Kajetan Migdal, 18, was killed by Patrick Sharp-Meade who confronted him and his friends after he mistakenly believed he had been talking to his ex girlfriend, stabbing him with a zombie knife
A jealous teenager who killed a “larger than life” dancer who appeared on a BBC talent show after mistakenly thinking he spoke to his girlfriend has been jailed.
Patrick Sharp-Meade, 20, confronted Kajetan Migdal, 18, and his friends in Stevenage while wearing a balaclava and carrying a large zombie knife concealed down his trousers. He wrongly believed they were the group who he had heard talking to his ex-girlfriend when she had phoned while on her way to his flat a few minutes earlier.
After asking Kajetan if he was ‘from these ends’, Sharp-Meade then pulled out the knife and stabbed him through the heart. Kajetan – who had never met Sharp-Meade before that night and did not know his ex-girlfriend – died in hospital in the early hours of the next morning.
After the stabbing, Sharp-Meade returned to his flat and hid the knife in his mattress but was traced by the police and arrested shortly afterwards. Sharp-Meade previously pleaded guilty to possessing the knife and a small number of wraps of cocaine found in his shoe during his arrest. He accepted he stabbed and killed Kajetan – who appeared on BBC’s the Greatest Dancer – but denied murder. However a jury found him guilty and he was today jailed for life.
In a heartbreaking impact statement read to the court, Kajetan’s mum Gemma Migdal said: “Our home is now empty, quiet. The vacuum left behind is enormous. It engulfs us all, all of the time. The joy in our lives has been put out. The laughter has gone. He was raised a Christian and we are proud he lived out those values in his life, with an energy, a passion and a kindness unparalleled by many. Kajetan was larger than life. He was always smiling, always talking, always making plans. He wore his heart on his sleeve and he was sensitive to the needs of others.
“He listened to what people said, and he cared enough to remember, making his gifts at birthdays and Christmas extra special. He knew how to love and care for people, and his emotional maturity was way beyond his young years. After his death we lost count of the number of young people who barely knew Kajetan but who approached us wanting to share with us how grateful they were that he reached out to them when they were feeling marginalised, vulnerable and lonely.”
Judge John Hillen said: “Kajetan Migdal was 18 years old when you killed him. He was a remarkable young man. He was larger than life; talkative, happy, a talented dancer who had appeared on national television, a bright student about to undergo a gap year before going to university.
“Everything pointed to a great future for Kajetan. He was someone who loved and was loved. It is a testament to Kajetan that nearly 1,000 people attended his funeral mass, and he was remembered in churches in Poland, all over Europe and in the wider world.
“He has had awards and a studio named after him, there have been and will be dance performances in his memory, a tree was planted to commemorate him.
“This is the person you murdered, depriving him of his life and depriving his family, his friends, and the world of his promise. The knife you picked up was not a normal knife, it was a knife to kill and maim.”