UK fugitive assumed fake identity in Ja
After long run, man gets 13 years for manslaughter
Published:Thursday | August 3, 2023 | 12:09 AMAndre Williams/Staff Reporter
United Kingdom fugitive Stasious Scott, who was sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter on Tuesday after he was held in Jamaica, lived on the island under an assumed name – Dwayne Romario McGiven.
The findings were reportedly revealed in court documents at the sentencing hearing.
Scott, who was charged with the 2019 murder of his friend Justin Bello, 38, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter and perverting the course of justice.
British journalist Chris Summers of Total Crime UK, who was in the Old Bailey courtroom in London, said it was a very dramatic sitting.
The Gleaner first reported last December that Scott might have been hiding in Jamaica after his girlfriend revealed during the trial that she sent his kids to the Caribbean island to visit him.
Scott fled the UK four days after the November 23 killing, flying from Gatwick to Jamaica after obtaining an emergency passport, according to court documents.
He was held in the island in January and extradited to the UK.
A Gleaner source, who was watching the court proceedings, said prosecutor William Emlyn-Jones KC noted that they had taken a difficult decision to accept his plea and drop the murder charge.
Bello, 38, was reportedly killed at Scott’s flat in Stockwell, South London, and his body dumped in a waste bin area in Wembley. It was found by refuse collectors some 48 hours later.
One of the garbage collectors reportedly made the grim discovery when he saw a black suitcase on the ground with feet sticking out of it.
The Gleaner understands that Scott purchased his fake identity papers in Jamaica; however, the form of identity has not been ascertained.
Summers told The Gleaner that Bello’s sister, Louisa, shouted at Scott during her victim impact statement.
“You could cut the atmosphere with a knife as Scott sat in the dock and Louisa Bello entered the witness box,” he said in an article on Total Crime UK website.
She detailed how her family suffered to get closure while Scott bought a new life in Jamaica.
“Four years you lived on a sun-drenched island, living your best life and laughing at the British justice system,” an excerpt from Total Crime UK’s report said.
CO-DEFENDANT FREED
Scott’s co-defendant, Cornell Burrell, was acquitted of murder and perverting the course of justice in December 2022 following a trial.
Scott’s father, Oliver Scott, 53; Cecilia Bruce-Annan; and Christopher Hatton were convicted of perverting the course of justice.
The senior Scott was jailed for six years as was Hatton. Bruce-Annan got four and a half years.
Scott’s girlfriend, Suzanne John, 40, a criminal law solicitor, and his brother Paris Bell-McKay, 28, were cleared of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Scott reportedly can be released from prison after 10 years on good behaviour conditions.
He is among several international fugitives captured in Jamaica in the last two years.