West Hampstead barmaid stabbed seven times by boyfriend
Natalia Czekaj - Credit: Archant
The partner of a popular West Hampstead barmaid has today admitted stabbing her to death at her home.
Natalia Czekaj, 34, who worked at The Alliance pub, in Mill Lane, was stabbed at least seven times in the neck, back and chest by her partner James Richardson.
Polish national Ms Czekaj, 34, was pronounced dead at her house in Edgware after paramedics were called in the early hours of January 6 this year.
Richardson, 35, of Berridge Green, Edgware, appeared at the Old Bailey today to deny murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
However the plea was not accepted by the prosecution and and he will stand trial for murder on September 21.
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Miss Czekaj came to the UK from her native Poland ten years ago and worked as a barmaid at the Alliance.
As reported in the Ham & High, drinkers at the pub raised £8,400 to help repatriate the body of the barmaid they described as a “kind and caring person” and pay for her funeral.
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They had launched their appeal after hearing that her distraught widowed mother and grieving family were unable to afford the costs of returning Ms Czekaj’s body to Poland.
