COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

A murderer who has admitted killing up to 400 people – many in horrific machete attacks – is living in Coventry after being granted asylum.



John Thuo, aged 27, came to the UK illegally in 2003 and despite attempts to kick him out a court has ruled that deportation is against his human rights.

For seven years he worked for the Mungiki in Kenya, a criminal mob behind some of the continent’s worst atrocities.

At an immigration tribunal he admitted killing between 100 and 400 people.

After he was tracked down, Thuo said: “It’s true, I killed a lot of people. I don’t like talking about my past.

“I feel guilty for what I’ve done. I feel remorse.

“I’ve started a new life here and I’m looking for regular work. If I go back they’ll kill me. They’ll behead me.”

Asked if he is monitored by the Home Office, he said: “No, I don’t have to meet anyone. I’m free.

“My life in Kenya is in the past. It’s a different world out there. Out there, all you can do is hope to survive. This is a better place to live.”

He lives rent-free in accommodation provided by the National Asylum Support Service and used to work as a removal man.

The Home Office has tried to deport Thuo in a series of hearings but it has been unsuccessful. Thuo claims that if he is sent back to Kenya he will be executed.

He told an immigration court in London that he was a senior member of the Mungiki in a Nairobi slum after being recruited when he was just 10-years-old.

In 2000 he was promoted to leader, training members and taking control of the slum where he ran a security racket.

In evidence he admitted his gang “torched people’s houses” and carried out female circumcision and public intimidation.

In 2002 he took part in a revenge attack on villagers who had killed two members of the Mungiki. He butchered two ­civilians with a machete.

In another incident he said he killed two police officers after members of the gang were arrested, one with a machete and another with a “big stone”.

The Mungiki – part gang, part religious sect – were outlawed in Kenya in 2002 following widespread outrage at their horrific crimes, in which victims were left as mutilated corpses.

Initially they were a peaceful protest ­movement in which followers wore dreadlocks, but the group transformed into one of the most feared organised crime organisations in the capital, Nairobi.

Coventry neighbourhood in shock over mass machete killer living down the street

Neighbours have told of their shock after it was revealed that a man who has admitted killing up to 400 people has been living in their Coventry street.

The Telegraph reported yesterday how John Thuo – a general in the Mungiki militia responsible for terrible atrocities in Kenya – was living in Coventry after being granted asylum.

A court has ruled he cannot be deported because it would be against his human rights.

The 27-year-old has been found living in the Paradise area of Foleshill, after being placed there by the government’s National Asylum Support Service.

Neighbours were aghast that the self-confessed machete killer had been allowed to live in the community after being granted asylum.

Having been recruited by the Mungiki as a ten-year-old child soldier, Thuo admitted killing “about 100 to 400 people” at an earlier immigration tribunal.

Despite Home Office efforts to deport him, Thuo has argued it would be against his human rights as he would be “beheaded” by the gang on his return.

One neighbour said: “It’s frightening when you think about it and that he lived just next door.

“We would just say hello now and again. I remember he used to come around at odd times. But he kept a very low profile.”

Another resident said: “I wondered why he was moving.

“I would speak to him and say hello. He seemed alright. But I think it’s wrong.

‘‘People are always in and out of that place and we don’t know who they are. I’ve seen things on the telly about things like that, but you tend to put it to the back of your mind.

“You don’t think someone like that could be living nearby.”

Thuo is believed to have left the property last week and is thought to now be living in a city hostel.

However he returned to the semi-detached house as recently as Sunday.

The Mungiki were outlawed in Kenya in 2002 following widespread outrage at their horrific crimes. Kenyans accused of being members have faced charges in the International Criminal Court.

Thuo admitted to torching homes and hacking people to death with a machete.

Gurmit Singh, landlord of the property where Thuo was living, said he had a long-term tenancy agreement with private security firm G4S, which sourced properties for the NASS.

Mr Singh said: “Well I’m surprised. It’s startling really. We’re the owners of the building but we rent it out to G4S on an arms length contract.

“We have no involvement whatsoever in who is placed there.

“We’ve had this type of contract there for 13 years and this is the first time anything has happened like this.”