Women tortured neighbour to death because they thought he was a paedophile

Two women have been jailed after filming the ‘sadistic’ torture of a 
vulnerable man they accused of being a paedophile.

The pair filmed their brutal drug-fuelled attack as they tortured a man to 
death.

Zoe Rider, 36, and Nicola Lethbridge, 45, targeted their 60-year-old 
neighbour Stephen Koszyczarski in his Sheffield flat, where they left him 
with dozens of fatal injuries.

The women recorded their sadistic, drug-fueled torture as they falsely 
accused him of being a paedophile.

Mr Koszyczarski died from his injuries two days after the attack.

Now the pair have been told they will serve at least 26 years in prison.

Lethbridge sobbed on Wednesday as Judge Sarah Wright told Sheffield Crown 
Court how the pair humiliated and terrified the victim on August 9 last 
year.
‘He was such a special man’
Jurors at the trial were shown the harrowing footage shot by Rider and 
Lethbridge.

It included them threatening to mutilate Mr Koszyczarski with scissors.

At one point, he pleads with them heartbreakingly to stop.

But one of the defendants replied: ‘Do you think I give a f***?’

He eventually used a call line to summon an ambulance as the pair left him 
with fatal injuries.

The jury was told Mr Koszyczarski died from a blunt-force force injury to 
his head which caused a bleed on his brain.

Among the many other injuries he suffered was bruising to his chest caused 
by kicks.

Prosecutors described the attack as ‘sadistic.’

The court heard how Mr Koszyczarski lived alone and had a mild learning 
disability as well as numerous medical issues.

Judge Wright said that he changed in the weeks before his death, becoming 
uncharacteristically short of money, as well as ‘unkempt and wary.’

She said: ‘He was visibly troubled and scared.

‘Having heard the evidence of his rapid decline, I have no doubt that you 
Zoe Rider had targeted him as someone you could exploit and had gone on to 
do so and that you Nicola Lethbridge had indulged in loud and intimidating 
behaviour towards Stephen, keeping Stephen awake and frightening him.’

A police investigation found there was no foundation at all for the 
defendants’ claims about Mr Koszyczarski.

The court heard a statement by Mr Koszyczarski’s close friend Mary Jones: 
‘I cry most days and most nights. He was such a special man. He would help 
anybody. He had a heart of gold, and I will forever miss his visits to my 
house.

‘Just why these people are so bad and why they did the things they did to 
him, why have they murdered him when he should still be alive and enjoying 
his life will always be a question I won’t get the answer to.’

‘Extremely violent joint attack’
Judge Wright said: ‘You were both clearly fuelled by drugs and probably 
alcohol.

‘Having heard the evidence in the case I have absolutely no doubt that you 
went into Stephen’s flat together in order to threaten, attack and rob 
him, no doubt to finance further drug taking.

‘For whatever reason, during the course of that robbery, you decided 
jointly to accuse Stephen completely spuriously and without any reason to 
do so of being a paedophile.’

She told them: “You set about him in the most brutal, heartless and 
despicable manner.

‘You launched a vicious and extremely violent joint attack upon him.

‘You exposed his genitals, threatened to mutilate him and shouted 
obscenities at him.

‘You singularly failed to listen to his denials of the accusation or to 
offer him any compassion when he was clearly injured.’

The judge said: ‘The purpose of your attack was to steal from him and to 
humiliate, terrify and hurt him.

‘You left him clearly disorientated, injured and bleeding with 22 separate 
injuries about his face, head and body.’

Rider and Lethbridge, both of Fraser Drive, Woodseats, Sheffield, were 
found guilty of murder and robbery earlier this year.

They were each jailed for 13 years for the robbery of Mr Koszyczarski, to 
run concurrently with their life terms.

His death was ‘truly callous,’ DCI Thomas Woodward said.

He said: ‘Stephen was described as a quiet man.

‘Although he had a close circle of friends, he kept himself to himself and 
just went about his business.

‘Miss Lethbridge and Miss Rider, who were the neighbours of Stephen at the 
time, bullied, intimidated, and attacked him in his own home in the most 
humiliating way, whilst filming the attack.

‘Although the guilty verdicts bring comfort that justice has been served, 
this remains a sad day because it is another reminder for everyone how 
violence can end a life too soon, which impacts greatly on all those 
involved, and leaves family and friends with pain and holes in their 
lives.’

https://metro.co.uk/news/