Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
My guilt at train hubby’s murder
I couldn’t afford to join him and our boy on fateful trip
THE grieving widow of train murder victim Lee Pomeroy says she is racked with guilt.
Lana, 51, says things “might have been different” if she had been on the father-and-son trip in which Lee, 51, was stabbed. Lana says: “I wanted to go but didn’t, to save money. That’s really hard to deal with.”
THE train knifeman who killed Lee Pomeroy in a frenzied 25-second attack does not deserve to live, says the victim’s grieving widow.
Lana Pomeroy, 51, says Darren Pencille had taken her “soulmate”.
Describing her “eternal loss”, she tells the Sunday Mirror: “He robbed my husband of his precious life so he should live no longer. He doesn’t deserve to live.
“I really miss Lee as a soulmate. He was a decent and honest man.
“He made sure that his family was always looked after and he was the breadwinner. He was a very caring father, he was doting on his son and spoiled him a lot. But now he is gone.”
Lana also gave a harrowing account of the attack, as relayed to her by her son. She likens it to a horror film.
She tells how the 14-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, found stricken Lee on the train floor, bleeding massively.
In a heartrending account, she reveals how the lad cradled his father and told him: “Don’t move, Daddy.”
Lana was speaking after Pencille, 36, was jailed at the Old Bailey on Friday for a minimum of 28 years for murder.
Russian-born Lana is racked with guilt at being unable to have prevented the fatal attack on January 4 this year.
FATE
She explains: “If I had been there things might have been different. That is really hard to deal with.
“I wanted to go on the trip, but I didn’t. It was after Christmas and we wanted to save some money.”
Heartbroken Lana also tells how fate cruelly placed Lee and their son on the same train as Pencille.
The pair changed their plans at the last moment – opting to take a train that arrived 10 minutes before their scheduled service.
They were off to London on a day trip from Guildford, Surrey, a day before Lee’s 52nd birthday.
He died after getting into a spat with Pencille over blocking the aisle. CCTV showed the pair trading insults.
As the row escalated and moved into another carriage, Pencille lashed out, stabbing Lee 18 times in 25 seconds.
Pencille, an former gang member with a history of knife and gun offences, fled at the next stop.
His girlfriend Chelsea Mitchell, 28, was found guilty of assisting an offender after she picked him up from remote Clandon station after the attack.
Pencille’s criminal past includes more than a dozen convictions. He sliced a man’s neck in a row over cigarette paper.
It was also revealed he was seen by a psychiatrist just 24 hours before the murder, but was considered “no risk to himself or others”.
Lee’s son, thankfully, did not witness the fatal wounds inflicted by Pencille.
Lana says: “He found his dad sitting and holding his head, he noticed that his eye was very badly injured and he asked him what happened.
“Lee replied, ‘Oh, he punched me’. Then Lee got up, moved towards the doors and fell on the floor. The blood was pouring out of his neck, bubbling like in a horror film.
“He said, ‘Don’t move, Daddy’. Our son had to call the ambulance because he was alone with his dad. He tried to keep Lee on the floor and asked him not to move too much, hoping he wouldn’t lose more blood.
“As Lee lay on the floor, there was lots of blood. Our son called for help. Train staff and policemen tried to help.
“One rail worker even put his jumper around Lee’s neck to stop the blood.
“They really were trying to save Lee’s life. An air ambulance arrived and they tried to resuscitate him.
“Our son was then taken away from the train so he didn’t see that Lee was pronounced dead.
“I received a call from the police about 30 minutes after it happened. The policewoman told me she was with our son and my husband was badly injured after somebody attacked him on a train. Paramedics were with him.
“It was a shock, but there was a hope he was just injured, not dead. My instant
reaction was to get our son and go to the hospital to see my husband.
“But the policewoman told me she would bring our son to our house. I had to wait a whole hour in real agony of not knowing what was going on.
“Eventually they came and told me to sit down because they wanted to talk to me. I couldn’t believe my husband was dead. I kept repeating myself, ‘It can’t be real’.
“Our son didn’t know yet that his father had died in the train either.
“The police stayed for many hours because the pain from the loss was unbearable and shocking.
“Our son found it easier to grieve with his beloved beagle Benji.
“He spent two weeks in bed with his dog. That really helped him to overcome the loss.”
Lana and Lee met in Moscow and she moved to Britain to be with him. She says: “Lee was interested in Russian culture, history and classical music. His favourite composer was Shostakovich. He even learned Russian, but found it very difficult.
IDENTICAL
“We met in Moscow where I worked in fashion as a secretary with the famous designer Slava Zaitsev.
“I had lots of friends and a big family but I left it all to join Lee in Britain when we fell in love with each other.
“We had many common interests and our view on the world and life was practically identical so we could talk for hours about music, history, politics and social subjects.
“I called him ‘computer head’ because he knew practically everything about everything. He was like a living encyclopedia of all music ever created, from classical to rock or goth.
“He had a degree in art, he was a brilliant athlete and won lots of events in running. He loved rugby and football.
“He also had a Bachelor of Science in maths. Lee was very friendly with all people regardless of their colour or race.
“He had mates of different backgrounds and from different countries. He always stepped in if people needed help in difficult situations.
“It is impossible to describe this eternal loss.”
The senseless killing has also had a profound effect on Lee’s sister Kim Pomeroy, who has a shrine to her beloved brother at her home. They were born just a year apart in Bow, East London, and were great playmates as they grew up. Kim tells how Lana and Lee chose to live in Surrey because it was safer than the capital.
Medical PA Kim, 51, also says Lee didn’t like confrontation but always stood up to bullies.
She believes he only confronted Pencille because he thought his son was at risk.
Kim says: “He (Pencille) was aggressive and looking to cause trouble over a very minor incident. Then he threatened Lee. He said, ‘It won’t end nicely. Put your hand on me’. After enduring this for quite some time, Lee did stand up and clench his fist. But he did that because he saw this aggressive screaming man as a threat to his son.
“He stood up because he wanted to get him away from his son, who was scared. Lee was brave and that is why he is not here any more. His family came first, especially his son.
Kim also recalls the time Lee heroically tackled a thief.
She says: “Several years ago Lee was sitting in a café in London and he saw a man snatch a woman’s handbag.
“Lee gave chase and wrestled the bag from the thief. This sums up my brother. He was very protective, especially of women and children.
“He was the sort of man that made the world a better place.”