Dajour Jones was yesterday found guilty by a unanimous verdict of the “murder in cold blood” of 20-year-old Jamie Gilbey, whose remains were found in undergrowth off Cantley Gardens in South Norwood in 2022.
Guilty: Dajour Jones will be sentenced on Dec 13
The jury in the Old Bailey trial took six hours to reach its verdict, rejecting the claim by Jones that he had hit the victim with a broom in self-defence after Gilbey confronted him with a knife and stole his phone.
Jones, 27, refused to attend the hearing yesterday, even via videolink from Belmarsh Prison, although Judge Nigel Lickley KC said that he will have to attend his sentencing, which will take place on December 13.
During the trial, the court heard how Jones had a history of violent conduct. At the time of the murder, Jones was on licence having been released from prison after attacking a man in a cycle shop in London Bridge.
The killing happened nearly three years ago, when Gilbey’s body was dismembered and dumped in bin bags near South Norwood Lake, with blood-stained clothing and bedding disposed of near a children’s play area in Love Lane.
Simon Denison KC, for the prosecution, had told the court that Jones carried out a “sustained, vicious murder on a defenceless Jamie Gilbey”. The case was “deeply disturbing”, the barrister said. “It really is a murder in cold blood.”
Prosecutor Dennison said Gilbey was an “innocent victim of a highly dangerous man” and had been “too trusting” and “too eager to please”.
He was a “very vulnerable, physically unimposing 20-year-old man who above all wanted to have friends”, he said. Gilbey was “incapable of presenting any physical threat to the defendant let alone taking out a knife and threatening to stab him with it”.
The jury heard how both men had been living in the same supported housing accommodation in Upper Norwood, the Fitze Millennium Centre housing and support facility.
On the evening of January 27 2022, CCTV showed them going into the defendant’s room.
“Jamie Gilbey was never seen alive again,” Dennison said.
“The defendant murdered him there in a brutal, sustained, and particularly disturbing attack in which he inflicted multiple blunt force injuries to Jamie’s head, and he stabbed him multiple times with a sharp weapon.”
CCTV showed the pair leaving the hostel together at around 5.30pm. Forty minutes later, they returned and both went into Jones’ room. It is then that the prosecution made the case that the attack happened, with Gilbey subjected to a brutal and prolonged attack, with Jones hitting him around his head and stabbing him multiple times.
Brutal attack: murder victim Jamie Gilbey
Afterwards, Jones spent time dismembering Gilbey’s body inside his room before buying a large purple suitcase and then making several trips to nearby South Norwood Country Park to dump the body in black bags in deep undergrowth.
According to the Met Police: “At around 13.45hrs on Sunday, 27 February, officers carrying out routine patrols in the park discovered the suitcase in undergrowth in Love Lane SE25. Inside were bloodstained items of clothing.
“After forensic testing, detectives were able to confirm the garments belonged to both Jamie and Jones. It was at this point that Jamie’s family were informed by police of their fears that he had come to harm.”
Following the discovery of the suitcase, officers continued to search the park and on the morning of March 8, officers recovered Gilbey’s body in the grounds of South Norwood Lake – around two miles from where the suitcase was discovered and just a few hundred yards from the hostel.
Gilbey had been reported missing by staff at the hostel on January 30. The case was soon passed to a murder investigation team. Detectives confirmed Jones was the last known person to have been with him.
They scoured hours of CCTV footage and uncovered the footage of Gilbey and Jones returning to their accommodation together on the night of the murder. A forensic search of Jones’s room revealed traces of Gilbey’s blood. “Hidden behind a sink in the room were various bottles of cleaning fluid, which had clearly been used in an attempt to conceal the murder,” according to the police.
Officers sourced footage of Jones leaving the hostel carrying the purple suitcase. They were able to establish that he made several trips. It was the prosecution’s contention that that during the first two, Gilbey’s body was inside the suitcase.
Jones was arrested on March 3, 2022 – before Gilbey’s body was discovered. He refused to tell officers what he had done with the body. When he was charged a couple of days later his response was: “Ah. Cool.”
He maintained his innocence throughout the trial, saying that he acted in self-defence.
Detective Chief Inspector Mike Nolan, who lead the investigation, said: “For reasons known only to Jones, on the evening of the murder he lured Jamie to his room intending to kill him or cause really serious harm. He then subjected Jamie to an extremely violent and sustained attack. Afterwards he dismembered Jamie’s body and disposed of it over a number of days.
“What is particularly chilling is that throughout this time he conducted himself in an entirely relaxed manner. Something had clearly been brewing in Jones’ mind as he had earlier that day asked staff at the accommodation what would happen were he to have a fight inside his room and whether the circumstances would be looked into. This suggests some element of pre-mediation and planning.
“It is clear to me he is a very dangerous man and I am pleased the jury made the right decision and convicted him.”
Jones will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday December 13.
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UPDATED: this article was updated on December 7 to add a photograph of Jones and further details of the police investigation
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