Guernsey Press

Local man gets life for Ascot murder

GUERNSEYMAN Nigel Ogier was yesterday found guilty of savagely murdering a former colleague.

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GUERNSEYMAN Nigel Ogier was yesterday found guilty of savagely murdering a former colleague. He and co-accused Peter Taylor, also found guilty, denied killing Patrick Welch, 37, by dazing him with a stun gun, then stabbing him almost 30 times and dumping his body in a shallow grave near Ascot racecourse, Berkshire.

The jury of six men and six women at Reading Crown Court unanimously found Taylor guilty in just under 13 hours of deliberations. They returned a majority verdict on Ogier an hour later.

Judge Stephen Kramer sentenced both men to life and recommended they each serve at least 20 years.

'This is an offence you committed jointly, each carrying out a part in Patrick Welch's death at Ascot racecourse under the cover of darkness on 7 March last year,' he said.

'You attacked him with what the pathologist has described as a ferocious attack using feet and weapons.'

Ogier and Taylor lured Mr Welch to his death on the pretext of stealing champagne from the kitchens at the racecourse where all three were security guards.

'A large theft of wines was planned for that weekend,' said Simon Draycott, prosecuting.

'On the day in question Mr Welch found a text message on his phone. It was from Ogier who wanted him to join him at Ascot racecourse to steal champagne and wine from the kitchens.

'A phonecall from Ogier and the invitation to take part in the thefts that evening would have seemed natural to Welch and would have caused him no surprise.

'It is plain he did not suspect that he was being led to his death at the racecourse.'

During the trial the jury heard how Mr Welch was stabbed and kicked so brutally that his teeth flew out.

Ogier and Taylor bragged to friends about the vicious attack, which they claimed to have done because Mr Welch had supposedly stolen Taylor's Harley-Davidson motorbike.

Three months before the murder, Taylor told friends he attacked Mr Welch with a Gurkha-style knife and stabbed him in the leg during an argument over a stolen bottle of vodka.

Neither man showed any emotion as he was led to the cells.

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