Abattoir workers who tortured and mutilated two victims jailed

Abattoir workers, 22 and 46, who tortured and mutilated two victims before laying their bodies out in a ‘macabre display like butchered pigs’ are jailed for 77 years

• Ionut-Valentin Boboc, 22, and Jacob-Bebe Chers, 46, were both given life terms
• They tortured and killed Denzil McKenzie, 56, and Fahad Hossain Pramanik, 27
• The pair then mutilated their bodies and laid them out in a ‘macabre display’ 
• They were given minimum terms totalling 77 years by a judge on Wednesday 

Two former abattoir workers who murdered and horrifically mutilated a former colleague and his friend by tricking their way into his Bristol home have been jailed for life.

Ionut-Valentin Boboc, 22, and Jacob-Bebe Chers, 46, brutally tortured then stabbed to death ex-coworker Denzil McKenzie, 56, and Fahad Hossain Pramanik, 27.

Over a three-hour period the pair, who were both from Romania, mutilated the bodies of Mr McKenzie and Mr Pramanik before laying them out in a ‘macabre display’.

Police officers discovered the remains of the men, which were chopped up and exposed before being covered in black paint to try and conceal evidence, in the ‘house of horrors’ in September last year.

Ionut-Valentin Boboc (left), 22, and Jacob-Bebe Chers (right), 46, were found guilty of the murders of Denzil McKenzie and Fahad Hossain Pramanik

The pair have been handed combined minimum sentences of 76-and-a-half years behind bars. 

Bristol Crown Court heard the killings were committed at Mr McKenzie’s house in Wood Street, Easton, on the evening of September 11 after the defendants tricked their way into his home. 

On the night of the killing, Boboc sent Mr McKenzie a series of messages trying to persuade him to let him come over so he could give him a present. 

The pair had worked with Mr McKenzie at an abattoir near Bristol before the two defendants found jobs at a carwash in the summer of 2021.

Boboc, who had a heavy gambling addiction, had previously had an arrangement with Mr McKenzie where he performed sex acts on him in exchange for cash.

The bodies of the victims were discovered laid out in a gruesome display in Mr McKenzie’s living room.

One of the injuries inflicted on Mr Pramanik, a deep wound to his abdomen, was said to resemble the cuts Boboc and Chers would have made in their work butchering pigs.

Mr Pramanik was unknown to the two defendants, and is thought to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

After the murders, Boboc and Chers stole their victims’ mobile phones and audio equipment, jewellery and electronics belonging to Mr McKenzie.

Kevin Dent KC, prosecuting, said the killers ‘left behind them a scene of horror, the dead and mutilated bodies of Denzil McKenzie and Fahad Pramanik were left in the sitting room.’

Bristol Crown Court heard 22-year-old Boboc regularly borrowed money from victim Mr McKenzie, sometimes in return for sexual favours, and ‘tricked’ his way in on the night of the killings

The pair are accused of torturing and stabbing two victims to death on Wood Street (pictured) in Easton, Bristol

He told the court on Wednesday: ‘The Crown’s case was that this was a pre-planned murder and the bringing of the knives to the scene would be part of that pre-planning.

‘With Mr Pramanik there was a high level of callousness and at best these defendants showed a callous contempt for his life.’

Mr McKenzie had 23 knife wounds and he had been tortured with cuts to his eyeballs, around his eyes, and one of his big toenails had been cut away from the nail bed.

Mr Pramanik had been stabbed three times, including the gash to his stomach.

Some foaming substance had been forced into his nose, and he had multiple slash and scratch marks all over his body. A bite mark matching Chers’ teeth was found on his arm.

Afterwards, the pair tried to clean up the scene by wiping blood off the walls and other surfaces, while thick black car paint had been sprayed on the two bodies and all around the house.

They were also caught on CCTV trying to dump evidence before returning home.

The trial heard from Boboc’s aunt that he arrived at her house ‘drunk, scared and bloodstained’ and said he had killed something.

She also told officers she laughed as she thought it was a joke.

Fahad Hossain Pramanik was unknown to the two defendants, and is said to have been ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’

But she said she later discovered two people had been killed and that from her understanding Boboc and Chers had ‘killed one each’.

During the trial, the jury was also shown CCTV footage of Boboc and Chers walking towards the address at 8.30pm on the night of the killings, and then coming back the same way at around 11pm. 

Boboc, of Abingdon Road, Bristol, admitted the murder of Mr McKenzie but denied murdering Mr Pramanik, while Chers, of Whitefield Road, Bristol, denied both murders. A jury found them guilty.

Andrew Langdon KC, defending Boboc, said: ‘The defendant is a young man. He remains extremely sorry for the murder of Mr McKenzie.

‘He is a 22-year-old looking at [a] life sentence of an unimaginable length.’

Richard Smith KC, defending Chers, said there was no direct evidence knives were taken to the scene of the murders.

‘He came here because his business in Romania was failing because of Covid-19,’ he added.

Imposing life sentences, Mrs Justice Cutts jailed Boboc for a minimum of 37-and-a-half years and Chers for a minimum of 39 years.

‘Having tricked Mr McKenzie into affording you entry into his house, you arrived at around 8pm and you left some three hours later,’ the judge said.

‘On that night in September last year you have taken the lives of these two men in a particularly cruel and savage way.

‘Having determined to kill Mr McKenzie you could not leave Mr Pramanik alive – he too became a victim of your savage brutality.

‘Only the two of you know precisely what happened at 20 Wood Street. Neither of you has given a detailed account about it and both of you were silent at your trial.

‘The injuries speak of the brutality of the attack upon them. I have no doubt both men suffered mental and physical suffering at your hands.’

Denzil’s family said: ‘Denzil was a lovely, quiet, kind man and we miss him every day.

‘This sentence certainly will never bring him back but the hope is that some justice is served and it will keep the defendants from committing such a heinous crime again.’ 

Senior investigator Det Chief Insp Mark Almond said: ‘This has been a harrowing investigation from the outset and our hearts go out to the families of Denzil and Fahad who’ve been through an ordeal no one should ever have to endure.

‘We’d like to thank them for the support they’ve shown throughout the investigation and subsequent trial. I hope today’s substantial sentences will provide some comfort as they continue to come to terms with the senseless loss of their loved ones.

‘While we may never know why these defendants chose to murder two innocent people, it remains clear they are dangerous and violent men, and our communities are a safer place with them behind bars.’

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