Birmingham Big Issue killer caught on CCTV
Chilling silent footage has been released by West Midlands Police showing the moment killer John Ward befriended his victims.
Big Issue sellers Ian Watson-Gladwish, 31, and Wayne Busst, 32, who were also homeless, were stabbed in Union Street on 11 January.
CCTV follows Ward, first as he leaves Morrisons supermarket in Hagley Road on the morning of the killings, where he purchased a kitchen knife.
Next, the footage tracks Ward as he makes his way past Centenary Square towards the city centre. The kitchen knife is in a carrier bag.
The footage then shows Ward approaching his victims on Union Street later that evening, before he is seen again leaving the area with them.
Moments later, CCTV catches him running along New Street and entering the Odeon Cinema, where he takes napkins to wipe blood from himself. Police then arrive and arrest him.
Ward, 23 denied murder but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was given a minimum tariff of 12 years.
15 Oct 2013
- From the section England