Clarke, 46, of Walton Village, Liverpool, and best friend Philip Savin, 29, of Chester Avenue, Bootle, Merseyside.

But on the day the trial was due to begin, both Savin and David Clarke agreed to plead guilty to lesser charges and give evidence for the prosecution.

Savin described how Anthony Clarke became increasingly angry that Ms Szmecht, who worked at the Bar Italia restaurant in Liverpool city centre, was receiving text messages from a man.

It was later established the man was not her new lover but her landlord.

Savin helped Clarke force Ms Szmecht, who was originally from Kloda, near Leszno, Poland, into the van and later terrified her by holding a container of petrol in front of her as she was trapped in the rear cage of the vehicle.

David Clarke, also a business partner of Anthony Clarke’s, told the court his nephew confessed to the murder to him the following day and it was he who arranged for the van to be cleaned and all evidence of Monika’s hostage ordeal removed.

David Clarke has pleaded guilty to assisting an offender and Savin has pleaded guilty to kidnap, making threats and assisting an offender.

Both will be sentenced alongside the murderer tomorrow.

Merseyside Police put armed officers around the court building for today’s verdict as the three men are thought to have links with Liverpool’s criminal underworld.

The court has also been told that when he heard his uncle would give evidence against him, Anthony Clarke threatened to have David Clarke’s wife, his own aunt, shot.

Tomorrow’s sentencing will take place at 10.30am.