Pole’s killers like a pack of hyenas
Yobs who battered man to death ‘wanted more blood’
TEENAGE thugs who beat a Polish man to death hung around like a pack of hyenas waiting for another chance to attack, it was claimed yesterday.
They are said to have sauntered around the area after dealing the fatal blows to Arek Jozwik, 40, and leaving another man unconscious.
A third man escaped by running into a pizza restaurant. Police have launched a murder inquiry and are treating the attack in Harlow, Essex, as a suspected hate crime.
The town’s Tory MP Robert Halfon said Poles in the area had told him they were terrified of speaking in their own language.
Yesterday Mr Halfon visited the murder scene with Polish ambassador Arkady Rzegocki who laid a wreath at the spot where dozens of bunches of flowers have been left.
Locals have complained that police had done nothing about a group of up to 50 boys and girls who would hang around smoking cannabis and intimidating passers-by in the shopping precinct where Mr Jozwik was attacked on Saturday night as he and his friends, both believed to be Polish, sat outside shops after buying pizzas.
The manager of TF Pizza, who gave his name as Hayat, 45, said: ‘One of the men had run into the shop shouting at us to call the police. He was terrified. Then I saw the two other guys on the floor.
‘Not everyone is so evil’
‘They [the youths] were still here, just standing around and watching. They were like a pack of hyenas just waiting for another chance.’
Mr Jozwik, a factory worker, suffered head injuries and died in hospital on Monday. The 43-year- old man beaten unconscious needed treatment for fractures to his hands and a bruised stomach.
Victoria Gill, who lives above a shop in the precinct, said she heard him telling police after he came round that the youths had tried to kill him because he was Polish.
The mother of two added that problems with the youths had been ‘escalating for a while’. She said they picked on Polish people saying things like ‘You shouldn’t be here, you can’t even speak English’.
Harlow has one of the highest concentrations of eastern Europeans in Engand and Wales, with one in 17 residents coming from countries that recently joined the EU.
Mr Halfon warned that a small minority of people ‘from the sewers’ are exploiting Brexit for racist purposes. There have been reports of a spike in racist attacks in the UK following the decision to leave the EU. But Mr Halfon said most Britons find racism abhorrent.
Mr Jozwik, who was single, came to the UK four years ago. Last night the family said they were devastated by their loss. A flag of condolence is being signed by members of the Polish community in Harlow. One message said: ‘Not everyone in Harlow is so evil as those people.’
A vigil was planned for last night and a peace march is due to take place on Saturday. A Facebook page – Harlow Stand Up to Racism – has been set up to urge residents to ‘show that the people of Harlow will not accept hatred in our town’.
Six boys – five aged 15 and a 16year- old – have been arrested on suspicion of murder and bailed.
Essex Police imposed a 48-hour dispersal order from 7pm last night. Officers can order anyone they believe is harassing residents to leave the area.