24 Hours in Police Custody: How knifeman Samad Ali exposed own guilt for brutal doorstep stabbing with ‘Devil’ chain
THIS is the moment a blundering knifeman exposed his own guilt for a bloody doorstep stabbing with a chunky “Devil” chain.
Samad Ali and accomplice Stephen O’Dell launched into a frenzied attack outside the victim’s home in Luton.
They stabbed their rival with a machete and shot him three times in revenge for a prison attack on Ali’s brother.
The grim case has now been explored in Channel 4 series 24 Hours in Police Custody.
The horror unfolded on Halloween in 2019 when the victim was hacked at and blasted “under the cover of darkness”.
He was then left in a pool of blood while his unknown attackers fled the scene – later burning their getaway car.
The victim suffered a two inch gash to his head, a 20cm-deep laceration to his side and a wound to his back that exposed his spinal cord.
Despite his life-changing injuries, the victim managed to survive but was unable to speak to police to help identify his attackers.
Coupled with an unwillingness from his family to help and a lack of witnesses, police faced a mammoth task to catch those responsible.
But Bedfordshire Police’s Major Crime Unit were handed a smoking gun when information they received led to the arrest of Ali on suspicion of attempted murder.
The career criminal was no stranger to the custody suite at Luton, having been banged up previously for drug-dealing and violent offences.
But while being checked in, the dozy assailant managed to expose his own guilt with a rookie mistake.
On the night he was attacked, the victim had been wearing a bulky gold chain with a jewel-encrusted Tasmanian devil pendant.
This piece of jewellery was ripped from his neck as he lay horrifically wounded on the ground and had not been seen since.
That was until Ali asked if officers needed him to remove his necklace while being checked into custody.
He then willingly handed over a distinctive Tasmanian devil pendant, which was bagged up by officers.
Police later examined his belongings and remembered the victim was wearing the same piece of jewellery and that it had since vanished.
A phonecall to the victim’s family confirmed it was the same necklace – meaning there was enough evidence to charge Ali.
With one suspect set to face justice, Stephen O’Dell then handed himself in.
As the documentary shows, O’Dell grew annoyed when police told him a balaclava with his DNA was found at the scene.
He claimed “hands down” it didn’t belong to him but was later also charged with attempted murder.
The pair pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent in November 2020 and were jailed for 12 years and four months each.
Sentencing, the judge said: “It was a planned and targeted attack and bore the hallmarks of a gang attack.”
- The new series of 24 Hours in Police Custody airs on Wednesday 5 June at 9pm on Channel 4
