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UK Man Who Murdered Girlfriend, Then Wrote 'It Was Me' On Her Body Gets Life Sentence
Daniel Grant Smith, of Oldham, pleaded guilty to the February murder of girlfriend Imogen Bohajczuk, who had previous reported him for physical abuse. Her body wasn't found until March.
A UK man received a life sentence this week after pleading guilty to the February murder of the girlfriend with whom he had been living — who had just reported him to the police for abusing her.
Daniel Grant Smith, 41, will spend at least 17 and a half years in prison for the murder of Imogen Bohajczuk, who was 29 years old at the time of her death in the town of Oldham, which is about an hour east of Liverpool.
Bohajczuk, who the BBC reports had a young son, had not been seen or heard from since mid-February; her last known contact was on Feb. 18, when she texted a former partner about Smith's abuse.
"I thought I was going to die," she wrote. "He strangled me so much I nearly died and then he got a knife."
The Greater Manchester Police say that, in February, she reported to them an assault by Smith that left "marks on her neck and wrists" and another dating to November 2020.
On March 4, a friend who hadn't heard from Bohajczuk since Feb. 15 went to her apartment to check on her and found her body in the bedroom.
The police estimate it had been there for three weeks; Bohajczuk was identified by dental records according to the Manchester Evening News' coverage of her inquest.
The post-mortem examination found that she had been stabbed three times and listed that as the cause of her death; it also determined that she had wounds on her neck consistent with strangulation and, according to the BBC, bruises on her jaw, face and scalp.
At the inquest, evidence was presented that Bohajczuk was killed in her kitchen with one of the knives later found in her knife block and moved to the bedroom. According to the Manchester Evening News, Smith positioned her on the bed holding a bottle of perfume next to a stuffed animal. At his sentencing, the judge confirmed that Smith then used a bottle of red nail polish to write "It was me," on her right leg.
After killing Bohajczuk, but before the discovery of her body, Smith then reportedly used her debit card and mobile phone. The police say he made purchases, including gas, to imitate Bohajczuk's behavior as though she were still alive while the judge at his sentencing noted that Smith also used the card to buy alcohol for himself.
Smith was arrested on March 5, the day after Bohajczuk's body was discovered. He still had her debit card in his possession.
In a tribute to her on March 8, Bohajczuk's family issued a statement.
"The whole family is grieving the death of our beautiful daughter Immy whose life and future has been tragically snatched away from her," they wrote.
After Smith's sentencing on Tuesday, Greater Manchester Police Detective Inspector Andy Naismith gave a statement as well.
"This was a brutal and cowardly attack on a defenseless woman and Smith has quite rightly been jailed for life," he said.
"The family are now left to pick up the pieces of their lives and to try and come to terms with the death of a daughter, sister and loving mother - nothing will ever bring them peace."
