Drug addict jailed for King’s Cross double murder

A drug addict has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum jail term of 32 years for murdering two men at a flat near King’s Cross.

On January 2, Paul O’Shea, 37, killed 48-year-old Moroccan national Othamane Majdouline and 47-year-old Portuguese national Leandro Da Silva in a brutal attack with a hammer and a knife. He then sought to destroy evidence by starting a fire at the flat.

O’Shea, of Northdown Street in King’s Cross, was found guilty at the Old Bailey on Thursday and sentenced on Friday. He was also sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, to run concurrently, for arson.

Othamane Majdouline was said by police to be a small time drug dealer “who paid a brutally heavy price for his involvement with criminality”.

Leandro Da Silva was said to be less connected to the supply of drugs, and seems to have been involved simply through his friendship with Othamane.

O’Shea had gone to Othamane Majdouline’s flat in Stelfox House, Penton Rise, King’s Cross, at around 5.45pm on January 2 to purchase Class A drugs. He stayed for a short time, returning around 30 minutes later with a computer monitor which he appears to have tried to sell in exchange for drugs.

During his second visit, a dispute flared up between O’Shea and Othamane as well as Leandro Da Silva who was also at the flat. O’Shea attacked the other two men with a hammer before stabbing them with a knife and starting a fire in a bid to destroy evidence.

At 7.20pm, police and London Fire Brigade (LFB) were called to the fire. Inside the flat, firefighters found the bodies of Othamane and Leandro, who lived on the Six Acres Estate in Islington.

Post-mortem examinations carried out on January 6 gave cause of death for both men as massive head trauma.

Leandro had also suffered three stab wounds to his chest, one of which pierced his heart, which had been inflicted after he had been struck on the head with the hammer at least ten times.

Othamane had been struck on the head with the hammer four times before being stabbed in the chest and three times in the neck.

O’Shea was arrested on January 5. He did not engage with police officers or his legal representative and when charged the following day he spat at the custody officer and commented: “Go and find the real person that did it.”

Detective Inspector John Marriott said: “The level of violence used by O’Shea was horrendous. Both victims were hit repeatedly with a hammer and suffered multiple stab wounds.

“O’Shea’s reckless disregard for life was further emphasised by the fire he started at the flat, putting the lives of many others at risk in a cowardly bid to avoid justice.”