London hammer attacker shows jurors how he hit Emirati sisters

A man accused of savagely attacking three Emirati sisters in a London hotel before making off with valuables and stolen bank cards came close to throwing a rolled-up magazine across the courtroom at the man prosecuting him on Wednesday.

LONDON // The man accused of savagely attacking three Emirati sisters in a London hotel before making off with valuables and stolen bank cards came close to throwing a rolled-up magazine across the courtroom at the man prosecuting him yesterday.

Wearing a grey tracksuit, 6ft 3in (190cm) Philip Spence was asked to stand in the witness box, hold the magazine and demonstrate how he hit his defenceless victims.

Khuloud Al Najjar, 36, and her sisters Ohoud, 34, and Fatima, 31, from Sharjah, suffered life-threatening injuries in the raid on April 6 after Spence slipped into their suite at the Cumberland Hotel in Marble Arch and attacked them with a claw hammer.

“Imagine that is a hammer in your hand, what I would like you to demonstrate now is how it was that you smashed that hammer into Ohoud’s head,” said prosecutor Simon Mayo, QC.

“Just imagine that her head is that desk in front of you.”

“I just did it like that,” replied Spence, flicking his wrist in the air.

“I was trying to control the movement of the hammer – it is a strong heavy hammer.”

“Are you afraid,” asked Mr Mayo.

“Afraid of what?” asked Spence.

“Afraid that the jury might get a glimpse ...”

“I have shown you and you are just mocking,” Spence said.

“What I am trying to do Mr Spence, is give you an opportunity to provide this jury with an insight into how you carried out that attack.

“I just showed you,” Spence replied, growing visibly impatient.

He then lifted up the magazine above his head and began to throw it at Mr Mayo before thinking better of it at the last minute and dropping his arm again.

Mr Mayo asked if he was intending to throw the prop weapon at him, to which Spence replied “yes”.

“You were smashing that hammer into her head, she was defenceless wasn’t she?”

“I couldn’t see in the dark but I guess she was defenceless,” Spence replied. “I was in a panic, I wanted to get out of there, I wasn’t trying to kill her.”

He denied using the claw end of the hammer to smash Ohoud’s teeth.

Earlier in the trial, maxillofacial consultant surgeon Ashraf Messiha said the damage to Ohoud’s jaw and teeth were consistent with blows struck by the claw end of the hammer.

Blood from the barbaric attack was sprayed in three arcs around the room, one almost hitting ceiling height, jurors at Southwark Crown Court heard.

“Did any of that blood hit you in the face,” asked Mr Mayo.

“I couldn’t see, it was dark,” Spence replied.

“Help the jury please, what were you thinking as that hammer tore into her skin and smashed into the bones of her face?

“I wasn’t thinking much about what I was doing apart from I wanted to get her unconscious to get out of there.”

“What did you think would happen?”

“I thought I would knock them out.”

“It was your intention to kill Ohoud wasn’t it?”

“No, it wasn’t, it wasn’t.”

“And having smashed her head you left her for dead, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t think she was dying ... I just wanted to take the goods and get away with it.”

Spence admitted severe force was used on the women but insisted he had no desire to kill them.

Mr Mayo continued: “After you smashed the first skull did your appetite to inflict grave injury not diminish?”

“It wasn’t to do with appetite I just wanted the screams to stop,” Spence said.

Earlier Spence had admitted that he was high on crack cocaine and heroin when he slipped into the victims’ suite

He told jurors he was armed with a hammer because he was afraid of drug dealers who he owed cash to.

Mr Mayo said Spence had grabbed a “golden opportunity” when he saw the crack in the door to the victims’ hotel room.

Ohoud could not find her key card and had left her door on the latch. Earlier in the trial, her half-sister Sheikha Al Muhairi testified how she had left the room minutes before the attack to buy chocolate from a nearby shop.

But Spence insisted he was not a “hotel creeper” and said he had gone to the Cumberland Hotel only to find somewhere to sleep.

He said he could not stay with his brother because he had once stolen almost £6,000 (Dh35,250) from him and was similarly barred from staying at his sister’s house.

The trial continues.