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A man has been jailed for life for a double murder of “unimaginable brutality” at a flat near King’s Cross.

Judge Rebecca Poulet QC said Paul O’Shea, 37, would have to serve a minimum of 32 years behind bars when he was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday.

Drug addict O’Shea killed Othamane Majdouline, 48, and Leandro Da Silva, 47, in a brutal attack with a hammer and a knife on January 2. He then started a fire in the flat at Stelfox House, Penton Rise, in a bid to hide the evidence.

Judge Poulet said O’Shea had gone to Mr Majdouline’s flat to steal drugs. “But we will never know what happened next or what was the motivation for the terrible events that followed,” she said.


Sentencing O’Shea, who was not in court, the judge said: “You have not shown a moment of remorse and have frequently claimed throughout that both men were alive and well when you left the flat.”

Despite the “illegal and dangerous” trade both men were involved in they were both known to be “gentle and never aggressive”, she added.

Judge Poulet said she accepted evidence that O’Shea had a mixed personality disorder, a dependence on Class A drugs and possibly a psychotic illness.

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.”

Victim was given a flat – and then abandoned, says his grieving sister
Morocco-born Otha­mane Majdouline met his future wife while he was a teacher in the country. He came from a successful family of doctors and teachers and hoped one day to take over one of the two schools his father ran.

A talented Arabic poet and chef, he moved to his wife’s home country, Ireland, and set up a restaurant. They started a family, having five children in all.

But cracks began to show in the couple’s relationship when his wife, a white Irish woman, converted to Islam. Mr Majdouline was raised in a moderate Muslim household and no longer really practised the religion. This caused problems at a time when his wife would fly to London to visit Finsbury Park mosque to listen to preachers.

The couple moved from Ireland to Islington before moving on to east London. Mr Majdouline started to live a double life, pretending to be one person to his wife and the Islamic circles she moved in and another to his own family and friends.

When his marriage fell apart and his wife re-married he became increasingly concerned about his children.

His mental health suffered. He developed a split personality and turned to drink and drugs to cope with his problems. He was denied access to his children and feared they would be taken to Afghanistan.

“He was going from one mental hospital to another,” Zeinab Majdouline, his sister, said. “He was hearing all these voices – he had a twin personality.

“He was becoming more and more vulnerable because he had so many fears in him. He would cross the road away from Muslims. He got himself baptised as a Christian to wash his fear away.”

The five children were eventually taken into care and Mr Majdouline hoped to piece his life back together but his sister feels he did not get the support he needed.

He was moved into a flat at Stelfox House, in Penton Rise, King’s Cross, in 2012 and was on anti-psychotic medication. Islington Council and Camden and Islington NHS Trust were aware of his condition.

It was on Friday, January 2, that he and Leandro Da Silva – a friend he had met through his treatment – were beaten to death with a hammer by drug addict Paul O’Shea. Ms Majdouline still feels unable to tell her father how his son was killed, preferring to say he died from his illness.

The police described Mr Majdouline as a drug dealer, but his sister believes he was sucked into a sinister circle of dealers who preyed on his mental illness and exploited his vulnerability to deal drugs from his flat. She says her brother should have been admitted to hospital and given talking therapy.

“My brother didn’t have the personality of someone who can organise drug dealing,” she said. “He was very scared. He was even scared of the dark when he was medicated.

“I saw Leandro twice and he was one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. He was really soft in his personality and gentle, really lovely.”

A few months before her brother died, Ms Majdouline got a call from the council. “That’s when I was told that somebody was using his vulnerability to deal drugs there,” she said. “If you know that why are you still keeping a tenant in there? They had no plan.”

After a particularly bad episode, Mr Majdouline was admitted to hospital. He begged to be taken in as a permanent inpatient.

“I went to see him them and he said: ‘I feel safe.’ The police, council, mental health – I’m sure were all aware but nobody did anything.

“If you say you’ve got issues you will get a flat really quickly but then you will get abandoned.

“This is a golden opportunity for drug dealers to go to the flat of a vulnerable person and bully them and take over. There could be so many O’Sheas out there.”

She added: “It is a human life. And at the end of the day it could happen to anybody because there are a lot of people that have it all one day and sometimes people lose their job or their marriage breaks down.

“I know it’s cheaper for the NHS to put them in flats and put them on tablets and medication but they are human beings and have family and kids and parents.”

Ms Majdouline, who is now the legal guardian of her brother’s children, struggled to look after him as well as his children. Despite being his closest relative in England, she says she was not listened to by the authorities. “I tried,” she said. “God knows, I tried.”

She added: “This is neglect because somebody was getting paid to look after those patients but there was no care. Did somebody go there and say: ‘Well, hold on. This looks like a drug den and this person who is under our care is in this situation’? They should have put him in a hospital where he was safe.

“Spending two weeks to come [to court] and hear horrendous details of how he died. Why? He was 48. Now his children are safe he could have had that chance to start all over again and go back to having his dream restaurant or write his book or even go back to teaching and get to watch his children growing up, but it wasn’t to be.”

Council deputy leader Councillor Janet Burgess confirmed that Mr Majdouline had been given a council flat. “We know he was being offered support by Camden and Islington NHS Trust,” she said. “However, ultimately, it was, of course, Mr Majdouline’s decision as to whether or not he wanted to accept the support on offer. Our deepest and sincere sympathies are with his family.”

A statement on behalf of Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust said: “The trust’s mental health teams worked hard to provide appropriate treatment and support to Mr Majdouline over quite a long period of time but he was not always willing to engage with his therapy appointments or to take his medication.

“If anyone under our care requires admission to hospital, then we always arrange this.

“Our thoughts and sympathy are with Mr Majdouline’s family.”