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Four jailed for death of man tortured and set alight
Jones and Tobiasz Kozlowski received life terms after jurors found them guilty of murder in a plot tied to seized cigarettes worth £1 million.
On Friday, Birmingham Crown Court sentenced four men for the 2019 kidnapping and murder of Tomasz Samel. Organizers Neil Jones and Tobiasz Kozlowski received life sentences, while Kevin Wooden and Kye Arthur were convicted of manslaughter.
The attack stemmed from the loss of £1 million worth of illicit cigarettes seized by HM Revenue and Customs in February 2019. Samel was kidnapped from his home by men posing as law enforcement officers before being driven to Merseyside and tortured.
Jones must serve at least 34 years and Kozlowski at least 33 years before parole consideration. Wooden and Arthur received 23 and 22 years respectively, while Sandra Kozlowska, Kozlowski's wife, was given a suspended three-year sentence for assisting an offender.
Judge Mr Justice Wall described the case as a "truly horrific series of events," noting Samel "suffered extensive burns to most of his body" after being stripped and set alight. The judge stated that abandoning him without help confirmed the attackers' intent to kill.
West Midlands Police led a complex international investigation spanning Poland, Greece, and the Dominican Republic to secure evidence across jurisdictions. CPS prosecutor Hannah Sidaway said the cross-border cooperation "shows what can be achieved when prosecutors and law enforcement work together.