Oldham killer wrote ‘It was me’ on girlfriend’s body

The badly beaten body of Imogen Bohajczuk, 29, was discovered lying on her bed with multiple stab wounds when police were called to her flat in Oldham on March 4.

Weeks earlier Daniel Smith, 41, killed her in a ferocious and brutal attack and then went on a buying spree with her bank card, emptying her account, before he was arrested in the early hours of March 5.

On February 18, Miss Bohajczuk texted an ex-partner to say Smith had visited her home and become violent with her, Manchester Crown Court heard.

She wrote: “I thought I was going to die… He strangled me so much I nearly died and then he got a knife.”

Miss Bohajczuk called police to report the violence and that Smith had left the address.

Officers arrived at her property the next day but got no response, the court was told.

Police were confronted with a “grim scene” when they returned to the address in Ashton Road, Bardsley, on March 4 after her body was found by a housing officer at Miss Bohajczuk’s supported accommodation.

Prosecutor Tim Storrie QC said: “Imogen Bohajczuk had been laid on her bed. Her body had been arranged as though she were a spectacle. Her arms were crossed and she appeared to be clutching a bottle of perfume. A soft toy was by her neck.

“Her legs were crossed at the ankle and on examination, the discovery was made that her body had been daubed, in nail varnish, with the words ‘It was me’. Chillingly, an exhibition had been made of her body.”

In late 2020, Ms Bohajczuk started seeing alcoholic Smith, originally from the Isle of Wight, who had a history of violent and abusive behaviour towards women.

The court heard how one ex-partner of Smith described how she thought of taking her own life because of his controlling behaviour and that he sought to manipulate her by shamelessly lying he had cancer.

Another former girlfriend of Smith, nicknamed Boxer, said she left him because she was convinced he would kill her if she remained with him.

Mr Storrie said: “We observe that this pattern of violent and manipulative behaviour was to be replicated in respect of his relationship with Imogen Bohajczuk.”

The post-mortem examination revealed multiple bruises on her face, jaw and scalp, and on her neck in a manner which suggested attempted strangulation.

Mr Storrie said a series of stab wounds “reflected the fact that she was the subject of an unsparing and ferocious attack”, with one delivered with such force it separated a rib bone and fully penetrated her lung.

A bloodied knife was recovered at the scene in the kitchen knife block.

When interviewed, Smith said he accepted he was responsible for her death but he claimed it was “out of character” and he drunkenly daubed on her leg merely to make it clear he had inflicted the injuries.

Benjamin Knight, defending, said his client does not remember the stabbing itself but did recall placing her favourite perfume and soft toy on the bed.

He said: “That was not to create a spectacle but placing her in some form of peaceful position, in his mind. He does not really recall what he was thinking, only that it seemed to be the right thing to do – although he accepts, objectively, that does not make any sense.”

Sentencing Smith to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 17-and-a-half years, Judge Patrick Field QC told him: “On her right leg you had daubed the words ‘It was me’ in red nail varnish. This macabre graffiti is said to be some kind of confession by you; a sign to the police that you were responsible for the killing. I reject that notion utterly.

“This act looks like an act of callous and cruel triumphalism. There was cruelty here because you desecrated the body of the woman you had just killed in order to proclaim what you had just done.

“It is said that you laid Imogen out on her bed because that is what you thought was right. That is a grotesque irony. There was nothing that you did on that day that can be described as right.

“She was the mother of a young child. In killing Imogen you have deprived that child of a mother and Imogen’s parents and siblings have been deprived of a daughter and a sister. Their grief is palpable.”

In a victim personal statement, her mother, Kim Bohajczuk, said her daughter had told them about her plans to rebuild her life with her son and family, and of her “everlasting love” for her child.

She said the family fully recognised descriptions of her in sympathy cards they had received – “intelligent, kind, caring, warm, beautiful and full of life”.

Earlier this month, Smith, of Park Road, Oldham, pleaded guilty to murder.