Tyrone Mulinde

Tyrone Mulinde was stabbed in the heart at a block of flats in Bridgwater.

He had been a county Lines drug dealer and was from Chertsey in Surrey but had been of no fixed address at the time of his death and had taken over flat 11 in Dampiet House from a vulnerable tenant along with two other drug dealers, one of whom was his childhood friend. Tyrone Mulinde's nickname was 'Money'. He was originally from Uganda.

Dampiet House was being used as a homeless facility at the time. It was a 15-room facility run by the homeless charity Arc and was for people 'who were homeless or in danger of becoming homeless'.

Tyrone Mulinde had been attacked at a top floor flat at Dampiet House on 20 October 2018 at about 12.10pm. He had been stabbed through the arm and through the heart.

Two people were tried for his murder twice but acquitted. At the first trial on 7 May 2019 at Exeter Crown Court the trial collapsed after the jury was discharged midway through. They were later acquitted at a following trial in November 2019.

It was claimed that the two people, a 25-year-old man and an 18-year-old  woman, had worked for Tyrone Mulinde running a satellite operation for him in Yeovil, the woman being paid £100 a day to sell heroin and cocaine and the man as her body guard who was said to have been armed at all times with a knife.

The body guard was described as being black, 6ft 2in to 6ft 4in tall and powerfully built.

The court heard that the two people had been planning to go back to London on 20 October 2018 but that Tyrone Mulinde had summoned them from Yeovil to meet him in Bridgwater and had sent one of the drug dealers to go and collect them (not the drug dealer that had been his childhood friend).

They arrived with the other drug dealer at Dampiet House at 12.05pm and were seen going in together on CCTV. They were said to have met Tyrone Mulinde in the lobby and to have then gone up with him to flat 11 where another drug dealer was, a close friend of Tyrone Mulinde, who had known him since he was six-years-old.

It was said that they then attacked Tyrone Mulinde within six minutes of arriving. Tyrone Mulinde's friend, the other drug dealer, was seen to run down the stairs and out of the building at 12.11pm. He later said that he had hidden in the bathroom when the attack took place and that he had run off as soon as it finished. He was noted for later having killed himself by walking in front of a train at Luton, it being said that he had felt guilty for not helping Tyrone Mulinde.

It was thought that they had attacked him as soon as they had entered the flat and that his murder had been planned by the woman and the bodyguard in advance because of money issues and not receiving enough of the profits.

The woman was seen to leave the flat moments after the drug dealer, just after 12.11pm whilst the body guard was seen to leave at 12.24pm carrying four bags which were said to have contained drugs and money.

It was said that the woman had called the emergency services before leaving the flat but had hung up when asked for the address and that after that the emergency services had called back twice, by which time she had left the flat, and that when she answered the second call she had said that it was a false alarm and that she had been calling about a friend that had been choking but that he had since recovered and she cancelled the ambulance.

Her 999 calls were played back at the trial and in the first call, made which she was in flat 11, she was heard to be crying and sometimes being incoherent before she hung up after she was asked to tell them the address.

The other drug dealer at the flat had remained and had given Tyrone Mulinde first aid and gone for a neighbour to get help. He made two 999 calls and followed directions to stop Tyrone Mulinde from bleeding. During the call he said, 'He is not awake. There is not much breath. I walked in and I think someone has been stabbed. A man has been stabbed'. When the operator asked him to stop the bleeding by pressing a towel hard against his chest wound the drug dealer said, 'Yes, yes, I'm doing that. It won't stop, the bleeding won't stop'.

However, he later refused to cooperate with the police.

It was heard that the woman later met the bodyguard and the other drug dealer at Bridgwater station and that the bodyguard had returned to London with the other drug dealer  with whom he had stayed the night at his girlfriend's after which they went to Luton.

It was noted that between leaving Dampiet House and arriving at Bridgwater station that the woman and her bodyguard had changed their clothes. It was heard that the woman had changed out of a grey tracksuit at a McDonald's restaurant whilst the bodyguard had changed out of dark jeans and a blue camouflage jacket and into some light coloured trousers and a black coat.

Whilst they were in London it was heard that the other drug dealers girlfriend saw the bodyguard washing blood off of about £300 worth of £20 notes and then drying them with a hair dryer.

It was heard that the bodyguard had been staying in a homeless hostel at the time and that he had used some of the money to pay his rent and the police were later able to recover five of the £20 notes that he had used which were later determined to have had Tyrone Mulinde's DNA on it.

It was heard that the woman had later told the police that her bodyguard had attacked Tyrone Mulinde as soon as they entered the flat, saying that she had no idea that he was going to attack him.

The body guard said that one of the other people in the room had stabbed Tyrone Mulinde.

The bodyguard had lived in St Stephens Crescent, Westminster whilst the woman had lived in Crescent Way, North Finchley.

Tyrone Mulinde's cause of death was given as being due to a stab wound to the chest and a haemopericardium, with the pathologist saying, 'The immediate cause of death was a stab wound to the chest that went through the breast bone and punctured the heart in two places. The wound caused blood to leak out under pressure into the bag around the heart [pericardium]'.

At the trial the prosecution submitted that the bodyguard had first punched Tyrone Mulinde in the back of the head and then wrestled with him and then stabbed him in the arm and chest, killing him.

The prosecution said that the reason for the attack was because the woman had been expecting £1,000 whilst Tyrone Mulinde had offered her only £600 and that her body guard had also felt underpaid.

It was claimed that after leaving the flat that the bodyguard had changed his clothes at the earliest opportunity and that the reason for that was because they were bloodstained.

The prosecution said, 'Our case against the bodyguard is that he is the killer. What else could explain the evidence that he changed his clothes at the first opportunity and disposed of them because they were stained with blood. Why else would he kill, if not for money. Who else but the killer would end up with the money? The woman was part of the plan to rob Mr Mulinde, knowing that the plan was going to involve men armed with knives. She knew full well it would involve serious violence, if necessary. What else can explain the evidence that she prevented him receiving medical treatment, and did so deliberately and deviously? She lied to police repeatedly because she did not want her partner in crime to be arrested. She knew he could, if he chose, implicate her. Her behaviour was of someone who was part of something very serious. It was not the behaviour of an innocent bystander'.

The court then heard that the woman had lied about seeing the bodyguard after the stabbing, it being heard that she had said that she had not kept in contact with him, whilst evidence showed that they had been together at Bridgwater station as they left for London. The court also heard that she had said that she had had no phone contact with the bodyguard either, but again, evidence showed that they had remained in touch until the morning she arrested on 25 October 2018.

The bodyguard was arrested on 2 November 2018 but made no comment during questioning but later said that one of the other people in the room must have stabbed Tyrone Mulinde.

Following Tyrone Mulinde's murder his body was due to be returned to Uganda for burial by his father but Tyrone Mulinde's girlfriend objected the day before his body was due to be released and the Coroner reversed the decision stating that he was to be buried in the United Kingdom.