Banker killed because he ‘looked rich’

Press, 15 January 1986, Page 6

Banker killed because he ‘looked rich’

NZPA-PA London A homeless and jobless Nigerian was jailed for life at the Old Bailey yesterday for the random killing of an American bank official, John Sterling, in a London street. Mr Sterling, aged 39, married with a young son, died because he looked rich and successful, the jury heard. Sterling was on an afterdinner stroll from his hotel in Mayfair when he was stabbed without warning by Jubrel Adejumo, aged 25, who felt himself a “social outcast.” The two men were strangers. Adejumo later told the police: “I could see he was a six-figure-a-year man, I stabbed him in the stomach with all the force and hatred that had been building up inside me.” The Nigerian had a chip on his shoulder because in spite of a diploma in business studies, he had been able to find work only as a labourer and a night security man. He lived in a hostel for the homeless in Clap-

ham, south London. Sterling, a senior official with Citibank, was in London from his Saudi Arabian base on a business trip. He was attacked less than 209 metres from Brown’s Hotel, where he had eaten dinner alone on March 28, last year. He died in Westminster Hospital the same night. Adejumo told the police: “I just wanted to get somebody. “All of a sudden I saw a very large man in front of me. I felt cheated because he looked rich and comfortable. I felt jealous so I stabbed him. "He looked a rich man who lived nearby and went to all those posh places.” Adejumo was charged after his landlady learned of the killing and linked it with a missing kitchen knife. The Nigerian had already been arrested for another matter. On March 29 he was found in possession of a knife at Earl’s Court, west London, and was involved in a struggle with two police officers.