Age: 62 (86 after sentence)
Sex: male
Crime: murder
Date Of Sentence: 8 Nov 2023 (for 24 years)
End Of Full Sentence: 8 Nov 2047
Place: Seaton Close, Kennington
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Paul Bryan was convicted of the murder of 62-year-old Roman Szalajko.
He stabbed him to death at Roman Szalajko's home in Seaton Close, Kennington in 1984.
After killing him he assumed the identity of a dead man and moved abroad.
When the police reviewed the case in 2013 they found that fingerprints had been found at Roman Szalajko's home but had not been uploaded to a central database. When the police then examined the fingerprints they found that they matched Paul Bryan's, however, they also found that there was no trace of him after 1984.
They also had DNA from the crime scene.
However, after searching for ten years, they found that Paul Bryan had taken the identity of a Welsh man of the same name who died in 1987.
When they compared DNA they found a match.
Paul Bryan had been living in Spain and Portugal.
He was arrested in November 2022 when he returned to the UK.
He told the police that he changed his identity sa he wanted to appear older to his wife. He also claimed to have suffered memory after a car crash in Lisbon in 1989.
