Co-accused tells court there was no plot to rob Emirati sisters

LONDON // Thomas Efremi denied there was a “plot” to burgle a London hotel and insisted he had not known Philip Spence was carrying his hammer the night of the brutal attack on three Emirati sisters.

Spence, 33, attacked his victims Khuloud Al Najjar, 36, and her sisters Ohoud, 34, and Fatima, 31, with a claw hammer as their children lay sleeping at the plush Cumberland Hotel, near Marble Arch, central London. They all suffered fractured skulls.

Efremi, who has admitted a charge of fraud but denies conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary, in tandem with Spence, was giving evidence for the first time at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday after being taken ill the previous day.

“You say you didn’t know he had it [the hammer] with him that night,” asked prosecutor Simon Mayo QC.

“No,” was Efremi’s response.

“I suggest you did, but in any event if he had that hammer with him you must have realised the risk that he would use that hammer if he was interrupted during the course of a burglary,”said Mr Mayo

“That’s assuming I knew he had it,” replied Efremi. “If you didn’t know his previous [convictions], no, since when is it an offence for a neighbour or a friend to borrow a tool? Why should you presume that they are going to commit an offence with it?

“I did not know that his temper was that bad, I have seen him get upset a couple of times, shouted at him and then he had behaved himself,” he said.

“If he had told me what he had done I would have knocked him out straight away.

“You believe what you want to believe, I know the truth in my heart and in my soul, I know the truth.

“There was no bargain, there was no plan, there was no plot.”

Efremi protested he had no knowledge of the savage attacks until his arrest two days later on April 8.

Spence blamed Efremi for the brutal hammer assaults, telling the police “the only person you should hold is Tom, yeah”.

“I knew nothing about being accused of it, being set up for it which is what he tried to do,” said Efremi.

“There was no agreement between us, I didn’t know where he was going to, what he was going to do or when he would be coming back.

“It’s all well and good you producing evidence that makes me look guilty, how about you produce evidence that makes me look innocent.”

Mr Mayo then accused Efremi of trying to “mislead this jury in an effort to save your own neck”.

“The truth is, if you only would tell it, is that you knew where he was going and what he was going to do,” said Mr Mayo.

“I did not know where he was going,” was Efremi’s response.

“You and Philip Spence were, on the 5th April, as thick as thieves.”

“Not in that sense,” replied Efremi.

He said his “cosy relationship” with Spence had abruptly ended after the savage attacks.

“Your cosy relationship since then has been under threat as each of you has tried to save your own necks,” said Mr Mayo.

The trial continues Friday.