A wealthy couple who plotted to bring a young man to the UK to harvest his kidney for their daughter have been found guilty.
Nigerian senator Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and daughter Sonia, 25, faced a shocking trial at the Old Bailey, accused of conspiring to traffic a young man to Britain for his body parts.
They faced the accusations along with medical “middleman” Dr Obinna Obeta, 50, who was also found guilty, and were said to have created an “elaborate” back story to try and get away with it, utilising their connections to get the donor a visa.
Daughter Sonia wept as she was cleared of the same charges after the jury deliberated for nearly 14 hours.
The court heard that the 21-year-old street trader from Lagos was to be rewarded for donating a kidney to Sonia in an £80,000 private procedure at the Royal free Hospital in London.
But he was later rejected as unsuitable, despite the extensive efforts the family were said to have gone to get him, and it was alleged that the Ekweremadus then changed their donor search to Turkey after doctors refused them.
While it is lawful for someone to donate a kidney, it is criminal to reward someone for doing so, jurors heard.
When asked why they didn't go to a member of their own family for the kidney, the prosecution said it was because the wealthy couple wanted the "risk to go to someone you don't know".
An investigation was launched after the young man ran away from London and slept rough for days before walking into a police station more than 20 miles away Staines in Surrey, crying and in distress.
The Ekweremadus, who have an address in Willesden Green, north-west London, and Dr Obeta, from Southwark, south London, denied the charges against them before being found guilty.
As part of the plot, "elaborate" steps were taken to create the lie that Sonia and her proposed donor were cousins, it is claimed.
Opening their trial at the Old Bailey on Monday, Hugh Davies KC said Ike and his wife were "significant figures" in Nigerian society.
"His status and influence had produced a significant degree of wealth. They had international connections," the prosecutor said.
"There are, however, certain things that money and status cannot guarantee in any family and they include good health."
Sonia had a "significant and deteriorating" kidney condition which could be managed through dialysis but cured with a transplant, the court heard.
Mr Davies told jurors: "Most parents, whether powerful or not in society, will do whatever is necessary to alleviate suffering in their child.
"The Ekweremadus were no different: the evidence - from downloads from their mobile phones, and wider actions - demonstrates a close, open and loving family each with an understandable and direct interest in Sonia's medical treatment."
The donor, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was allegedly recruited in Lagos, Nigeria.
At the time he was making a few pounds a day selling telephone parts from a cart in public markets, the court heard.
After walking into Staines police station, the donor told police that he did not understand why he had been brought to the UK until he met a doctor ahead of the intended transplant.
Relaying his fears, he told police: “The doctor said I was too young but the man said if you do not do it here he would carry me back to Nigeria and do it there.”
“I was sleeping three days outside around, looking for someone to help me, save my life.”
Mr Davies said other potential donors in Nigeria had been reviewed for suitability before the young man was identified.
He was transported to London in February 2022 under the “direction and financial control” of the plotters, Mr Davis added, where he was coached to give false answers to doctors at the Royal Free Hospital and Sonia was "singing from the same hymn sheet" to create a fake family history, the court heard.
Under the agreement, the young man was to be paid either £2,400 or £7,000 in Nigerian Naira plus the promise of work and the opportunity to be in the United Kingdom, the prosecution alleged.
However, their plans were thrown into chaos when Royal Free consultant, Dr Peter Dupont, concluded the donor was not an appropriate candidate after learning he had no counselling or advice about the risks of surgery and he lacked funds for the lifelong care he would need.
Jurors were told the alleged donor did not understand until his first appointment with the consultant that he was there for a kidney transplant.
He was said by the consultant to have "limited understanding" of what he was there for and was "visibly relieved" on being told the transplant would not go ahead, the court heard.
Undeterred, a “corrupt interpreter” was enlisted for £1,500 to help at the donor’s second hospital meeting with a surgeon, the court was told.
But both medics agreed on their assessment and in March last year Dr Dupont gave his decision but no reasons, citing patient confidentiality.
The family immediately resumed their donor search, the court was told.
Mr Davies told jurors: "Relative to the wider medical costs of the process - measured in tens of thousands of pounds - which would have been done privately, his reward was to be a small fraction of the whole.
"To him - a street trader from Lagos - these sums and rewards were significant."
Mr Davies added: "More widely, the prosecution contends that (the donor) was subject to a high degree of control throughout and was dependent on what he was told for his understanding.
The jury was told Sonia has not had a kidney transplant and remains on dialysis, during the trial she refused to give evidence.
The court heard how Dr Obeta was a former classmate of Sonia's uncle Isaac "Diwe" Ekweremadu, who is alleged to have taken part in the conspiracy but is not on trial as he is in Nigeria.
In 2021, Dr Obeta had himself undergone a kidney transplant in the UK, with the donor travelling from Nigeria and said in a sworn affidavit to be his cousin, jurors were told.
Dr Obeta had distributed a GoFundMe page quoting £60,000 for the private procedure, some £20,000 less than the cost of Sonia's transplant had it gone ahead, it was alleged.
On September 8 2021, Diwe allegedly messaged Ike - then the deputy president of the Nigerian senate - that he would brief him following "extensive discussions" with his "classmate who had his transplant last month".
He went on to say the classmate would need some £2,000 to start the search for candidates and testing.
The following month, messages between Diwe Ekweremadu and Dr Obeta - forwarded to Ike - revealed that potential donors would travel for screening at a lab in the capital city, Abuja.
The 21-year-old donor was among them, having been recruited by an acquaintance at the Lagos street market who turned out to be Dr Obeta's kidney donor, the court was told.
Mr Davies said that the young man's account was that he believed he was being taken to London to work and the tests were for a visa.
The prosecutor said Dr Obeta was controlling the process in Nigeria and regularly updating Diwe Ekweremadu, who was, in turn, updating his family.
Sonia Ekweremadu, who remains reliant on weekly dialysis, tearfully hugged her father as he was sent down from the dock.
Following the guilty verdicts, Mr Justice Johnson remanded the defendants into custody to be sentenced on May 5.
