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Pal strangled flatmate in drunken row

from Cathy (cathyvpreece@aol.com)

South London Press

Pal strangled flatmate in drunken row

Feb 14 2003

Croydon Advertiser

An ex-soldier killed his flatmate in a drunken rage after discovering he was a paedophile, a jury was told.

Ronald Harrison, 51, throttled James Luffrum so hard he snapped bones in the victim's neck at their apartment in Mayday Gardens, Croydon.

Harrison lost his temper after Mr Luffrum confessed to him that he was a child abuser.

Harrison was jailed for six years last Thursday after a jury at the Old Bailey found him guilty of manslaughter following a ten-day trial.

Harrison, who later lived at Woodland Road, Thornton Heath, was cleared of murdering Mr Luffrum, also 51.

The defendant denied murder and was convicted by the jury of the lesser charge of manslaughter, to which he had entered no plea.

The pair's volatile relationship finally ended in Mr Luffrum's death on December 19, 2001.

Former landscape gardener Harrison, who was dismissed from the army for dishonesty in 1972, told police he had been asleep in a park in Kennington on the night of the killing and said he had returned home to find Mr Luffrum dead.

The court heard that the defendant, who had a long list of previous convictions for theft, burglary and deception, blamed another man for the crime.

Sally O'Neill, defending, said her client genuinely cared for Luffrum.

Jailing Harrison, Judge Gerald Gordon, said: "This offence was the result of a combination of drink and anger."

(posted 7714 days ago)

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