Man's murder conviction quashed on appeal

A man jailed for his part in the killing of a father of two has had his murder conviction quashed.

In 2023 at St Albans Crown Court, Sakeen Gordon, 24, was sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison after being found guilty of murder and conspiracy to rob.

He was one of five people jailed in connection with the death of Vishal Gohel, 44, who had been found unresponsive in his flat in Bushey, Hertfordshire, in 2022.

But judges at the Court of Appeal reduced Gordon's conviction from murder to manslaughter, ruling that key evidence that emerged late in the original trial should have been considered.

The 2023 trial heard how Mr Gohel had been expecting to have sex with three women at a party at his flat.

But, after refusing to transfer cash, he was attacked in his bedroom and died, the jury was told.

A post-mortem examination found he had suffered severe blows to his head.

The jury found two men and a woman, including Gordon, guilty of murder. Another man and a woman were also found guilty of manslaughter.

Gordon, of Uxbridge Road, Ealing, west London, denied entering the bedroom where Mr Gohel died and denied using any force on him or knowing that anyone else had done so.

He also denied that he was party to a conspiracy to rob.

According to court documents, Gordon's grounds of appeal related to the "way in which the judge dealt with some notes about the case which were produced to the prosecution" by a co-defendant's solicitor "late in the course of the trial".

They revealed, said the documents, that two of Gordon's co-defendants were "fabricating a story about the events" and were in part a "confession".

The notes were "directly relevant" to the credibility of a co-defendant who had claimed Gordon was in the bedroom when Mr Gohel was attacked.

The court ruled "we consider that the exclusion of the confession evidence was the result of an error of law and we find that it renders the conviction of Gordon unsafe".

"His appeal is allowed and the conviction for murder is quashed," the ruling stated.

The Court of Appeal adjusted Gordon's jail term to 16 years, with an additional four years on extended licence.

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