Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Teenager is charged with murder of homeless man
A teenager arrested in a village outside Canterbury has been charged with murder after a homeless 21-year-old was found beaten to death in a nature reserve.
Alex Macdonald, 18, was arrested by police last Thursday evening in Woolage Green near Aylesham.
Macdonald from Regency Place, Maidstone, and Jimmy Buckley, also known as Penfold, 19, of Capell Close, Coxheath, will appear at Maidstone Crown Court today (Thursday).
They are charged with murder after homeless Razvan Sirbu was found dead on Sunday, May 7, in the Loose Valley Conservation Area of Maidstone.
On Friday, police cordoned off a field off Wick Lane in Woolage Green after arresting Macdonald.
Parish councillor Adrian Wicken said he saw a number of police vehicles in the village including the helicopter.
“It was obviously serious as you do not usually get the police helicopter floating about,” he said.
“People in the village were making it sound like we were in downtown Chicago, but there were probably some people who didn’t even know the police were here.
“They didn’t advertise their presence at all but some officers did come into the pub when we were closing up to ask if we knew anything.”
Company director Ben Doherty, 31, said the police helicopter was hovering just above his house in Wick Lane.
“We have never seen that in the village before as we only rarely see police cars passing through,” he said. “It was above our house at 200-feet – it was so loud and all the neighbours were coming out of their houses.
“We could read all of the writing on the helicopter it was so low.
“I have always lived in this area but have never seen anything like this before – everybody was a bit nervous.”
A post-mortem revealed Mr Sirbu died from blunt force trauma to the head and body.
Two boys, aged 14 and 15, who were also arrested in connec- tion with the incident, have been bailed pending further inquiries until June 8.
A further person was arrested on suspicion of murder shortly after midnight on Tuesday in the Maidstone area.
The man, aged 18 and of no fixed address, remains in police custody.
It is thought Mr Sirbu had previously lived in the Gravesend area and had been an agency worker for 24-7 Employment Solutions which has offices in Tunbridge Wells and Gravesend.