A man who assumed the identity of a deceased Welshman and fled to Portugal evaded murder charges for almost 40 years, a court has heard. In February 1984, Roman Szalajko, a 62-year-old Polish resident of the UK and father-of-two, was fatally stabbed after answering his south London flat door. A cold case review in 2013 revealed a fingerprint match with suspect Paul Bryan, but a police officer later discovered that Bryan had assumed the identity of a deceased person with the same name.
Bryan, who initially evaded the police, was arrested last year at Stansted Airport after returning from Lisbon, where he was living with his wife. A DNA sample taken from the scene of the crime matched perfectly with that of Bryan’s. During the trial, Bryan denied the accusation of killing Szalajko but admitted to having a false identity document. Records showed that he had stolen the identity of a dead man with the same name. The trial continues before Judge Nigel Lickley KC.
Bryan had given the police a false name, and his limited traceability led to heightened suspicions surrounding his true identity. However, officers managed to discover that he had applied for an emergency passport three days after the murder, and his prints were matched to those found at the crime scene. It was revealed in court that a passport had also been issued under the identity of the Welsh Paul Bryan in 1989 that was later renewed.
The prosecutor, Louis Mably KC, told the court that when confronted with evidence of his involvement, Bryan responded with several shocking statements. When questioned about his fingerprint found at the crime scene, he told the police it was “bullshit.” When Bryan was told about the presence of his DNA at the scene, he reportedly said, “This is like a bad nightmare.
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