News
Nigerian gets life imprisonment for killing wife in UK
A Nigerian man, Conrad Irabor Martin Iyayi, who stabbed his wife to death in their home has been sentenced to life imprisonment in the UK.
The 46-year-old stabbed his wife, Katy Harris., seven times in the chest at their home in Oak Crescent, Littleover, Derby, in the early hours of 6 February 2022.
Iyayi called the police to the house in Oak Crescent shortly before 7.30am that fateful day, where he told the call handler that he had murdered his wife, Katy Harris.
After his arrest, Iyayi then told officers that he could not remember what had happened after he had taken drugs he purchased on the dark web.
Iyayi was charged with murder on 8 February and continued to deny that he had murdered his wife.
However, just two days into his trial at Derby Crown Court he admitted his guilt.
On Friday, August 18, 2023, he was jailed for life and must serve a minimum of 18 years before he can be considered for release.
Detective Inspector Steve Shaw said: “Katy Harris was a much-loved mother, daughter, friend and teacher. Her death was a tragic loss of life for her loved ones, as well as the hundreds of students whose lives she had touched through her work as a teacher.
“Our thoughts today are with Katy’s family, in particular her three children who she loved so much. Their dignity and support for this investigation has been exemplary and I cannot thank them enough for the way they have conducted themselves throughout what has been an incredibly difficult 18 months.
“Conrad Iyayi deprived Katy of what should have been a long and happy life with her family and friends – and has provided no credible explanation as to what happened in that house on the night in question.
“I hope that seeing Iyayi behind bars will give all those affected the space to now start rebuilding their lives and allow them to focus on the memories of Katy – who will live on in the hearts of all she knew.”
The court heard Ms Harris worked as an art teacher at St Clare’s School in Mickleover and had probably been sleeping in the spare room of the house due to her husband’s snoring, with the couple’s 11-year-old son also at home in his bedroom.
Gordon Aspden KC, prosecuting, said the son had described the evening as “entirely normal” when interviewed by police.
Iyayi watched Match of the Day with his son on the night of 5 February, and CCTV from a neighbour showed him walking his dog just before 03:00 GMT the following morning.
The coat he was seen wearing on the CCTV footage showed bloodstains, later found to contain his wife’s DNA, which the court heard suggested the attack happened before then.
Later that morning, the defendant called police from a nearby payphone saying he believed he had killed his wife, and police found her body in a pool of blood in the kitchen.
She was pronounced dead at the scene, and after Iyayi was arrested, police woke their son and took him away from the home.
Mr Aspden said a post-mortem examination found Ms Harris died from stab wounds to her chest, while cuts to her hand suggested she was “literally fighting for her life” during part of the attack.
Mr Aspden said: “He [Iyayi] made a number of unsolicited comments concerning Katy’s death.
He said it all felt like a dream and the situation, in his words, was ‘crazy.
His demeanour was remarkably calm and controlled given the dreadful circumstances of what had happened.
He said Iyayi had given a “demonstrably untrue” account to police that methadone he had bought off the dark web had had an unanticipated effect, that led him to believe he had taken a “mind-altering” hallucinogenic and had murdered his wife in a dream, only to discover her body hours later.
But later tests showed Iyayi had taken prescription methadone, as well as prescribed anti-depressants and painkillers, rather than an unknown substance as he had claimed.
The defendant had “a substantial number of previous convictions for a wide variety of offences”, he added.
In a victim impact statement, the couple’s son said he wanted nothing to do with his father.
He’s taken the most important person from me,” the statement said.
“It’s really upsetting that I won’t get to make any more memories with my mum,”
Ms Harris’ adult daughter Phoebe Harris, who read out a statement on behalf of her and her sister Alexa, said their mother’s murder had left them “devastated and traumatised”, and thanked people for supporting the family.
“We don’t see him as a human being as anyone with any humanity could not take someone else’s life in the way that he did,” she said.
“He is sinister, sadistic, and manipulative. We feel betrayed,”
“We cannot comprehend how one person has affected so many people’s lives,”
“Our mum was the light in the lives of so many people, whereas he encapsulates darkness.”
Iyayi’s barrister, Amjad Malik KC, said the defendant “destroyed a woman that he loved”, and who had supported him through addiction issues for “a reason that he cannot explain and a reason that will always haunt him.
Sentencing, Judge Shaun Smith KC said Ms Harris “would have been conscious for at least part of the attack”, adding Iyayi had written to him accepting responsibility and saying he did not know why the murder happened.
“It was a brutal, frenzied killing, and a needless death,” he said.
“What you did in the early hours of that morning ended the life of a much-loved woman, and emptied the lives of many others.”
…insider sheds light on reason for his arrest
Professor Martin Aghaji, personal doctor to Nnamdi Kanu, has been arrested by Nigeria’s security operatives, Aloy Ejimakor, Mr Kanu’s lawyer said in an X post on Saturday.
Mr Kanu is the convicted leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). He is serving life imprisonment in Sokoto State after a federal high court in Abuja convicted him in November for terrorism.
Mr Ejimakor said in the X post that Mr Aghaji, a retired professor, was arrested at his residence in Enugu State on Friday.
The lawyer did not specifically say which operatives arrested the medical doctor, although he suggested that the arrest was connected to a medical report issued by the doctor on Mr Kanu which contradicted a similar report by the Department of State Security (DSS).
“This is the height of the official harassment he has been facing since he issued the medical report that did not comport with the SSS’s medical report on Mazi Nnamdi Kanu,” Mr Ejimakor said.
How they arrested the medical doctor
In another post on Sunday evening, the lawyer claimed “the security operatives” stormed Mr Aghaji’s residence at about 3:00 a.m., violently pulled down his gate and forcibly gained entry” into the apartment.
“During the commotion, shots were fired. They’ve now taken him to Lagos,” he stated.
Release of the doctor
Mr Ejimakor, in a fresh post on Sunday night, announced that Mr Aghaji has been released from detention following the intervention of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) and other bodies.
“While welcoming this development, the DSS is hereby admonished to do better than this,” he said, suggesting that the secret police earlier carried out the arrest.
DSS speaks
When contacted on Monday, the spokesperson of the DSS, Favour Dozie, confirmed the secret police indeed arrested Mr Aghaji from his residence in Enugu.
Ms Dozie, however, said the arrest was never linked to Mr Kanu or IPOB.
“He was arrested, but not in connection with Nnamdi Kanu,” she said, refusing to give details because the matter was under investigation.
The DSS spokesperson stressed that the retired professor’s arrest could not have been linked to Mr Kanu because the IPOB leader had already been convicted by a court and currently serving jail term.
She confirmed that Mr Aghaji was granted administrative bail and subsequently released to the NMA leadership in Lagos State on Sunday after providing a credible individual as his surety.
An official of the DSS later informed PREMIUM TIMES that Mr Aghaji’s arrest followed his alleged financial transactions to high-profile criminals under investigation.
“He was even sorry about it when he was informed of the transactions he made. The man himself felt very bad,” said the official who asked not to be named because he did not have permission to speak on the matter.
The father of Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi, who is facing criminal charges over alleged forgery and impersonation, was reportedly arrested by police operatives on Monday in Ogbomoso, Oyo State.
Residents told journalists that the arrest took place at the family’s residence, where officers reportedly arrived in several vehicles before taking Adeniyi’s father and another man said to have been visiting the home into custody.
Witnesses said the operation drew the attention of residents and caused anxiety within the household, particularly for the suspect’s elderly mother.
A resident, who requested anonymity, alleged that the officers quickly secured the premises and left with the two men, while a security presence remained in the area for some time after the operation.
Prince Adeyemi Adeniyi is currently standing trial over allegations of forgery, impersonation and related offences arising from claims linked to the purported Presidential Fiscal and Infrastructure Projects Council.
The case is pending before the court.
As of the time of filing this report, the Oyo State Police Command had not issued an official statement confirming or explaining the reported arrests.
News
Tiktoker, Peller, arraigned in court for threatening and videoing police officers on duty; granted 500k bail
The Lagos state police command today July 6 arraigned popular TikToker, Habeeb Hamzat aka Peller, and one other, Bello Oladipo, before a magistrate court on a three-count charge bordering on resisting police officers, obstructing them from carrying out their duties, and threatening and videoing police officers while performing their lawful duties.
Recall that on July 2, Peller clashed with some officers along the Coastal road in Lagos after he was intercepted for allegedly driving a car without a plate number.
Peller had claimed he had just purchased the vehicle.
The officers, however, dismissed his claim and insisted he must be taken to the station. Things, however, took a different turn after Peller began recording his interaction with the police officers.
He claimed the officers became hostile to him. He alleged that one of the officers dragged his shirt and even pointed a gun at him.
Monday morning, both Peller and his friend, who was in the vehicle with him, were arraigned before a Lagos Magistrate court.
Count one of the charges reads:
‘’That you Bello Oladipo “m” and Habeeb Hamzat “m” of No. 16,Platinum Road Lekki phase 2 , on the 2” day of July 2026 at about 2000hrs at Coastal Road Lekki, Lagos within the Magisterial district of this Honourable Court, did conspire amongst yourselves to commit felony to wit: Resisting public officers and thereby committed an offense punishable under Section 411 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos state 2015.
COUNT 2
‘’That you Bello Oladipo “m” and Habeeb Hamzat “m “ of Number 16, Platinum Road, Lekki Phase 2, on the 2’” day of July 2026 at about 2000hrs at Coastal Road Lekki, Lagos within the Magisterial district of this Honourable court did obstruct one ASP Agbede Victor and three other police officers while engaged in the discharge of their constituted duties and thereby committed an offence contrary to and punishable by Section 117 (1)(2) of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2015.”
Both defendants pleaded not guilty to all three counts.
The court subsequently granted them bail in the sum of N500,000 each with two sureties, one of whom must be a bl++d relative. The court also directed them to present two years’ tax clearance certificates as part of their bail conditions.
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