Drug dealer admits killing vulnerable man who slept beside dogs

A drug dealer has admitted beating a vulnerable former chef to death after allegedly forcing him to sleep beside dogs.

The body of 55-year-old Dimitrios Tsavdaris was found in a foetal position inside a “cuckoo” flat in Hackney, north London, after he succumbed to weeks of violent attacks, the Old Bailey was previously told.

He had been taken there from the home of Bamidele Fawehinmi in Wickford, Essex, where he allegedly slept on a mattress in a garage beside American pitbull cross-breed dogs.

Weighing just over eight stone, the victim was a frail “vulnerable person” who may have been dead or dying for several days before his body was found on January 29 2024, jurors heard.

He had suffered multiple fractures to his ribs, face and breastbone as well as old and new bleeding on the brain and internal injuries.

On Thursday, partway through his retrial at the Old Bailey, Fawehinmi, 33, from Haringey, north London, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and causing grievous bodily harm.

Judge Mark Lucraft KC discharged the jury from returning a verdict on a third charge of servitude.

He was remanded into custody to be sentenced on May 8.

Detective Superintendent Kelly Allen, who led the Met’s investigation, said: “I cannot imagine the pain and suffering Dimitrios must have gone through in the final weeks of his life, enslaved by Bamidele Fawehinmi and living in fear for his life.

“Dimitrios was a frail man who did not pose a threat to Fawehinmi. His initial claim in police interview that he acted in self-defence is utterly preposterous, and the words of a coward.

“Fawehinmi is a violent bully, who preyed on vulnerable people to exploit them for his own gain. His conviction will not erase the pain felt by Dimitrios’s family but I hope the fact he will spend a significant period of time behind bars brings them some small sense of justice.”

Previously, prosecutor Caroline Carberry KC said the defendant was a drug dealer who “preys on vulnerable men”.

The victim, known as Jimmy, had worked as a chef and taxi driver before his world “unravelled” following the sudden death of his brother some years ago.

The flat where he died had been “cuckooed” by the defendant, who took it over from another man and used it for drug dealing, it was alleged.

The victim had been attacked there as well as at the defendant’s home some 30 miles away in Essex, the court heard.

Ms Carberry told jurors: “There Dimitrios slept on a mattress on the floor of the garage where the defendant kept his dogs.”

He was already badly injured when he was taken by the defendant to Hackney a week before his body was found, she said.

Ms Carberry added: “The police were alerted to Dimitrios’ death by this defendant’s own father who, upon learning from his son that there was a dead body in a flat associated with him, did the right thing and reported it to the police.

“Meanwhile his son, knowing he had killed a man, tried to flee the country via Heathrow airport to Lagos in Nigeria.”

The victim had been tasked with looking after the defendant’s dogs, with 14 puppies seen in the garden at one point, the court heard.

Police found Mr Tsavdaris’s blood at the Wickford property and in the Kia car the defendant used to move him to Hackney, the court was told.

The defendant had previous convictions for criminal damage and common assault in 2015 and he admitted to selling crack cocaine.

At an earlier trial last year, Fawehinmi, claimed that the victim was fine when he last saw him and that other people had access to the flat where he was found.

He admitted elbowing and hitting Tsavdaris and possibly causing injuries to his rib and sternum during a fight but claimed he acted in self-defence after his hair was pulled.

Fawehinmi was acquitted of murder at his first trial but ordered to stand trial on the other charges against him.