A man died in hospital two weeks after he was beaten in his own flat in Lewisham, a murder trial at the Old Bailey has heard.
Miles Meyjes, 44, died at Lewisham Hospital on 20 February last year. Two men are on trial accused of his murder, and both deny the charge.
Jamal Morgan-Salih, 32, and Romar McDermott, 23, appeared at the Old Bailey on Wednesday as the prosecution opened its case. The court heard that Mr Meyjes, who suffered from kidney disease, had been taken to hospital the day before he died.
Key facts
- Who: Miles Meyjes, 44, of Lewisham
- Died: 20 February 2025 at Lewisham Hospital, two weeks after the alleged attack
- Accused: Jamal Morgan-Salih, 32, of Gravesend, and Romar McDermott, 23, of Wandsworth — both deny murder
- Court: The Old Bailey; trial opened on Wednesday, 12 November 2026
- Prosecutor: John Price KC
- Key witness: Mr Meyjes’s partner, Samantha Lee, 54
What the jury was told on the first day
Opening the case, prosecutor John Price KC told jurors that Mr Meyjes had been taken to hospital on 19 February. His partner, Samantha Lee, 54, had told a 999 operator that he had been without his kidney dialysis treatment for five days and was unresponsive.
Mr Price said Ms Lee was an important witness, because she would give evidence about an assault in early February which the prosecution says was a cause of Mr Meyjes’s death.
Describing the incident as the prosecution alleges it happened, he told the court: “Intruders forced their way into the flat which she shared with Miles Meyjes and savagely attacked him.”
“As he was being beaten about the head and body whilst on the floor, she could hear the sound of it taking place in the hallway of the flat,” Mr Price said.
“She was being detained in a bedroom by one of the intruders. That man was armed with what she thought was a real handgun because it looked real. At one time while keeping her there, he held it to her face.”
The evidence the court has heard so far
One of the paramedics who attended Mr Meyjes’s home in Lewisham on 19 February noted that one of his eyes was “very bruised and swollen shut”, the court was told.
Days before, on 7 February, Mr Meyjes had been photographed by a police officer who saw him at his home following a report of an assault. On that occasion, Mr Meyjes had told another paramedic that he had been “jumped” two days before, jurors heard.
In a written statement, Mr Meyjes described being assaulted after three men had entered his flat. He named two of the men as Mitch and Kane, and the prosecution has asserted that those were the defendants, Morgan-Salih and McDermott.
Ms Lee also identified the two men as Mitch and Kane, the court heard. She told police that she and her partner were long-term class A drug users, and she alleged that Mitch and Kane were partners in drug dealing.
There had been a delay in reporting the assault, the court heard, because Ms Lee was “scared”. She said she thought she could sort out the situation herself, and her partner did not want an ambulance “as we didn’t want to make anything worse”.
The timeline the jury is piecing together
Putting together what has been heard so far, the case turns on a short sequence of dates in February last year. Mr Meyjes told a paramedic he had been “jumped” two days before he was photographed on 7 February, which would put that incident on around 5 February. He was then taken to hospital on 19 February, having gone without dialysis for five days, and died the following day.
The prosecution’s case is that the assault in early February was a cause of his death. The defence case has not yet been heard, and the jury will hear from Ms Lee herself as the trial continues.
The charges and the pleas
Morgan-Salih, of Gravesend, and McDermott, of Wandsworth, have both denied murder.
Morgan-Salih has also pleaded not guilty to possession of a firearm or imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. He has denied a further charge of perverting the course of justice, by offering and making bribes of cash and controlled drugs to Ms Lee to try to induce her to withdraw her co-operation with the police investigation and not give evidence.
The Old Bailey regularly hears the capital’s most serious criminal cases, including murder trials that have ended in life sentences, such as the case of the man jailed for life for stabbing a student to death at Strawberry Hill station. Another recent London murder case ended in a guilty verdict after a fatal stabbing in Kilburn.
What happens next
The trial continues, with Ms Lee expected to give evidence about the assault and the days that followed. Nothing has been decided: the jury will hear the defence case before reaching any verdict.
