A Saudi prince killed his servant in a murder of "ferocity" that had a sexual element, a court heard today.
Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al-Saud had previously subjected Bandar Abdulaziz to physical assaults and mistreatment, the Old Bailey was told. The 32-year-old victim was found on 15 February beaten and strangled in bed at the London hotel room he was sharing with the prince.
A series of injuries, including bite marks to Abdulaziz's cheeks, revealed the "ferocity of the attack to which he had been subjected", the jury heard.
The prince at first claimed his aide had been robbed and attacked in Edgware Road three weeks before his death. But CCTV footage from a lift at the Landmark hotel in Marylebone, where they were staying, showed the victim had been subjected to a "really nasty assault" by the defendant himself on 22 January, said Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting.
It became clear to police that he had been killed "in the privacy of the room he had shared with the defendant, and when alone with him", Laidlaw said.