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00:10I'm David Wilson, emeritus professor of criminology, and for over 30 years, I've
00:17investigated the phenomenon of murder and what it is that might motivate someone to kill.
00:27Every murder case is different, but time and again, a deadly pattern emerges of warning
00:34signs and red flags.
00:39In this new series, I investigate some of the UK's most harrowing murder cases to understand
00:48how and why these terrible crimes occur.
00:55This is Murder UK.
01:05Hi, my name is Ty, I'm a beatboxer, so I thought Friends Got Talent might be able to bring me
01:14that big step forward.
01:22Ty O'Donnell was a deeply loved, bright young man, full of life, with his future still ahead
01:33of him.
01:34But what happens to Ty isn't just a personal tragedy.
01:39From a criminological perspective, it talks to something much bigger.
01:45how our personal and private spaces and how those who are closest to us can sometimes be where
01:54we're greatest in danger and who is most likely to do us harm.
02:02Ty is a very fun person.
02:04Ty is a lighthearted, a very happy character, funny, really funny.
02:13We definitely grew up together, without a doubt.
02:16I was a baby, raising a baby.
02:18I got a great deal of support from his paternal grandparents.
02:23It was very joyful, because obviously he was our first, and to us, it was a pleasure.
02:32And it was an experience.
02:35Yeah, no, his grandad was, I'd say, one of his best friends.
02:39Spent so much time together.
02:41When he used to go to his mates, he would go,
02:44oh, grandad said this, grandad said that.
02:46Oh, that's my grandad, yeah.
02:49I didn't realise he was going and telling his friends about me.
02:53But now, having met all of his friends,
03:00and they tell me what he used to say when he used to pick me up.
03:06I'm just going to be showing you something on my beatboxing
03:12and what I can do with this pen.
03:15He was 10, 11 years old.
03:18And he had watched a YouTube video and said,
03:20this is really cool, I want to give this a go.
03:22And it was just so natural for him.
03:25Within like a week of practising, he just had it.
03:28He always said that he wanted to make enough money
03:34so that he could buy his mum the dream house that she always wanted.
03:39And I would just say to him,
03:41do you know what, Ty, whatever you want to achieve,
03:45you will do it, because you've got that mindset.
03:48He was such a character, with the life of the party kind of person.
03:51And like, you know, everyone that cross paths with him
03:54wouldn't have a bad thing to say about him.
03:56My baby love, my baby love.
03:59Girls loved him.
04:01Yeah, they did, they loved him a lot.
04:04As Ty enters his teens, he experiences a rite of passage
04:09many young people remember vividly.
04:12A first serious relationship.
04:15Those early bonds aren't just milestones.
04:19They help shape our sense of self, trust and emotional connection.
04:26Psychologists call this a love map.
04:28A mental template that shapes what we expect and accept
04:32in future relationships.
04:35The first time I met Ty was when I was 14 at a fun fair.
04:39I remember that day like it was yesterday.
04:41He was wearing a green bomber jacket and jeans
04:45and his smile just, like, radiated the room.
04:51He was tall, he had these bright green eyes.
04:54We both were laughing because we both had green eyes
04:57and it's quite rare.
04:58He was telling me, like, about his granddad.
05:00He loved his granddad so much.
05:02He was saying his granddad was, like, a wizard
05:04and telling me about his grandma's cooking
05:07and, yeah, it was really nice.
05:11She would actually come around most, most times
05:14and he really, really loved her.
05:17During his relationship with Sarah,
05:20Ty began to flourish creatively.
05:23Their connection gave him space to explore who he was.
05:27And music became his outlet, his language, his passion.
05:32Well, you know about filling up a shoebox,
05:34now a man's whipping up cash like Yola.
05:35He always liked to rap music.
05:38He was really into music.
05:39Like girls, but he coming in big, no Xbox pad,
05:42but I have to control her.
05:42And he always used to, like, tell me his music
05:45or sing to me or, you know, he used to do rapping.
05:48He used to, like, rap down the phone to me.
05:52It's really sweet.
05:58He didn't just want to write the lyrics.
06:00He wanted to make the beats.
06:01He wanted to direct the videos
06:03and that was what he was passionate about
06:06and that was what was driving him in college
06:08to be able to really learn all of the different elements of music,
06:12to be able to do things himself.
06:16Ty, have you told me the two types of microphones
06:18that we're looking at today?
06:20We're looking at dynamic microphones
06:22or condenser microphones.
06:29By 17, Ty is fully immersed in music,
06:33writing, producing, directing
06:35and building a creative identity of his own.
06:39Around this time, his relationship with Sarah ends amicably
06:43and with mutual respect.
06:46We split up because I had to go...
06:48I was going to go to college outside of London.
06:50My mum wanted me to focus on my studies.
06:54So, that's what I did.
06:55But we always had each other's best interests at heart.
06:58Like, we always loved each other.
07:00Like, if Ty ever needed me, I was always there for him.
07:05One of the text messages he sent me says,
07:07oh, you know, I might not be in your life now,
07:09but I'll always be in your headphones.
07:13Which...
07:15is going to be true.
07:19Late adolescence is a defining stage.
07:22A time of emotional shifts, growing independence
07:26and laying the foundations for an adult life.
07:30Ty moves into his own flat in Croydon,
07:33ready to take that next step.
07:37Kitchen! Birthday boy!
07:40Cooker!
07:42My grave!
07:44Oh my God, this is so good, Ty.
07:52In 2021, Croydon is dubbed the UK's knife crime capital
07:58due to high rates of violent crime.
08:01A place where violence amongst young people
08:03was becoming heartbreakingly common.
08:07But Ty wasn't drawn into that world.
08:10He keeps his head down.
08:13Ty didn't want to do anyone wrong.
08:15He didn't want to get into trouble and do stupid things.
08:19He had really high aspirations and goals in life.
08:22He was never a violent person or anything like that either.
08:25You know, he wanted to just make friends
08:26and live a happy life.
08:28Happy birthday to you!
08:34Happy birthday to you!
08:39Happy birthday to you!
08:44By the summer of 2020, Ty is 18, focused, optimistic
08:50and still full of ambition for the future.
08:53That's when he meets someone new.
08:5622-year-old Camilla Ahmad.
09:02Initially, the conversations were, you know, I've met someone
09:06and it didn't seem like it was anything that he was overly excited about.
09:13We didn't know anything about Camilla.
09:15We absolutely did not know anything about her.
09:19From the first impression of her, I wasn't...
09:21I didn't really... I wasn't too fond of her, to be honest.
09:25She was very small. She was probably like four foot eleven or something.
09:29Not even five foot, really. Tiny.
09:31But she had a big mouth, you know what I mean?
09:33Like, for a small girl, you know?
09:37Ahmad views herself as this gangster.
09:40She's part of a girl gang.
09:41She really tries to present this image of herself
09:45as kind of being a bit hard and a bit aggressive.
09:48And that's an intentional thing that she's putting out,
09:51not only to people around her,
09:52but also through social media.
09:54She's really curating this image
09:57and she wants to create this intimidating kind of persona.
10:01At first, it doesn't seem like anything serious.
10:06To those closest to him, it's just another part of growing up.
10:11I think with Ty, if he was really interested in the girl
10:15and the girl was really nice,
10:17he would say, come, let's go to my nan and grandad's
10:20so I can introduce you.
10:21And then afterwards, he would go, what do you think?
10:24What do you think, nan?
10:25What do you think, grandad?
10:26Every time that question came up, I was met with the same response.
10:29It was an absolute no.
10:31It was, mum, no.
10:34She's not on that level.
10:39Ty never introduced Camilla to his grandparents.
10:42And for someone so close to his family, that spoke volumes.
10:48Looking back, it was the first red flag.
10:51Over time, the truth about Camilla Ahmed emerged
10:55and what Ty's family discovered left them stunned.
10:59Then found out that she'd been to prison.
11:04And she was a bit unsavoury.
11:07Not the sort of person we'd want Ty knocking around with.
11:10Camilla Ahmed has a long history of violence and of convictions,
11:14even by the age of 21.
11:17She's already had 11 convictions for 17 offences.
11:20She spent time in a young offenders institute.
11:23And Ty was aware of some of Ahmed's criminal history and violence.
11:26But we have to remember that anything he's heard
11:29is probably going to be through Ahmed.
11:32So we do see that oftentimes people with convictions
11:35are still likely to sort of twist or change the wording
11:38of exactly the situation that occurred.
11:40Particularly when we're considering that this person
11:43is a manipulative human being.
11:46By the time she met Ty in 2020,
11:52Camilla Ahmed hadn't just lived a troubled life.
11:57She'd lived a life that was patterned by manipulation
12:02and aggressive behaviour.
12:04But Ty probably didn't see any of that.
12:08She would feed to him a filtered version of her reality.
12:14A filtered version that painted her in the best possible light.
12:20She'd lived a little bit.
12:20Naturally, things started to change quite quickly.
12:23It kind of went from OK to bad to worse.
12:42Ty O'Donnell was someone who was kind,
12:46generous and open-hearted.
12:48So when his girlfriend started to open up about her troubled past,
12:53he didn't turn away from her but gave her the benefit of the doubt.
12:58And he certainly didn't reveal to his family
13:01the full extent of what it was she was telling him.
13:07Although they began to notice things.
13:11There was a time when I'd seen Ty and he had bite marks on his neck.
13:16And I said to him, what's that about?
13:18And he said that it was her.
13:21And I was like, what's going on with that?
13:23And he really tried to brush it off.
13:24He really didn't want to talk about it.
13:26And I said, Ty, don't let this girl do that to you.
13:29Don't let her do that to you.
13:32And he was like, no, I know, Mum, I know, I know.
13:35But it's all right. It's done now.
13:38Over the space of a few months, it became...
13:42I was never hearing anything good.
13:44Every conversation that we had, it was, oh, you know,
13:47this girl's trouble.
13:48This girl's really difficult, Mum, she's not right.
13:52And every time we tried to talk about her,
13:55he didn't want to engage.
13:58And he told us that, you know, he was with this crazy girl.
14:04She's always... She's just crazy.
14:07We were trying to get rid of her, basically.
14:10You know, we just lived her out of his life.
14:13And it was difficult because it seemed like...
14:18..we couldn't do it.
14:19It was at some point in the summer,
14:21Dad had a conversation with him and he said,
14:24Mum, this girl's crazy.
14:26He said, I've told her we're not right for each other.
14:29And do you know what she said?
14:31She said, are you God?
14:33Are you God?
14:34What makes you be the person that gets to decide
14:37whether or not we are right for each other?
14:40And he, like, giggled about it as he said it.
14:42And he said, Mum, I said to her, like,
14:44I'm a human being, you know.
14:46I get to decide who's right for me.
14:49One in three victims of domestic violence are men.
14:54And young men like Tai, who may not recognise the early signs
14:58of coercion, manipulation or violence,
15:01can be especially vulnerable.
15:03There's this notion that, you know,
15:05they're going to be able to defend themselves.
15:07And how is this young, small woman going to be a physical threat to them?
15:12But that's not the case.
15:13If you're in a coercive and controlling relationship,
15:16your gender really doesn't play into that.
15:18You have a manipulator and you have a victim.
15:20And in this case, I think Tai perhaps didn't know that these red flags
15:24were as significant to him as a male in this relationship.
15:29And it seemed that he had reached a point where he had,
15:31at that point, started to break it off a few times.
15:35And each time he broke it off, she would come back and make him feel guilty for it.
15:39She was abusing herself in various different ways and blaming it on Tai.
15:44And saying, Tai, look what you've done to me.
15:47And he told us that she was always hitting herself or she was trying to get him to hit her.
15:56She was apparently turning up at all hours, you know, any day of the week, three, four in the morning,
16:02just creating a fuss, you know.
16:10Every time she was out there causing a disturbance in the early hours,
16:15any time the next door neighbour, the old man, came out of his house,
16:18that was when Tai would then open the door because he would feel obliged to get her in just to
16:24make peace,
16:26just to try and calm things down.
16:31I think what we're seeing here isn't just emotional distress.
16:35It's a kind of calculated chaos, a deliberate disruption by one person who's dominant,
16:46knowing that the weaker person will try to step in and recreate some kind of stability.
16:54So this is actually a form of control. It's a form of manipulation.
17:00Frankly, it's domination in disguise.
17:04Dominant personalities often seek out the empathetic,
17:08people who are more likely to absorb blame and stay loyal.
17:12Tai didn't want to be responsible for her being hurt.
17:15And I think that threatening to hurt herself was something that played a really big part in it.
17:20And I think that also played a big part in why he didn't speak up,
17:24because he was trying to protect her at the same time.
17:28He seemed a bit down, a bit gloomy,
17:31and I think it was like he wasn't doing his music as much as he used to do.
17:38He wasn't writing his lyrics as much as he used to, and he just seemed a bit sad.
17:43What we see in cases like this is a slow erosion of identity.
17:49The things that once brought joy, music, friendships, family, begin to slip away.
17:54Not because the person chooses isolation, but because it's imposed bit by bit by someone who wants to exercise full
18:04control.
18:05Six months into his relationship with Camilla, Tai becomes determined to break free and move on.
18:14So, December of 2020, Tai added me on Snapchat, and I was quite surprised. I was like, oh, Tai!
18:24We started talking about, you know, like, how's your family? How's your mum? Like, what we're up to?
18:29I told him I'm working. I told him I got a promotion at work. Like, he was really happy for
18:34me.
18:35And then, randomly, on Tai's account, I got blocked.
18:41I assumed there was a girl in the scene, because what other explanation would there be?
18:48In January, Tai added me on Snapchat again, and then he texted me and he said,
18:52Hi, Sarah, I'm really sorry about blocking you. I was talking to someone, but that's no longer.
18:57And, obviously, I really did appreciate Tai's honesty.
19:01And then we arranged to meet on the 6th of February, which we did.
19:07And it's just, that day, we were a play on my mind, because he was all grown up.
19:16I questioned about the girl that he blocked me for.
19:21And he said, she's like a man, Sarah. He said, she's crazy.
19:27He opened up his door, and he showed me at the bottom of his door.
19:31There was, like, little indentations on his door from where she'd been trying to kick in the door
19:36to get to him, which I was just shocked about.
19:41And he looked at me and he said, Sarah, I was genuinely scared.
19:44And for Tai, you know, for a teenage boy with a big boy persona, that is a lot.
19:49And I said, well, is she still around now? And he said, no, like, she's long gone.
19:54He assured me that it was finished, it was done.
19:57And, obviously, I believed him.
20:00Still trying to distance himself from Camilla, Tai reconnects with Sarah,
20:06someone from a happier, more grounded time in his life.
20:10They make plans to meet on Valentine's Day in 2021.
20:16We just stayed in, watching films, caught up, had a cuddle.
20:22But, yeah, Valentine's Day was such a lovely, lovely night.
20:25Like, a night that I'll never, I'll never forget.
20:30Like, my Valentine's Day will never, ever be the same.
20:34I said, Tai, why are you squeezing me so much?
20:36And he said, oh, you don't know what I've been through.
20:41But a few days after Valentine's Day, Tai's behaviour towards Sarah seems to change.
20:47I was getting ready to go to bed.
20:49It was about nine o'clock at night.
20:51And so, obviously, I put my phone on, do not disturb.
20:53I was ready to go to bed.
20:55And I looked at my phone and I see there was lots and lots and lots of missed calls, about
20:58ten.
20:59And then, at the bottom, I realised there was a text and it said, got with my ex, sorry about
21:04that.
21:05And I was a bit like, oh, what?
21:08Because it didn't sound like the kind of language that Tai would use.
21:13I went onto my Snapchat and I realised that I was blocked on his account as well.
21:19Truthfully, I didn't believe it was Tai.
21:23I didn't hear anything from him after that.
21:36I've been trying to get through to Tai.
21:39And his phone had been off and I'd just not been able to get through to him.
21:42So then on the Tuesday, I went there looking for him.
21:46And when I pulled up outside, Tai's window was smashed and had been boarded up.
21:51So I knew from the minute I pulled up, I knew something was wrong.
21:55And he came to the door and, I'll be honest, he wasn't very happy to see me.
22:00It was like, actually, like, he was really quite distressed to see me at the door,
22:05which wasn't something I'd ever experienced from him before.
22:09And I said to him, Ty, is somebody in the house?
22:11And he kept saying no. I said, is there somebody in here? Let me in.
22:14But he kept saying, no, Mum, there's no one here.
22:17Stacey knew that something wasn't right.
22:20A mother's instinct doesn't just fade away because your child turns 18.
22:26I said to him, are you safe?
22:27He said, yeah, of course I'm safe. Of course I'm safe.
22:31And with that, he pulled me forward and we hugged.
22:34And he got quite emotional at that point.
22:36And that was when he said to me, Mum, I just, I feel lost.
22:42He said, I don't feel like myself.
22:43I just, I feel, I feel lost, Mum.
22:46And he said, you don't understand what I'm going through.
22:48You don't understand what I'm dealing with.
22:51And I said, Ty, please, just tell me.
22:54You know, just tell me.
22:55I begged him, I said, Ty, please, just tell me what it is.
22:59I'm here. I'm here, I'll help you, whatever it is.
23:01Just tell me.
23:03But he kept just saying, Mum, please just come back tomorrow.
23:07And so I said to him that I would go and get some things that he needed.
23:11He had broken his phone and explained us why I couldn't get through to him.
23:15His phone was broken.
23:16I said, I'll go and get you the phone and I'll bring back some supplies.
23:20So I went and went to get him some stuff.
23:23And then I came back there about an hour later.
23:27And when I got out of the car, at this point, I could hear Hoover in.
23:31The Hoover going.
23:32And I could hear arguing inside the house.
23:36And I heard Ty say, but you effing did this.
23:40And then I heard a female voice.
23:42And that's when I knew that she was in the house the whole time.
23:46Camilla has found her way back into Ty's life without his family knowing.
23:52Abusers often isolate their victims like this, convincing them that secrecy is protection
23:58when really it's control.
24:01Isolation strips away outside voices, leaving the abuser as the only source of truth, comfort and control.
24:14I look at this girl and she is just like covered in bruises.
24:19Ty said, because she keeps hitting her head against brick walls, doing crazy stuff, smashing her head into walls, hitting
24:26herself.
24:28So from there, the conversation went into basically me telling this girl that I don't want her around my son
24:36anymore.
24:36That I want her to go her separate ways.
24:39And she said to me, oh, well, if you want me to leave your son, I will.
24:43So I said, do, because that's exactly what I want.
24:47I want you to leave.
24:48Don't come back.
24:50So Ty came outside with me.
24:53And I said to him, Ty, please get this girl out of your life.
24:59Stacy said everything a mother could say.
25:03She made it clear what needed to happen.
25:06All she could do now was hope Ty had heard her.
25:11I actually got a phone call a couple of hours later from the guy at the shop where the phone
25:16was.
25:17And he said, oh, Stacy, your son's here.
25:20He's just collecting the phone.
25:21Do you want to speak to him?
25:22So I said, yeah, yeah.
25:23And he said, he said, Mum, listen, I love you.
25:26He said, I love you, yeah.
25:29He said, thank you, yeah.
25:30I said, all right.
25:31I said, Ty, please just call me as soon as you can.
25:34He said, yeah, I love you, Mum.
25:38But that was the last time I spoke.
25:59On the afternoon of March the 3rd, 2021, Stacy O'Donnell had been trying to reach her son all day.
26:07But his phone was silent.
26:09There were no messages, no return calls.
26:13And for a parent who knows her child's routine, that kind of silence wasn't just unusual.
26:20It was a sign that there was something seriously wrong.
26:25It was about four o'clock in the afternoon and I'd been trying to call him.
26:30The police turned up and they said, babe, you found it.
26:36And, um, it was a bit of a blur at that moment.
26:46I just, I dropped to the floor and I was like, no, no, no, this can't, this can't be happening,
26:55it's not real.
26:56And I dropped to the floor and I was holding my stomach and I was crying and crying and I
27:01said, no, this can't be real.
27:06Ty's family is left not just grieving, but questioning everything, what they missed, what they could have done and how
27:15something so brutal could happen to someone they loved.
27:21Yeah, I just was thinking, well, what happened? What happened? What do you mean he's dead? What happened? Why? Who?
27:27What? You know, we just didn't know.
27:31It was several hours later when I found out what actually happened, what the actual cause of his death was.
27:41It was the evening of March the 2nd, 2021, just hours after Ty's mum had visited.
27:49That night, something was clearly unfolding behind closed doors, but loud enough for the neighbours to hear from the street.
28:00On this particular night, there's a loud argument heard by neighbours coming from Ty's flat and they can hear him
28:06exclaiming, it's my life.
28:08So we know that Ty is really trying to assert himself, he's trying to remove Ahmad from his life, but
28:14she's not listening.
28:16I think at one point Ty and her were out in the street, they were arguing, Ty was trying to
28:25calm her down.
28:26One minute she was outside the window, giving it the eyeball, and the next moment she wasn't.
28:33So they assume that she got away, but in fact what I think happened was she should either climb through
28:38the window or Ty had opened the door again.
28:40And then she stabs him.
28:43She stabs him four times, and Ty's femoral artery is severed, and so he slowly bleeds out over the course
28:50of 30 minutes, which is a really long period of time.
28:54And actually, if she had stopped and called an ambulance in that time, Ty could very well have survived.
28:59But she didn't. By the time that Ty was found, it was 12 hours later and he was dead.
29:06Ty's death wasn't instant. It was prolonged. And it was also preventable.
29:13Because actually, the death is characterised by inaction.
29:18And I always say that the ultimate power in a coercive relationship is to decide who should live and who
29:27should die.
29:29That kind of passive control, letting someone suffer, is abuse by omission.
29:35And it shows just how far power can distort empathy.
29:45I guess he must have felt so lost in that situation.
29:50Scared and worried that even if he did try to defend himself, it would have made him look like the
29:54bad one.
29:55He would have been made to look like the monster.
29:57He would have just felt so helpless, I imagine.
30:01Immediately, the police launch a murder investigation, and they're looking for Ahmad.
30:06They find her a couple of days later, and they find blood-stained rucksack and other garments.
30:12And when they test it, it's a match for Ty.
30:18For Ty's family, the pain of losing him was only made heavier by the isolation caused by the pandemic.
30:27Grieving behind closed doors without answers, without justice, and without him.
30:35Because of Covid, there was a lot of things in the way.
30:39Things preventing us from doing things how they should have been done.
30:43So, the police actually had his body for two months, around two months, before we were able to even begin
30:51to organise the funeral.
30:54So, we were allowed to sit with him with a closed casket while he was at the chapel in a
30:59week or so leading up to the funeral.
31:02It was something that I couldn't cope with, personally.
31:05I did go there once, and that was excruciating.
31:20For Ty's family, the wait for answers has been excruciating.
31:25There was a massive amount of things that I had to hear for the first time in court.
31:30You know, the wounds that were inflicted, the size of the knife wounds, where they were precisely, how many of
31:37them there were.
31:40So many things.
31:41The amount of cleaning up that she did, how my son was found, you know, naked.
31:47She'd washed his body. She'd attempted to clean so many things in the house.
31:53At trial, Ty's family finally began to piece together what happened in the hours after his death.
32:02I'm Alexandra Felix, King's counsel.
32:04I was prosecution counsel in the case of Crown against Camilla Ahmed, which related to the killing of Ty O'Donnell.
32:13He died probably in the early hours of the 3rd, and we know he was stabbed inside his flat because
32:23the circumstances in which he was found.
32:26About 12 o'clock on the 3rd, the London Ambulance Service got a phone call from a neighbour who said
32:32she'd been walking past and seen that he was dead.
32:36Now, in fact, that was somebody that Camilla Ahmed knew.
32:42And that was caught on body-worn footage as police officers followed that neighbour back to her flat.
32:49And Camilla Ahmed was in that room, hiding in there.
32:54They didn't know what they were dealing with at the time.
32:57They didn't know who Camilla Ahmed was.
32:59And in fact, the neighbour friend passed Camilla Ahmed off as being her little sister.
33:04And then there was CCTV showing her making her way up to a friend's address.
33:12She's then seen getting in a taxi.
33:14She goes back to her mother's address.
33:17And she was then arrested subsequently at her mother's address.
33:24During the investigation, police uncover a crucial piece of Ahmed's history, a past relationship marked by eerie similar violence.
33:35Though it hadn't resulted in a conviction, it offered a chilling precedent.
33:40Tai was not her first victim.
33:44Psychologically, this points to a pattern of behaviour, what's sometimes called an aggressive script, where past acts become a framework
33:53for future ones.
33:55She's got a previous boyfriend that she had also stabbed.
34:01But he hadn't followed it through with the police, so it wasn't recorded.
34:07In order to get away with it, she takes him out onto the street and presents it to the police
34:13as if he's been stabbed by a random passerby, totally unconnected to her.
34:17And she gets away with this for a long time.
34:20And that partner does go along with that story, which really shows us how controlling, how manipulative and how persuasive
34:27Ahmed can be.
34:30Despite the mounting evidence, Camilla Ahmed denies murder.
34:35In court, she claims she acted in self-defence or that her mental state diminished her responsibility for Tai's death.
34:45It's a classic tactic, minimisation and denial, a way to preserve control by rewriting the narrative, even in the face
34:55of overwhelming evidence.
34:58So she ran two defences, one that she acted in self-defence.
35:03And the second part of her defence was diminished responsibility, so that there were circumstances which didn't make her guilty
35:11of murder.
35:13And it was very clear from the papers that physically, she was much smaller than he was.
35:20She was not even five foot tall, I think.
35:22And so how does it come to be that this very small person ends up stabbing somebody who's much bigger?
35:31She had said he had his foot on my throat and I just picked up the nearest thing I could
35:40find and stabbed him in the leg.
35:43That was a defence.
35:46She was claiming that it was self-defence, so she was trying to get manslaughter based on that.
35:53She was claiming diminished responsibility as a result of mental health.
35:57I was so scared. What if she gets away with it?
36:18At Croydon Crown Court, the jury now had a crucial decision.
36:23Camilla Ahmed admits that she stabbed Ty O'Donnell, but she claims that she acted in self-defence.
36:32So with a history of violence, but a carefully constructed narrative, the case would hinge on something more.
36:43She had sent a message to somebody at about half past three in the morning, which said,
36:50Pam, I've stabbed someone and no one's helping clean him up.
36:54Which we obviously said was an admission by her of having stabbed Ty O'Donnell and killed him.
37:05The message isn't just damning, it's revealing.
37:10In those few words, Ahmed shows a chilling lack of remorse and a dangerous sense of invincibility,
37:18as if violence had no consequence and empathy never entered the equation.
37:26A lack of remorse like this signals danger.
37:29It shows either detachment or a refusal to care about the harm that's being done.
37:38She's still trying to present this persona of being a bit of a gangster.
37:43And on top of that, it suggests to me that she's not particularly intelligent
37:48because she has just sent this out into the world as if there's going to be no repercussions of that
37:53and as if that's not traceable.
37:54Now, I know that Snapchat's whole thing is that messages disappear, but the police can access that.
38:01This message is really shocking because despite the gravity of what's just happened,
38:07Ahmed's not really displaying a great deal of emotion.
38:09There's no remorse coming across in the message.
38:12But also, there's enough evidence within her phone, within her social media and messages
38:17to show that she was a persistent aggressor against Ty throughout their relationship.
38:23Ahmad's demeanour in court reflects the same persona she projected throughout her relationship with Ty.
38:29She was detached, defiant and entirely without remorse.
38:35I wish you were just guilty, you were written all over her, you know?
38:38Because if you wasn't guilty, you'd be standing up straight ready to speak for yourself.
38:43As the jury prepares to deliver its verdict, Ty's family are left waiting, hoping that the weight of the evidence
38:51will be enough.
38:52So there were two counts on the indictment.
38:55Count one was Section 18, grievous bodily harm in relation to Karim Hussein, related to stabbing him.
39:03There was also murder in relation to Ty O'Donnell.
39:07On April 19th, 2023, Ahmad is found guilty and convicted of the murder of Ty Jordan O'Donnell.
39:15At the same time, she's also found guilty and convicted of the stabbing of her ex-partner, Karim Hussein.
39:22She's sentenced to 23 years and seven years respectively, and they are to be served concurrently.
39:30Yeah, we clapped.
39:32One of our friends was so happy that she stood up and she said,
39:39Rotting hell, bitch.
39:41And the judge said, I'll overlook that last comment.
39:47Because he understood, you know, we've been two years coming to trial.
39:51And we've been living with that all that time.
39:58At the sentencing, everybody was really happy with the sentence that she got.
40:03But I cried and I cried and I was shaking and I was really emotional because, for me, justice will
40:13be having Ty walk through the door.
40:16But justice is never going to be served.
40:24Ahmed's sentence recognised not only the brutality of Ty's murder, but also the pattern of coercive control she had carried
40:32out.
40:33Another case of a woman fatally abusing a male partner, which exposes how power, not gender, often defines abuse.
40:45She ruined his life.
40:47She ruined his final days.
40:49And then she took everything from him.
40:53Everything.
40:54And for what?
40:55Just because he didn't want to be with her.
40:57Why couldn't they just move on?
40:59Why couldn't she have just moved on and found someone else?
41:06I want her dead.
41:08I feel like that's the only thing that will ever really maybe make me feel a little bit better would
41:13be to know that she died just as slowly and just as painfully as she left my son to.
41:19Because that's what she did.
41:20She stood in that room and watched him die.
41:24She watched my baby die.
41:25Why?
41:29Coercive control doesn't just isolate the victim.
41:34It leaves the victim's family and their friends questioning every missed sign, every moment that they couldn't change.
41:45I just, I feel guilt now.
41:48I feel like I should have listened to him when he was talking about the girl, about the ex-girlfriend
41:53that kept coming around.
41:56I should have listened to him.
41:58You know, could it have been prevented?
42:01Could I have saved him?
42:06Valentine's Day was the last day I saw Ty, like, alive.
42:11I think about that moment all the time.
42:13I think about our last goodbye.
42:15I wish I held him.
42:16I wish I squeezed him for longer.
42:18I wish I never let go.
42:20I wish I never said goodbye.
42:23Even all of the good memories now are clouded by this.
42:28Even the really best memories are painful now.
42:32I can't think about good times without feeling sad afterwards.
42:39You think about what's your child going to look like when they reach certain ages and stuff.
42:45And it's just not going to go any further.
42:47There will be no visions of him growing, growing old.
42:52I wanted to watch him grow old.
43:03One of the most dangerous myths about domestic abuse is that it always looks the same.
43:11But in Ty's case, it didn't look like fear.
43:14It looked like guilt.
43:16It looked like love.
43:18It looked like responsibility.
43:20And abusers are often very good at turning that kind of emotional reaction into control.
43:31Never underestimate what a sick woman can do.
43:37And teach your sons to be aware of abuse against males from females because it does happen.
43:48If there is any way that I can raise awareness in this matter and encourage any young men who are
43:55going through similar situations or end up in any similar situations to know, to get help, speak up.
44:01You know, don't try to play it down.
44:08He'd say things like, love a grandad.
44:12She meant the world to me.
44:16He said, seems like, you made me laugh grandad.
44:21He was a happy guy.
44:23He was a happy guy.
44:25Didn't deserve what happened.
44:31Good night, man.
44:34I even got voice notes on my phone.
44:35I'll go back and listen to you sometimes.
44:37And yeah, like, sometimes it's hard to listen to you.
44:39Even, even all these years later, you know, can get me a bit emotional and that.
44:44Gonna watch a film.
44:46Probably go to bed, but I'm not gonna lie.
44:48All I ever wanted was for Ty to be happy and to be in a healthy relationship with someone.
44:53And that's all we wanted for each other.
44:57Ty O'Donnell should have been safe in his own home.
45:01He should have been making music, falling in love, watching a film before going to bed.
45:07But domestic abuse doesn't always look the way we expect it to look.
45:14And tragically, in Ty's case, he was dead before we were able to acknowledge that he was actually a victim.
45:23Before my eyes even open, sometimes I'm crying.
45:27And the second I wake up, I cry myself to sleep.
45:32It's a torture.
45:35I feel like I'm doing a jail sentence.
45:38I feel like my life has turned into a lifelong sentence.
45:41It's never gonna end.
45:43It's never gonna get easier.
45:44I'm never gonna get my baby back.
45:48I feel like...
45:49That's how I wear.
45:53Yeah.
45:54It should have ruined my life.
45:55I am.
45:57Yeah.
46:02Yeah.
46:10Yeah.
46:35Transcription by CastingWords
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