Chilling body cam footage has been released showing the moment a murderer returns to the scene of a crime and brags to police he ‘knows what happened’ there.
Just hours before the footage was captured, Marek Hecko, 26, stabbed Adrian Ellingford, 44, twice in the back at an address in Chelmsford.
Officers arrived at the property after the assault, which unfolded on 25 July last year, where they found Ellingford with two stab wounds including one that was so severe, it had damaged and cut a bone in his chest.
A statement shared by Essex Police explains that while its officers were on scene guard at the property on Nelson Grove, a ‘heavily intoxicated’ Hecko approached them ‘carrying a bottle of brandy’.
As you’ll see in the footage, he repeatedly tells the cops he ‘knows what happened’ and that he ‘can help’.
When they ask him his name, he says: “I’m not going to tell you my name because I don’t give a f**k… because I know what happened.
“And you need me to figure out what happened. If you don’t have me, you don’t know what happened.”
In a separate clip, Hecko claimed to have seen another man come to the property and attack Ellingford.
“I don’t know what happened,” he added. “He just got f***ed up.”
His behaviour then became more aggressive towards the officer as he tells her: “This city’s f***ing mine.”
Hecko was arrested on the spot and, while in custody, he was identified as the main suspect.
Within a few days and after following up hundreds of lines of enquiry, the 26-year-old was charged with murder and remained in custody.
During the trial, which started on 13 February at Chelmsford Crown Court, Hecko tried to argue that he attended the address after seeing what had happened on the news.
However, at the time there was no news or information on social media.
The court heard how Hecko had shown stalking behaviour to a former partner of his, and she had been with Ellingford the night of his death.
In less than a day, the jury found him guilty of murder.
On Tuesday (14 March), Hecko was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 26 years.
In court, Ellingford’s wife read out an impact statement, describing how he was an ‘amazing husband, loving son, a caring brother, a friend to many and most importantly a truly brilliant father’.
Detective Chief Inspector Louise Metcalfe said: “From the moment this was declared a murder investigation, our team worked tirelessly to gather CCTV, statements and compile the evidence needed to charge Hecko.
“Despite the huge amount of work going on behind the scenes, we made supporting Adrian’s family a priority, and our family liaison officers have done an incredible job from the start.
“This was a senseless attack on Adrian, which has left two children without a father.
“I hope that they can move forward and find some closure now that Hecko is behind bars.
