Four men have been convicted of kidnapping and killing Tomasz Samel, a father of two, following the seizure of approximately £1 million worth of counterfeit cigarettes he was involved in smuggling into Britain.
Samel, 45, was kidnapped in March 2019 from his home in Birmingham by men posing as Interpol officers. He was then taken to the Liverpool area, where he was allegedly tortured and set on fire as a form of retribution. He was later found in a remote location in Lancashire and died in hospital nearly three months after the abduction due to his injuries.
During a six-week trial at Birmingham Crown Court, Neil Jones, 48, and Tobiasz Kozlowski, 38, were found guilty of murder and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm. Co-defendants Kevin Wooden, 46, and Kye Arthur, 35, were acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter.
Jurors deliberated for over 11 hours before reaching their unanimous verdicts on Jones and Kozlowski. Wooden and Arthur were found guilty of manslaughter after earlier admitting to conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to falsely imprison.
Jones and Kozlowski had also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to falsely imprison before the trial commenced. Jones had also admitted to manslaughter.
Kozlowski's wife, Sandra Kozlowska, 38, was convicted of assisting an offender for helping her husband evade police detection. She was granted bail and will be sentenced alongside the other defendants on October 9.
Prosecutors stated that Samel's killing was linked to the seizure of illicit cigarettes smuggled from Poland. HM Revenue and Customs had confiscated cigarettes from a unit Samel used in Aston, Birmingham, in February 2019, approximately one month before his abduction.
The court heard that Samel was forced into a white Peugeot Boxer van. During the abduction, he was falsely imprisoned, tortured, and seriously harmed, including being set on fire. He managed to reach the home of strangers who alerted emergency services.
Kate Seal of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) described the incident as a "brutal attack" and commended the collaboration between the CPS and West Midlands Police in building a case through forensic, digital, and witness evidence. The CPS expressed hope that the verdicts would provide some closure for Samel's family, who endured "unimaginable suffering."