Man found guilty of the kidnap and murder of his former Polish girlfriend

Ex-lover guilty of fireball death

A 27-year-old man has been found guilty of the kidnap and murder of his former girlfriend, who died after being stabbed and set alight.

Monika Szmecht, 21, was able to crawl for help and identify her attacker as Anthony Clarke before she died, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

Miss Szmecht, originally from Kloda, Poland, was stabbed six times and set alight in revenge for her attempt to blackmail her former boyfriend, the jury was told.

peterwegThreads: 35 Posts: 1,948 Joined: Feb 16, 07	Edited by: peterweg May 1, 08, 11:48 / #
Ex-lover guilty of fireball death A 27-year-old man has been found guilty of the kidnap and murder of his former girlfriend, who died after being stabbed and set alight. Monika Szmecht, 21, was able to crawl for help and identify her attacker as Anthony Clarke before she died, Liverpool Crown Court heard. Miss Szmecht, originally from Kloda, Poland, was stabbed six times and set alight in revenge for her attempt to blackmail her former boyfriend, the jury was told. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/merseyside/7377343.stm

BubbaWooThreads: 46 Posts: 4,438 Joined: Sep 26, 06	May 1, 08, 11:54 / #
peterweg: Monika Szmecht, 21, was able to crawl for help and identify her attacker good peterweg: Anthony Clarke sick fuk peterweg: her attempt to blackmail her former boyfriend yeah, whats that all about?

osiolThreads: 59 Posts: 4,714 Joined: Jul 25, 07	Edited by: osiol May 1, 08, 11:59 / #
BubbaWoo: yeah, whats that all about? That might be referring to the £1000 she had asked off him so she wouldn't press charges against him for a previous incident. Despite how sick this individual looks from what you read at the top of this thread, it gets worse. He even planned to have his aunt shot when his uncle decided to give evidence. BubbaWoo: sick fuk Well said. I hope he rots in his cell.

PinkJewel	May 1, 08, 12:02 / #
Let's hope for a good long sentence and get this animal off the street for a long time. Seems like the kind of guy who was always destined for jail. Good on Monika for identifying this sicko.

BubbaWooThreads: 46 Posts: 4,438 Joined: Sep 26, 06	May 1, 08, 12:06 / #
what on earth was she thinking by trying to blackmail the guy for the grand?

PinkJewel	May 1, 08, 12:20 / #
According to the article he was violent to her, she told the police and then demanded a grand from him to retract her story. That's how the media present it anyway.

peterwegThreads: 35 Posts: 1,948 Joined: Feb 16, 07	May 1, 08, 12:24 / #
BubbaWoo: what on earth was she thinking by trying to blackmail the guy for the grand? Especially as she knew he was violent. Dangerous game, blackmail.

BubbaWooThreads: 46 Posts: 4,438 Joined: Sep 26, 06	Edited by: BubbaWoo May 1, 08, 12:26 / #
my point is that it was a pretty stupid thing to do. peterweg: Especially as she knew he was violent. Dangerous game, blackmail. exactly. idiotic

PinkJewel	May 1, 08, 12:31 / #
BubbaWoo: my point is that it was a pretty stupid thing to do. Yes it was. Although, maybe in her mind she thought if she could get the £1000 it would be enough money to get away from him for good. Who knows?

BubbaWooThreads: 46 Posts: 4,438 Joined: Sep 26, 06	May 1, 08, 12:34 / #
PinkJewel: Although, maybe in her mind she thought if she could get the £1000 it would be enough money to get away from him for good. Who knows? maybe. poor girl RIP

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	May 1, 08, 12:40 / #
Too many toxic relationships. I count my lucky stars that I'm 'wired up' right. Not in the Ozzy Osbourne sense u understand. I agree BW, blackmail is a dangerous game. I don't speak ill of the dead too often but greedily trying to claim that grand was a bad mistake, a dear and costly one.

BubbaWooThreads: 46 Posts: 4,438 Joined: Sep 26, 06	May 1, 08, 12:56 / #
Seanus: I don't speak ill of the dead too often but greedily trying to claim that grand was a bad mistake, a dear and costly one. my thoughts exactly. unfortunately there still remains the belief amongst certain elements of the british population that we didnt build our empire by letting foreigners take the p!ss out of us

SeanusThreads: 22 Posts: 30,158 Joined: Dec 25, 07	May 1, 08, 13:01 / #
True that. Brits will always have this sense of pride and rejection of pish taking (sorry, had to use the Sean Connery version)

PinkJewel	May 1, 08, 14:07 / #
peterweg: Don't detract from the fact that the guy is obviously a psychopath. Very true. peterweg: >>Although, maybe in her mind she thought if she could get the £1000 it would be enough money to get away from him for good. Who knows? Blackmail is Blackmail regardless of the amount involved. Its a serious crime and a very dangerous one. Yes of course it's a serious crime and I don't condone her attempts at blackmail, I just wonder at what caused her to try it. Some people do it out of badness, some out of desperation. Like you say, it a dangerous crime as this story indeed proves.

peterwegThreads: 35 Posts: 1,948 Joined: Feb 16, 07	May 1, 08, 13:44 / #
BubbaWoo: unfortunately there still remains the belief amongst certain elements of the british population that we didnt build our empire by letting foreigners take the p!ss out of us Don't detract from the fact that the guy is obviously a psychopath. >>Although, maybe in her mind she thought if she could get the £1000 it would be enough money to get away from him for good. Who knows? Blackmail is Blackmail regardless of the amount involved. Its a serious crime and a very dangerous one.

BubbaWooThreads: 46 Posts: 4,438 Joined: Sep 26, 06	May 1, 08, 13:50 / #
peterweg: Don't detract from the fact that the guy is obviously a psychopath. yeah, and a scouser

peterwegThreads: 35 Posts: 1,948 Joined: Feb 16, 07	May 1, 08, 13:57 / #
BubbaWoo: yeah, and a scouser Which is worse, of course.

BubbaWooThreads: 46 Posts: 4,438 Joined: Sep 26, 06	May 1, 08, 13:57 / #
goes without saying

LondonChickThreads: 43 Posts: 1,261 Joined: Nov 19, 07	May 1, 08, 14:15 / #
A very sad chain of events. RIP.

peterwegThreads: 35 Posts: 1,948 Joined: Feb 16, 07	May 1, 08, 14:48 / #
PinkJewel: Yes of course it's a serious crime and I don't condone her attempts at blackmail, I just wonder at what caused her to try it. Some people do it out of badness, some out of desperation. Naivety, apparently. Blackmail is akin to sticking a knife in someone neck and demanding money. Some people will pay, others will fight very, very hard for their life. She obviously didn't understand the risk.

LondonChickThreads: 43 Posts: 1,261 Joined: Nov 19, 07	May 1, 08, 14:58 / #
peterweg: She obviously didn't understand the risk. She was only 21. I'd like to think that I've always been pretty streetwise, but even I made a lot of mistakes at that age.

wildroverThreads: 180 Posts: 8,188 Joined: Jun 7, 07	May 1, 08, 15:10 / #
I don,t condone violence , but a slap round the head might have been more appropriate than sticking a knife in the girl and setting her on fire,,,the guy is a nutter....a sad end to a young life.......I will never understand why women hang around guys like this...one slap and its time to be gone.....

peterwegThreads: 35 Posts: 1,948 Joined: Feb 16, 07	May 2, 08, 06:50 / #
LondonChick: She was only 21. I'd like to think that I've always been pretty streetwise, but even I made a lot of mistakes at that age. People should realise that blackmail is a a crime just below murder and akin to kidnapping. Getting involved with it, means you are descending to the law of the jungle. He might have been facing 5-10 years in jail and there is always the risk that the blackmailer would come back for more. Sure she was young, but there are many obvious dangers that any adult should avoid - walking in front of train, jumping off cliffs, playing Russian roulette. wildrover: I don,t condone violence , but a slap round the head might have been more appropriate than sticking a knife in the girl and setting her on fire,,, Slapping her was the cause of the whole situation. In fact there is only two ways of stopping a kidnapper, calling the police and what happened here. Obviously he had reason to doubt the police would help.