Brit, 35, who hacked 75-year-old to death with an axe after alleged rape faces 10-year prison sentence

5 February 2025, 14:17

A Brit, 35, is facing a 10-year prison sentence for hacking a 75-year-old man to death with an axe.
A Brit, 35, is facing a 10-year prison sentence for hacking a 75-year-old man to death with an axe. Picture: Police handout

By Jacob Paul

A British man is facing up to 10 years in jail for hacking a 75-year-old multiple times with an axe after an alleged rape.

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The Brit, 32, admitted to attacking the pensioner inside his home in Finland, a court heard.

He reportedly arrived in the country on a cycling tour and met the older man at a spa in Seinajoki, western Finland.

CCTV footage from July 28 showed the pair buying a mobile phone and arriving at the pensioner’s home, where the Brit reportedly completed some gardening work on the flat. 

The Brit later told investigators the 75-year-old had tied him up and raped him in a “horrible ordeal”.

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CCTV footage from July 28 showed the pair buying a mobile phone and arriving at the pensioner’s home in Seinajoki, where the Brit reportedly completed some gardening work on the flat.
CCTV footage from July 28 showed the pair buying a mobile phone and arriving at the pensioner’s home in Seinajoki, where the Brit reportedly completed some gardening work on the flat. Picture: Police handout

“When it was over, he rolled over next to me,” he told the court. 

The Brit added: “Then he started snoring, and I decided to escape. I went to the kitchen and cut my ties there.”

He claimed his only option was to carry out the savage axe attack on the older victim in an act of self-defence. 

The man had allegedly come to the kitchen door with an axe and told him that no one would believe him if he tried to call the police.

“The man had an axe in his hand, and I had no choice but to defend myself,” he told the court. 

“The first blow was when I intended to hit him but not to kill him,” he added.

Police say the pensioner died between midnight and 2:14am on July 29.

The 32-year-old struck his victim with an axe six times while he lay in bed, according to prosecutors.The killer then reportedly drove off in the victim’s car which he ditched around a 90-minute away from the flat after colliding with a deer “that a deer out of nowhere”, according to WhatsApp messages sent to a friend before 6am on July 29.

Another message, heard in court, read: “If the cops had come, I would have been screwed.”

The pensioner’s body was found two weeks later on August 14, after his relatives requested a wellness check from police. 

Police identified the 32-year-old as the prime suspect and traced his location to a flat in eastern Finland days later on August 17 following concerns he had already left the country. 

An axe was found in the Seinajoki flat, with just the pensioner’s DNA found on it, according to local media. 

Another axe, pictured attached to the tourist’s bike in photos taken by a local on July 27, was not immediately recovered. 

The suspect denied taking the axe on his cycling trip and allegedly provided conflicting accounts of where he left it. He claimed he was travelling around Europe to raise funds for British charities and planned the stopover in Finland to work at a friend’s husky farm.

The Brit’s internet history showed he had searched for online reports of the crime weeks before the dead pensioner’s body was discovered. 

The pensioner’s daughter told the court that there was no way she could imagine her father being capable of the allegations against him due to his deteriorating health. 

The Brit was offered mental health examinations by law officials. The trial will resume following the results. Prosecutors have called for the killer to be slapped with a 10-year sentence if found guilty of murder.