A construction worker is set to spend less than a year in prison for killing a millionaire banking executive in London’s West End during a row over a mobile phone.
Steven Allan, 34, was consumed by a mistaken belief that his friend’s phone had been stolen when he attacked 52-year-old Paul Mason in West Street, Soho.
Mr Mason, a highly respected banking executive who worked for the Qatar National Bank, was on his way home after dining with a friend at The Ivy, the Old Bailey heard, when he was set upon by the complete stranger.
In a series of events described by the judge as “truly extraordinary” and a “horror story”, Mr Mason’s phone lit up while walking past Allan at the exact moment he was attempting to call his friend.
In an incident that lasted just 12 seconds, Allan – in the midst of a panic attack - struck the banker several times in an unsuccessful bid to get hold of the phone, ultimately knocking him on to the pavement where he was rendered unconscious.
Mr Mason suffered brain injuries and died in hospital around six months after the attack, on December 15, 2020.
Allan, a site manager at a construction project on the edge of Hyde Park, admitted manslaughter and was tried and acquitted over a charge of murder.
Judge Michael Topolski KC sentenced Allan to three-years-and-nine-months in prison for the killing, and said afterwards: “I’m well aware the sentence I’ve just passed will seem like nothing to (Mr Mason’s) family.”
Allan will serve half his sentence behind bars before being released on parole, and can count a year and two months as already served due to being on a curfew while awaiting his trial and retrial on the murder charge. He was sent to prison today but will be set free again within a year.
Judge Topolski concluded Allan was “reckless” in his use of violence but had not intended to cause serious harm.
“The circumstances that to the defendant causing the death of a perfectly respectable and wholly innocent stranger who happened to be passing by are as extraordinary as they are tragic”, he said.
“During the course of cross-examination in your trial, you expressed that all the thought that evening amounted to unsupported nonsense.
“You said you had taken leave of your senses and behaved out of character because you genuinely believed you had an anxiety and panic attack that evening.
“You will have to live with the knowledge for the rest of your life that you were responsible for taking that man’s life. The mystery that underlines the behaviour is why you went from a heightened state of anxiety to a man of violence in a matter of seconds.”
In a powerful victim impact statement, Mr Mason’s sister Rachel Mason revealed that their brother Simon had died from an overdose just three months after Mr Mason succumbed to his injuries.
“You’ve broken my family for evermore. I’m overwhelmed with feelings of shock, disbelief and hatred towards you. How dare you take Paul’s life?”, she said.
“I just can’t comprehend someone doing this to another human being especially someone I loved so much.”
Ms Mason said they had to watch their brother on FaceTime as lay in a coma due to Covid restrictions, calling him a “remarkable, kind, decent, gentle soul who was so successful in every aspect of his life, highly regarded in his international banking career, loved dearly by his family.”
Holding up his mobile phone in court and looking directly at Allan, she said: “This is Paul’s phone. You killed him for this.”
“I hope you feel sick in the pit of your stomach every day for the rest of your life as you live with being a, in my mind, murderer.”
Allan, from Hook in Hampshire, had been drinking with a friend after work but told the court he rarely went to the West End and did not like the area.
His friend wanted to go to another venue but Allan was reluctant so stayed outside, standing at the end of West Street where he would ultimately encounter Mr Mason by chance.
As Allan grew increasingly nervous about his friend’s welfare in the venue, plagued by thoughts that he would be robbed, he got out his phone to call him.
But he mistakenly came to the conclusion that his call – unanswered by his friend – had gone to the handset Mr Mason was carrying as he walked to catch a taxi home.
The phone lit up as they crossed paths, and Allan was caught on camera storming over to Mr Mason demanding to see if it was his friend’s handset.
Mr Mason, described as “kind and gentle”, attempted to turn away from the confrontation but was pursued by Allan.
Shocked passersby saw Allan delivered a series of blows as Mr Mason resisted, with a final punch sending him falling on to the pavement, striking his head hard as he collapsed.
Three passing nurses were hailed for their bravery as they rushed to help Mr Mason, administering care before an air ambulance landed in the middle of Soho to take him to hospital.
Allan stayed at the scene for less than a minute, leaving after being admonished by the nurses for touching Mr Mason’s head in an attempt to help him.
He handed himself in the following day after seeing CCTV images of himself being circulated by the Met Police.
Allan denied murder and was acquitted at a retrial.
