A convicted killer has admitted murdering his friend after stabbing him in the neck before handing himself in and telling police: ‘It’s happened again.’
Daniel Levy, 48, today pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to killing Indian national Abdul Kaleem Shaik, 41, at his flat in Vauxhall, south London.
Levy went to a mosque to pray, had a massage and showered before confessing to police.
It can now be reported that Levy, who has schizophrenia, had previously been convicted of killing his grandmother Nurzida Galimozanova, 72, by stabbing her 30 times and setting her on fire in July 2000 in the deluded belief actors from the film ‘Gladiator’ told him to kill her.
Levy had previously accepted the second killing but denied it was murder due to his mental health at the time.
He dramatically changed his plea as his trial was about to be opened before a jury at the Old Bailey.
At a previous hearing, the prosecution said Levy had stabbed Mr Shaik in the neck with a large knife at his flat some time on New Year’s Eve or early on New Year’s Day.
Police were alerted to an incident after Levy went to Bishopsgate police station, in east London, shortly after 8pm on January 1.
He confessed that he had killed someone, telling officers: ‘It’s happened again.’
The comment was understood to be a reference to the killing of his grandmother in 2000.
Convicted killer Daniel Levy, 48, has admitted murdering his friend after stabbing him in the neck before handing himself in and telling police: ‘It’s happened again’
Indian national Abdul Kaleem Shaik, 41, (pictured) was found dead inside a flat in Vauxhall, south London
Officers went to his flat in Vauxhall, south London, and found the body of Mr Shaik on a makeshift bed with a stab wound and blood on his chest, neck and face.
A bloody knife was recovered from the property.
Levy was arrested and charged with Mr Shaik’s murder the following day.
CCTV footage showed that only the defendant and victim had been at the flat on the evening of December 31.
In a police interview on January 2, Levy gave a detailed account and told officers that he had known Mr Shaik for years and allowed him to stay in his flat.
He said Mr Shaik had become ‘very depressed’ and was not coping well.
He said that as a result of Mr Shaik’s deteriorating mental health, he felt he needed to help him by killing him and securing his passage to heaven.
Prosecutor Peter Ratliff had told the earlier hearing: ‘He described how he had been considering and trying to do this for some time.
‘In the early hours of January 1, he finally did what he had planned by stabbing the deceased in the neck.
‘He said he could hear him dying but did not want to watch it and went to the mosque to pray, had a massage and showered before going to the police station.’
Defence barrister Michael Holland KC said Levy should be given credit for his late plea, saying he had never denied the killing.
He asked for information on Mr Shaik’s mental state to establish whether the defendant’s view of his actions as ‘akin to assisted suicide’ was rational or not.
The court heard Levy was convicted of his grandmother’s manslaughter by diminished responsibility and arson in October 2001.
Levy was a 23-year-old university student when he killed Mrs Galimozanova, claiming he was exorcising evil spirits when he repeatedly plunged two knives into her on July 25, 2000.
Mrs Galimozanova went to stay with Levy, who was then living in Borough, south London, when his mother became terrified by his behaviour and sought help.
Levy later poured turpentine and white spirit in his grandmother’s room, lit it and shut the door.
When she managed to get out, he sprayed her in the face with flame from an aerosol spray, stabbing her 30 times when she fell to the ground.
In 2004, an independent report ordered by Lambeth Primary Care Trust found that in the months before his grandmother’s death, NHS staff failed to take account of the state of his mental health.
It highlighted gaps in his care and showed that staff failed to take into account his history of mental illness, including repeated suicide attempts, prior to the attack on his grandmother.
He was living with his Russian-born grandmother at a three-storey Victorian terraced house in Walcot Square, Kennington, at the time.
He became mentally ill while studying in Paris and during a cinema visit to watch Gladiator a week earlier, ‘the film told him he should go and kill his mother,’ the court was told.
He feared his own mother and ‘felt he should kill his grandmother to stop the suffering he was causing her and to stop the demon inside her.’
Months earlier Levy had told his mum: ‘We are in hell and I am the anti-Christ.’
He later admitted manslaughter due to diminished responsibility and arson with intent to endanger life.
After the killing, Levy tried to strangle his mother when she visited him in Broadmoor.
Judge Graham Boal, QC, ordered Levy to be detained indefinitely under Section 37 of the Mental Health Act in October 2001.
The previous hearing was told Levy had absconded from a secure mental health unit in 2003 and, after his release, was recalled to hospital in 2013 as a consequence of expressing thoughts about harming his parents.
Following his release, Levy was required to maintain contact with his mental health team and the defendant considered he was up to date with his medication, the court had heard.
His medication was administered by injection under supervision but Levy had expressed scepticism about his need to be medicated, the prosecution had said.
At the time of his latest killing, Levy was up to date with his anti psychotic medication.
Before entering his guilty plea on Wednesday, Judge Lynn Tayton KC questioned Levy and asked if he had enough time to consider his position.
Levy told her he wanted to plead guilty to murder, saying: ‘I don’t want to go to trial. I don’t want my personal information outside in public. I would rather just go quietly as possible, do my time.’
The judge ruled that Levy was fit to enter his plea.
Judge Tayton remanded Levy into custody to be sentenced on Wednesday, September 9.
