DI Jim Mahon led the complex and challenging investigation into the murder of Bailey Atkinson. He tells the Express & Star's Adam Smith about how the team brought the killers to justice.
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00:00 This is the Express and Star with Detective Inspector Jim Mahon from West Midlands Police
00:05 Homicide Unit who led the investigation into Bailey Atkinson's murder. First of all, are
00:12 you pleased with the verdicts? Yes, I am pleased with the verdicts. A number of dangerous individuals
00:18 have been taken off the streets and that will enhance public safety and it offers some comfort
00:25 to Bailey's family and close friends. What kind of investigation was this? How much
00:32 resources was put in and how much help did you get from the public? This was an extremely large
00:38 investigation. We had numerous officers on it. We had around 70 officers tracking CCTV at one stage.
00:46 We launched numerous manhunts to try and locate all the suspects that had fled to different
00:51 corners of the UK. We got a great response from the public of Warsaw. They provided us with
00:58 evidence from the scene, people that were in and around the scene and we also got a lot of
01:03 information which led us to the identity of the suspects. Talking about the scene, it was a
01:11 weekend night in Warsaw town centre. People had gone out for a good time and then they witnessed
01:18 a brutal stabbing of a group of people who attacked Bailey. A word for those people about
01:27 what they actually did at the scene and the courage they must have shown? I can't ever
01:33 describe how ferocious that attack was. It's one of the most horrifying bits of footage that
01:38 I've ever seen and we got it from multiple angles. These were dangerous men armed with
01:45 really really horrible weapons that caused a lot of damage. The public at the scene were extremely
01:51 brave. They couldn't have got involved without risking their own lives but they were able to
01:56 shout, call for help, wave and dissuade the suspects to the point where they left. They
02:03 left very urgently in the car so they did a great job in doing their best for Bailey. I know a lot
02:10 of the officers worked day and night, often without a day off because of the ferocity but
02:18 a couple of the officers were actually with him when Bailey died. The police were on the scene
02:25 within five minutes because they were working in Warsaw town centre and they had to try and save
02:33 Bailey's life as best they could with the help of the paramedics when they arrived. They had to
02:38 witness Bailey's last words and it's something I think that will haunt a lot of the investigation
02:44 team and especially officers that were present that Bailey passed a message, asked them to pass
02:50 a message on to his mum to say that he loved her. I think it's one of the saddest things that a lot
02:54 of people have seen and witnessed in this case. It's believed that the gang were tipped off about
03:01 Bailey being with a female friend and vulnerable on that night in Warsaw. The person who actually
03:10 sent the message has yet to be apprehended. The police are still searching lines of inquiry,
03:18 it's not over for them, they haven't got away with it have they? No, this investigation continues
03:22 and the investigation now will be focusing on people that have tipped the suspects off,
03:30 in effect helping them go and commit the murder and we also have information that people assisted
03:36 in destroying key evidence and helping people hide from the police. We will seek to gather
03:43 enough evidence to charge people and prosecute them with those offences. Thank you very much indeed.