Paul Hunt - the third man in the street

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APART from *****, Jason Moore, Abdul Ahmed and Sally Palmer, the only other witness to the fatal incident (as far as is known) was Paul Hunt – Robert Darby's friend who was with him in his black BMW that afternoon.

But, being in fear of reprisals from *****, Hunt – who was 42-years-old at the time – has so far refused to reveal anything about what actually happened in Perth Road that day.

He told police, judge and jury that he was "asleep" throughout the whole incident and expects everyone to believe that he saw nothing of what unfolded just a few feet away from him while he slept soundly.

Hunt – who grew up in Bennetts Castle Lane, Dagenham but was living with his then girlfriend in Chadwell Heath, Essex at the time of his friend’s death – tried to conceal vital evidence by hiding the yellow/black-handled Stanley knife, as used by Darby in his physical confrontation with *****, behind an advertising A-board in The Valentine pub car park. 

His excuse? "I didn't want Robert to lash out," he said in his witness statement.

Darby couldn’t have ‘lashed out’ because, according to bar staff who came out from the pub, he was bleeding profusely, had lost consciousness and was on the brink of death. Robert passed away the next day.

Hunt initially refused to come to the Old Bailey and, after being forced to attend by the judge, very reluctantly gave evidence from behind a screen. Ironically, he was called by the prosecution as a 'witness of truth'. Couldn't make it up, could you?

Hunt earlier told police that, miraculously, he “woke up” after the stabbing, then drove Darby's car off Perth Road and into the nearby pub car park, where his mate lay on the rain-lashed concrete desperately fighting for his life.

Moments after Darby was stabbed, Hunt’s first mobile phone call was not to the emergency services (Sally Palmer, van delivery driver Norman Wiggington and a member of the pub bar staff called for an ambulance). It was to his girlfriend, ****. One eye-witness overheard Hunt say to her: “He’s done him” or “******’s done him.”

 

One witness, who gave a statement to police, couldn't believe that Hunt was not assisting his friend, who was bleeding very heavily, and was more interested in making a call to his girlfriend.

Whatever his exact words were, **** got the clear impression from Hunt that he knew the stabber.

Crucially, Hunt didn’t know Jason Moore and had never seen him before that day. 

But Hunt DID know *****.

DC Sarah Cooper's main role at the scene was to identify witnesses, take details and arrange for their transportation to Ilford Police Station. She spoke to Abdul Ahmed and Sally Palmer and stated: "Both appeared to be in shock and were offered medical aid, which they declined." 

Then, after PC Marley passed her CCTV footage captured by the pub’s system, her attention was drawn to Hunt. DC Cooper said in her statement: "Hunt was sitting in the police marked van. I was told that he was the friend of Darby but was also told that his recollection of the incident bore little similarity to that of the other two witnesses."

PC Mark McFaull saw Hunt sitting in a rear seat of the marked police vehicle. He said in his statement: "He appeared very nervous, as I could see him shaking. I could also see that he was wearing a green khaki jacket with a white t-shirt underneath, brown shoes and blue jeans."

 

At 14.06, when Hunt said 'fair enough' to being seen on CCTV attempting to hide the Stanley knife, PC McFaull (in the presence of PC Marley) arrested and cautioned him, on suspicion of causing GBH.

 

After searching Hunt at Ilford PS, officers took the following from him:

1 x paper package holding 0.885 gram of cream coloured powder (found to contain 42% cocaine)

1 x paper package holding 0.277 gram of off-white powder (46% cocaine)

1 x cling film package partially holding 2 similar tablets, each bearing ‘LOVE’ logo (MDMA/Ecstasy)

Strangely, Ilford detectives didn’t charge Hunt with attempting to pervert the course of justice (for hiding the knife) or for illegal possession of class A drugs.

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Further weapons were later found in the boot of the car Darby and Hunt travelled in.

Police records show that they took a set of four photos of Hunt but these have never been disclosed to Moore’s defence team.

 

While at Ilford PS, Hunt started to talk but one officer told him to "shut up", adding that he would take a statement from him later. Whatever Hunt had to say has never been disclosed.

 

Neither has a written transcript or tape recording of Hunt's police interview been provided to Moore's defence team. Why?

The ‘mug shots’ of Hunt are of particular interest, especially given the eyewitnesses’ descriptions of the three men in the street. Both Abdul Ahmed and Sally Palmer saw a man of about 5ft 6ins in height, standing close to Darby and *****.

Hunt is 5ft 6ins.

Moore is 6ft 5ins.

A big difference of 11 inches.

It is inexplicable that police officers who dealt with Hunt at Ilford PS didn’t put two and two together and get four after their colleagues questioned Ahmed and Palmer, in the same police station on the same afternoon, and the heights they gave for the only man other than Darby and ***** at the scene matched Hunt’s measurements TO THE INCH.

Hunt’s hair colour and style is also very significant – strikingly similar to Moore’s dark mop. 

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Abdul Ahmed’s view of Hunt

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Whatever doubts surround Abdul Ahmed’s account of the incident, what cannot be disputed is that throughout the course of his police interviews and his trial testimony he consistently described the other (third) man in the street, the “driver of the small silver car”, as follows: “Thick dark brown hair . . . fluffy, big hair . . . two inches from his head . . . short but coming up to his collar, long on top . . . sticking up and uncombed.”

When Ahmed eventually picked Moore out of the ID parade in 2012, more than seven years on from the incident, he was shown one photo of Moore – from the chest upwards. 

Does this explain why the CPS are still refusing repeated requests by Jason’s solicitor to release their photos of Hunt? Are they concerned that, facially, he looked too much like the smallest man that Ahmed and Palmer both saw in the street?

As for the height and stature of this all-important third man, Ahmed was also accurate in describing Hunt: “About my height, 5ft 6ins . . . 30-35-years-old . . . normal build, not fit, not strong, not skinny, not fat . . . not a big man.”

So he is very obviously NOT referring here to either ***** or Moore.

Height Issues exposing the 11-inch difference between Hunt and Moore.

Sally Palmer’s view of Hunt

Now let’s consider how Sally Palmer, the witness closest to the incident, viewed the ‘third man in the street’ and compare it to Ahmed’s descriptions. In her first police interview, just hours after the incident, when you would expect her recall to be at its best, she described Darby’s friend as follows: “30s, 5'8-5'9, dark, short, curly hair, but not dead short. Olive green parka – a sort of camping regular-style jacket, cotton material.”

As you can see from this CCTV images (right) of Hunt in the pub car park, just as Palmer and PC McFaull both stated, he most certainly WAS wearing an olive green, parka-style top.

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For the record, Hunt's clothing exhibits were logged by Ilford Police as follows:

* Green khaki jacket - MDM/2 seal 60500892
* Cream T-shirt - MDM/3 seal 6050091Z
* Dark blue jeans - MDM/4 seal 6050090Z
* Black socks – MDM/5 seal 6050086Z & MDM/6 6050088Z
* Tan shoes – MDM/7 seal 6050085Z & MDM/8 seal 6050087Z

Before he left Ilford PS, he was medically examined by Dr. David Rubenstein, who noted in his statement that the witness had fresh cuts and grazes to his knuckles. These were most likely the result of Hunt’s unsuccessful attempt to drag and lift Darby – bleeding heavily from the knife wound – into the passenger seat of Rob’s BMW. This futile action suggests that Hunt intended to leave the scene, possibly to drive Darby to the local King George Hospital himself, before the air ambulance and police arrived.

Hunt was released from police custody, without charge, the day after the incident. 

Free to go.

Free to continue making a mockery of the British justice system.

Not required to appear in any ID parade.

We understand he left his Essex roots to work as a DJ in Sri Lanka, where – according to a Facebook post – he started a ‘promotions and entertainment company’ called Del Amore Global, specialising in house music.

It is understood that he moved on from Sri Lanka to Spain, although he could well be back in England by now. In a statement he gave police prior to the trial, in November 2013, he was said to be ‘unemployed’. 

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“I got the impression he wasn’t telling me something”

In her trial testimony, Adele Rayner recalled a verbal conversation she had with Hunt sometime after the stabbing. As mentioned by the judge in his summing-up remarks, Rayner stated: “Hunt did say something to indicate that he had seen the incident. I have only the gist of it in my head. I can’t really remember the conversation and I got the impression that he wasn’t telling me something.”  

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Despite his client being on trial for murder and Hunt's admission that he was at the scene of the crime, *****'s QC declined to cross-examine Hunt at the Old Bailey. He didn't need to. Hunt was never going to say anything in court to incriminate *****.

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There was a conspiracy of silence.

 

Just before he was driven away from the scene by *****, Jason Moore clearly overheard ***** threaten Hunt with words to the effect of: 'You didn't see anything of what happened here, OK?"

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****, Hunt's former girlfriend, told the Court of Appeal that Hunt ordered her to say nothing to police about what happened that day. He had obviously mentioned to her what really happened in Perth Road but she was sworn to secrecy in 2005.

**** proved she has a conscience by courageously coming forward to try and help to clear Moore.

Does Paul Robert Hunt have a conscience? Does he sleep easily at night? So far he has declined to do the right thing by the friend who was literally dying in his arms.