POLICE officers in the UK initially believed murdered musician Michael Menson had set fire to himself, according to reports in the British press.
London Greek Cypriot Charalambous Constantinou and Mario Pereira are on trial for killing the Ghanian diplomat’s son. They deny the charges. A third suspect, Ozguy Cevat, 22, a Turkish Cypriot, fled to the north and is on trial there for the murder.
Menson, 30, was set alight on a London street in January 1997. He sustained burns to 30 per cent of his body and died in hospital 16 days later on February 13.
Police told the court they found Menson dazed and injured in the street in north London and had classified the incident as “illness in the street”.
The crime scene was not preserved until 12 hours after the attack.
Detective Constable James Dunn told the court: “He was completely naked. He had burns that were still smoking from the top of his buttocks to the base of his neck. He was in a trance, I would say. I spoke to him and he never made any response whatsoever. I just thought he was a man behaving extremely strangely and bizarrely. A man who had suffered those injuries would have been screaming in agony.”
Dunn added that he had asked Menson what had happened but the victim had just “looked at me as if I wasn’t there”.
Menson had developed psychiatric problems in recent years which were characterised by trance-like states, the court heard.
But a second police officer, PC Joanna Walshe, told the court Menson told her almost immediately that he had been attacked although his words appeared confused.
The officer who suffered a convulsion in her sleep because of what she had seen, remained off duty until February 12, having failed to report her conversation with the injured man until the 13th, the day he died.
Menson had managed to tell his family from his bedside that he had been attacked. Kwesi Menson, 34, told how his younger brother said he was attacked by white youths aged 18 to 19.
“I asked how it happened. He replied, Some boys put me on fire.”
“I asked him if the police asked him at the scene how he had got his injury. He replied no.”
He described his brother as very health-conscious, clean-living, very religious, upright, understanding, very fair and just. He was adamant his brother would never have committed suicide, despite his mental health problems.
It was two years before police were able to track down the alleged culprits after planting a listening device in their flat.
Police say officers heard them admit taking part in the attack, talk how they could gag witnesses and how they planned to destroy evidence.
