25 Nov 2010

Headmaster’s killer arrested in robbery probe

The man who killed headmaster Philip Lawrence in 1995 is being held in connection to an alleged robbery, just four months after leaving prison.

Learco Chindamo was freed in July, 15 years after he was jailed indefinitely for the murder outside St George’s Roman Catholic School in Maida Vale, west London, in 1995.

Father-of-four Mr Lawrence, 48, was fatally wounded after going to help a pupil who was being attacked by a gang.

Among the attackers was Chindamo, then 15, who went on to brag about the killing hours later.

He was convicted of the murder in October 1996, jailed indefinitely and ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years.

A judge ruled that he could not be deported to Italy, where he was born, because it would breach his human rights as he has spent most of his life in Britain.

Arrest

A Scotland Yard spokesman confirmed the arrest.

“We can confirm that a 30-year-old man was arrested this morning on suspicion of robbery,” he said.

“The man was arrested at 5.55 at an address in Catford, SE6 and is currently being held in custody at a central London police station.

“The alleged robbery took place on Saturday 13 November in Belmont Street, NW1, and the alleged victim was a man in his 20s.”

Mr Lawrence’s widow, Frances, told the Daily Telegraph that the news Mr Chindamo was being held by police was “very, very distressing on many levels”.

Mrs Lawrence told the newspaper that it felt as though the British legal system had given Chindamo “every help” while she and her family had been “hung out to dry”.