Diplomat 'killed mugger in anger'

Damian Broom died from a stab wound to the chest

A furious Colombian diplomat tracked down and killed a man after learning he had mugged his son, a court has heard.

Sergeant Major Jairo Soto-Mendoza, 45, plunged a knife into Damian Broom's chest after chasing him from a Tesco store in Greenford, west London, the Old Bailey was told.

His 21-year-old son Jairo had been left badly shaken after being robbed by Mr Broom and a friend outside Perivale Tube station in west London on 21 May 2002.

He returned to his home in Conway Crescent, Greenford and told his father what had happened.

"Then, instead of calling the police, the defendant decided to take it upon himself to find his son's attackers," Mark Dennis, prosecuting, told the jury on Thursday.

Armed with a knife, Mr Soto-Mendoza and his son found the two men in a nearby Tesco store and confronted them at the checkout, the court heard.

The defendant, no doubt caught up in the heat of the event, delivered that fatal blow in an act of retribution for what had happened that evening

Mark Dennis, prosecuting

When Mr Broom ran off, the diplomat chased him into an access road leading to the store and stabbed him in the chest. He died in hospital an hour later.

The prosecution says it was a deliberate thrust intended to cause serious harm.

"It is alleged in this case that the defendant, no doubt caught up in the heat of the event, both by his anger and his own son's, both at his own son's assault and the chase itself, delivered that fatal blow in an act of retribution for what had happened that evening," Mr Dennis told the court.

The court heard Mr Soto-Mendoza then fled the scene with his son, but walked into a police station the next day to report the robbery.

"There was not, at that stage, either by the defendant or anyone else, any mention of any stabbing," said Mr Dennis.

Previous convictions

"But police were quick to spot a potential connection between the report of this robbery and the stabbing."

Mr Soto-Mendoza, a secretary to the military attaché at the Colombian Embassy in London, denies murder.

The court heard it was accepted that Mr Broom, who had a number of previous convictions for driving offences and minor thefts, had mugged the diplomat's son.

The trial continues.