Deng Chol Majek: Everything we know about the murder of Walsall hotel worker Rhiannon Whyte at Bescot stadium station as 'callous' asylum seeker sentenced
Deng Chol Majek has been sentenced for the murder of hotel worker Rhiannon Whyte at Bescot Stadium train station in Walsall back in October 2024.
Asylum seeker, Deng Chol Majek, from Sudan, was found guilty of the murder of hotel worker, Rhiannon Whyte, aged 27, following a trial held at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday (October 24).
Rhiannon, from Walsall, who worked at Walsall's Park Inn Raddison Hotel, near Bescot Stadium, was brutally murdered after being stabbed 23 times with a screwdriver on the night of Sunday, October 20, 2024.
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The jury took just two hours and five minutes to come back with a guilty verdict, convicting Majek of the fatal and 'callous' attack that left Rhiannon, the mother of a five-year-old son, dead.
No motive for the killing was ever given during the two-week trial, with Ms Whyte's sister, Alexandra Whyte, saying that the year since her sister's death has been "hell on earth."
Today (Jan 20), Majek was handed a life sentence for the killing, which the family described as 'cowardly', as he continued to protest his innocence. We look back over the case that shocked our region:
The night of the attack
During the trial, the jury was told of how Rhiannon had finished her shift at the hotel, which at the time was being used to house asylum seekers, by 11pm, before making a short walk to Bescot Stadium train station, only a short distance away, to catch her train home.
Unbeknownst to her, Majek had been closely stalking her.
Once he caught up to Rhiannon on the platform of the station, Majek launched his horrific attack, stabbing Rhiannon repeatedly before hurrying away.
In the trial, the court heard how Rhiannon had been on the phone at the time of the attack, with her friend describing the terrible screams that she had heard before the line was dropped, leading to her calling the police.
Minutes later, the train that Rhiannon was due to catch pulled into the station, where the driver saw Rhiannon injured on the platform and bleeding from her head.
CCTV footage
During the trial, the court was shown CCTV footage of the moments following the attack, in which Majek was seen leaving the station, and disposing of Rhiannon's phone into a nearby stream, then visiting a nearby shop to buy alcohol and returning to the hotel.
He was also seen in his hotel room singing and dancing.
Rhiannon died in hospital three days later from a 'catastrophic brain injury', surrounded by her friends and family.
CCTV enquiries led police to the hotel, where staff members identified Majek from the distinctive clothing he was wearing.
He was then arrested in his room, where officers seized a number of items, including the jacket that Majek could be seen wearing on CCTV, and a pair of sandals.
Both items had Rhiannon's blood on them.
Trial
During the trial, Majek repeatedly insisted that he was not the figure caught on CCTV heading towards the platform at Bescot Stadium station, despite the figure on the CCTV footage wearing an identical hooded jacket to his own.
Majek claimed that "anyone could buy one" and that the figure was not him.
He also alleged the overwhelming DNA evidence was not true, and that there had been no blood on his clothes or footwear.
