A man who murdered Ranjith Kankanamalage, 50, in a brutal hammer attack that shocked the Tower Hamlets community has been jailed.
Erik Feld, 37, had “an obsession with horrific violence” and was “fuelled by homophobia” Metropolitan Police said, following his sentencing at the Old Bailey on Wednesday.
Feld has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 28 years after being found guilty of attacking the stranger at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park in August 2021.
Ranjith had moved to London from Sri Lanka and was living in Whitechapel at the time of the attack. He had an ex-wife and two children in Sri Lanka and an ex-civil partner in the UK.
His body was found at the park by a member of the public on August 16. Ranjith had suffered significant head injuries inflicted by a hammer, police said.
“The shockwaves that this horrific attack caused amongst his family, friends and the people of Tower Hamlets continue to resonate,” Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway said.
While officers investigated the attack as a hate crime, Feld never disclosed his motive.
Julius Capon, head of CPS London Homicide, said there was not enough evidence to prove that Feld’s actions were “either motivated by homophobic hostility or that such hostility was demonstrated at the time of committing the offence”.
But Mr Conway added: “He is clearly a violent and dangerous man and, as demonstrated by comments made during his trial, one who is fuelled by homophobia.”
Police said Feld was obsessed with hammer attacks and had researched and watched videos of the violent assaults on his phone.
Polie found three mallets and a sledgehammer at Feld’s home and he had previously brandished a hammer at a security guard following an argument.
His DNA was found under Ranjith’s finernails.
Tower Hamlets Mayor Lutfur Rahman said he hoped Feld’s sentencing would bring some “comfort and justice to the friends and family of Ranjith Kankanamalage, whose violent murder deeply affected the community in Tower Hamlets and beyond.
“There is no place for hate in Tower Hamlets and we will continue to come together to oppose extremism and racism in all its forms.”
He urged anyone impacted by hate crimes to “always report it”.
Tower Hamlets resident, Jack Gilbert, said on behalf of the LGBTAG - a voluntary group of independent advisors working closely with the police: “Ranjith came to London to make a new life some time ago from Sri Lanka – a country where legal sanctions and harsh prejudice against LGBT+ people still exists.
“Whilst we saw Feld stride out of the witness stand to express homophobia during testimony, the CPS and Met were unable to find sufficient evidence for homophobic motivation for the crime. It may well be that the law and/or CPS guidelines themselves present a high barrier to convicting hate-related homicide.
“To satisfy LGBT+ trust and confidence, we are therefore seeking a multi-agency review linking a range of related aspects of the case. We would like to capture the innovations and to explore whether there are any opportunities for improvement, including in how the multi-agency processes monitors and manages the risk of hate crime.”
Mr Conway said: “We still have some way to go to demonstrate that LGBT+ people can have trust and confidence in us, but the approach in this investigation hopefully shows we are listening and are committed to making improvements, ensuring that the past treatment of those in our LGBT+ communities, for which the Commissioner recently apologised, is consigned to history.”
