17 Year Minimum Sentence For Skelmersdale Murder

13/05/2010

Michal Kalinowski, a Polish national, was sentenced to life imprisonment and ordered to serve a minimum of 17 years in prison after he was found guilty at Preston CC of the murder of his landlord, Peter Berkley.

Peter Berkley was stabbed to death on 6 November last year when he called at a flat in Abbeystead, Skelmersdale to collect rent owed to him by the defendant.  Michal Kalinowski then concealed the body under bushes and bin bags in the garden before going with a friend to the local supermarket to buy alcohol with bank notes stained with Mr Berkley's blood.  

One important witness account during the trial was provided by Adrian Zydek, a neighbour of Michal Kalinowski in Abbeystead, via a video link to Preston Crown Court from Poland.  The Crown Prosecution Service and Lancashire Constabulary put in place special arrangements with the authorities in Poland so that Mr Zydek could give evidence from the regional court in Katowice in the presence of a Polish judge and through an interpreter.  Mr Zydek told the court that on the day of the murder he had heard noises from the flat next door and had heard cries for help.  Although he could not see inside the flat because the blinds were drawn he was worried that something was wrong and came forward to tell police when he heard about the murder.   Lancashire CPS co-ordinated all the legal procedures, including preparing the formal 'letters of request' that legal authorities in the UK must provide to overseas authorities when their legal assistance is needed. 

Jenny Prendergast, Senior Crown Prosecutor from the Crown Prosecution Service in Lancashire said,   "Michal Kalinowski launched a brutal, sustained and overwhelming attack on Mr Berkley without any provocation, simply because he was being pressed to pay the rent that he owed.  He then went to considerable lengths to hide the body and evade justice.   This trial will have been a very difficult ordeal for Peter Berkley's family and friends and on behalf of the CPS I would like to offer them our deepest sympathies."

"I am very grateful for the help that the Polish authorities and in particular Lancashire Constabulary provided to enable the witness who was in Poland to give his evidence.  Setting up a live video link overseas during a trial is never easy and in this case we could not have done without the help of the police.  However, it was important that Mr Zydek's evidence was heard live and in full by the jury and that he could be cross-examined.   No-one else was in the flat at the time of the murder and we will never know exactly what happened, but the evidence from Mr Zydek was important in helping us, and the jury, piece together the events of that day."