Girlfriend tells court: UK fugitive in Jamaica

Scotland Yard detectives may turn their attention to Jamaica as a possible location to which an alleged British murderer fled, after the United Kingdom courts heard that his children travelled to the island possibly to visit him.

The murder trial was wrapped up last week, with several co-defendants now awaiting sentencing for their roles. However, the main suspect, 34-year-old Stasious Scott, has eluded the UK police.

Investigators say Scott left the country four days after the November 2019 murder of 38-year-old Justin Bello.

Investigators say Bello was choked to death in Scott’s flat in Stockwell, Southwest London, and his body was placed in a suitcase and dumped in a bin shed in Wembley, Northwest London.

Bello’s body was found 48 hours later by bin collectors when a foot was seen hanging out of a black suitcase on the ground.

Detective Sergeant Kerry Burgess of the London-based Metropolitan Police Service told The Gleaner that the manhunt is still active for Scott.

“I can confirm we are undertaking enquiries to locate and arrest Stasious Scott, but unfortunately, I cannot disclose the destination or nature of those enquiries. We are aware of what was said in court in relation to Mr Scott’s children travelling to Jamaica,” Burgess said.

The Gleaner understands that Scott is the holder of a British passport and reportedly has Jamaican family roots.

The revelation that his children were sent to Jamaica was made by a woman said to be Scott’s girlfriend, Suzanne John, who gave evidence that earlier this month, she had sent her children to stay with him in Jamaica.

John also reportedly indicated that she has his phone number. She agreed to give it to the police, adding that she has tried to persuade him to turn himself in.

Last week, the jury acquitted Scott’s co-accused and best friend, Cornell Burrell, of murder.

A British journalist, Chris Summers, told The Gleaner that Burrell’s attorney pinned everything on Scott, who “obviously was not there to defend himself”.

Scott’s father, 53-year-old Oliver Scott, from Hornsey, North London; Cecilia Bruce-Annan, 50, from Stanmore, North-West London; and Christopher Hatton, 44, were all convicted of perverting the course of justice.

Suzanne John, Scott’s 40-year-old partner, who is from Mitcham, South London, and is a solicitor working in the area of criminal law, was cleared of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. His half-brother Paris Bell-McKay, 28, from South West London was also cleared.

Those convicted will be sentenced together on February 3.

Head of Jamaica’s Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation (C-TOC) Branch, Senior Superintendent of Police Anthony McLaughlin, who handles extradition requests obtained from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, told The Gleaner that he was not aware of a request for Scott.

McLaughlin, who was on the back end of vacation leave when The Gleaner spoke with him, said he would make further checks.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force has fugitive apprehension teams across several police divisions.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey, who is in charge of the crime portfolio, told The Gleaner he was not aware of the case.

Calls placed by The Gleaner to Andrew Wynter, chief executive officer of the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency, went unanswered.

Over the years, several international fugitives have been held in Jamaica.

The most recent was Charles Manord Rainey, who had been living at an apartment building in Montego Bay since 2011, when he fled to Jamaica from his hometown in Paulding County in the northwestern part of the US state of Georgia.

Rainey was facing charges of aggravated child molestation, child molestation, and sexual battery, filed against him in the summer of 2010 after allegedly assaulting a girl younger than 16.

He was indicted on all three felonies in July 2011 but he failed to show up for court. A bench warrant was then issued for his arrest.

C-TOC has received plaudits both locally and internationally for the successful capture of the 71-year-old Rainey in an operation on November 15.

He was deported on November 18.

Two high-profile suspects in the July 2021 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse were also held in Jamaica. They are now detained in the United States.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com