BRITAIN has praised the Nigerian security services for helping apprehend and deport Jeffery Okafor who fled from the UK after being accused of murder but was later handed over to the UK authorities and sentenced yesterday. 

Mr Okafor, 24, fled the UK to Nigeria after stabbing and killing CBBC actor Carl Beatson Asiedu in Vauxhall in August 2009. He was, however arrested by the Nigeria Police Force and after an extradition warrant was served on him, he was deported to the UK where he faced trial. 

Yesterday, Mr Okafor, who was sent back to the UK in November 2014, was found guilty of the murder at Woolwich Crown Court and will be sentenced later today. Subsequently, the British High Commission in Nigeria has praised the Nigerian Police for their cooperation. 

A high commission spokesman said: “Jeffrey Okafor convicted for murder in London today after good cooperation with the Nigeria Police Force and the Federal Government of Nigeria. They helped to track, arrest and extradite him.” 

During the trial, the court was told that Mr Okafor confessed to his girlfriend before fleeing to Nigeria using his brother’s passport. On the night Mr Asiedu was killed, he had performed at the Club Life nightclub near Vauxhall station and outside the club he and his friends were approached by a larger group of men, which included Mr Okafor, when an argument broke out. 

Witnesses told the court that at this time the DJ became separated from his friends and was stabbed by Mr Okafor, 24. A post-mortem examination concluded the cause of Mr Asiedu’s death was a single stab wound to the front of the chest. 

Sarah Whitehouse QC, prosecuting, told Woolwich Crown Court: “After the attack, Jeffrey Okafor actually confessed to a girlfriend that he had stabbed Carl Beatson." 

She added that Mr Okafor confessed in a phone call within an hour of the attack and days later he told the same woman that he had stabbed the DJ in the stomach. Ms Whitehouse said he gave her a pair of black gloves to look after which were later passed to the police and DNA which may have come from the victim was found on one of the gloves. 

According to the prosecution, four days after the stabbing, Mr Okafor boarded a flight from Heathrow Airport to Lagos using his brother’s passport. Mr Asiedu, who appeared in the CBBC series M I High, was also a part-time DJ known as DJ Charmz.