Moment alleged killer buys coffee 'before he beat neighbour to death' (2025)

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The moment an alleged killer buys coffee and a sandwich minutes 'before he beat his neighbour to death' in an upmarket London estate has been shown to court.

Prosecutors say Trevor Gocan, 57, punched and kicked pensioner James O'Neill, 74, before leaving him bleeding on the floor at an estate where they both lived in Covent Garden.

Southwark Crown Court was told Gocan had become involved in an argument with his neighbour over 'shutting a gate'.

Father-of-two Gocan is said to have 'struck out' at his elderly victim, sending him to the ground with an 'obviously bleeding' wound to his head.

The court heard he also kicked his victim at the entrance to the Odhams Walk estate, opposite the Zara store in Covent Garden.

Mr O'Neill, known to his family as Jim, was left in a coma following the broad daylight attack on Sunday, October 6, last year, at the estate he'd lived on for over 40 years.

He did not recover from a bleed to the brain and died in hospital two weeks later after his life support was withdrawn.

Gocan - who appeared in court dressed in a grey t-shirt and trousers and wearing glasses - admits that his actions caused the pensioner's death.However, he says he acted in self-defence and denies murder.

CCTV footage played to the court shows Gocan enter a Pret a Manger store on the morning of the alleged murder, shortly before midday.

He is seen buying a coffee, dressed all in black and wearing a black baseball cap and glasses.

Prosecutors say Gocan then returned home and argued with Mr O'Neill who lives on the same estate as him - but whom he'd never met - about the shutting of the entrance gate.

Opening the trial, prosecutor Lisa Wilding KC said: 'It was October 6 last year that Trevor Gocan and James O'Neill - known as Jim - encountered each other at the entrance gate to the estate.

'An argument started - probably about shutting a gate - and it descended to violence.

'The violence was delivered by this defendant. He punched and kicked at Mr O'Neill, who was immediately sent to the ground with an obviously bleeding head wound.

'The defendant walked away and left Mr O'Neill on the ground.'

Ms Wilding told jurors that though the assault occurred on October 6, it wasn't until later in the month on October 22 that Mr O'Neill died.

Pathologist Dr Olaf Biedrzycki told the court yesterday that Mr O'Neill - who also suffered two fractured ribs - had a head wound consistent with an 'accelerated fall backwards', saying it was most likely the impact of his head on the floor that led to his brain bleed.

'He didn't make much of a neurological recovery,' he explained. '[Mr O'Neill] didn't wake up.

'It usually happens around 11 o'clock outside a pub: someone gets punched and does not recover.'

Ms Wilding added that though it isn't known whether the injuries to Mr O'Neill's head were caused by the impact of his head hitting the ground or by direct impact from one of Gocan's blows, it was a 'deliberate' act.

'No one in this case suggests this was an accident,' she said. 'It may have been done in anger or in frustration.

'[Mr O'Neill] did not touch the defendant. Whatever argument took place was completely unnecessary, over the top and unjustified.'

The trial is expected to last until the end of next week.

Pret A MangerLondon