A new episode of the Daily Mail's 'On The Case' podcast is revisiting the 2006 murder of Tom ap Rhys Pryce, a London lawyer who was stabbed to death during a mugging for a small amount of cash, a mobile phone, and an Oyster card. The case is being re-examined as the two teenagers convicted of his murder, Donnel Carty and Delano Brown, are now nearing eligibility for release.
Ap Rhys Pryce, 31, was walking home from work on January 12, 2006, when he was attacked by Carty, then 18, and Brown, then 17, who had already robbed another man at the same train station. The lawyer fought back but was beaten and stabbed twice in the chest and once in the hip. One of the stab wounds proved fatal, piercing his heart. He died later that night at Central Middlesex Hospital. Wedding plans he had been working on that day were scattered on the street where he fell; he was scheduled to marry his fiancée, Adele Eastman, that September.
Crime reporter Anthony France, who covered the murder at the time, has revisited the case for The Crime Desk. He told the podcast that the senselessness of the violence and the minimal value of the stolen items made the crime particularly shocking to the public. "This was a man who was on the cusp of the rest of his life. He had so much to look forward to," France said.
Carty and Brown were convicted of murder at the Old Bailey and sentenced to life imprisonment in November 2006. Brown's minimum 20-year sentence expired in January, and Carty's 21-year minimum term concludes next year. Both are now eligible for consideration for release by the Parole Board.
According to France, ap Rhys Pryce's father, John, wants to meet with Carty and Brown if they are released. His stated goal is to understand their motives and inquire about their experiences in prison. John ap Rhys Pryce also hopes to explore whether the men, through their experiences, could contribute to steering young people away from criminal paths, potentially through the Tom ap Rhys Pryce Memorial Trust. The trust, established by the family and Linklaters after Tom's death, has raised over £2 million to fund education and training for disadvantaged young people in London and to address gang culture.