Frazer Brabant retrial collapses as men cleared of murder

Lee Wood, 35, of no fixed abode, and Forhad Miah, 35, of Chestnuts Close, Oakley, had been standing trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of murdering 31-year-old Frazer Brabant in Gershwin Road on Halloween night 2019, as well as conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent and violent disorder.

But on Monday afternoon, May 11, the Hon. Mr Justice Edward Murray told the jury he had concluded, as a matter of law, that the prosecution evidence was not sufficient to leave any of the counts against either man to them. He ruled each defendant had “no case to answer” and directed the jury to return verdicts of not guilty on all three counts.

The foreman formally acquitted Wood and Miah of murder (count one), conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent (count two) and violent disorder (count three).

Frazer Brabant (Image: Hampshire Constabulary)

The acquittals come after a retrial of the pair. At the original trial in 2023, Wood and Miah were among four men convicted of Mr Brabant’s murder and later sentenced to life imprisonment, with minimum terms of 29 and 28 years respectively. Their convictions were subsequently quashed by the Court of Appeal, leading to the fresh trial at Winchester, which has now ended in their favour.

During the retrial, the jury heard how Mr Brabant was chased from a flat in Gershwin Road and struck multiple times to the head and face with a heavy, sharp-edged weapon described as a machete or sword-type blade, suffering catastrophic brain injuries from which he never recovered. Evidence included a 3D‑printed model of his skull and detailed expert pathology about the blows inflicted.

The court also heard extensive phone and cell-site evidence said to show the movements and contacts of key figures in the weeks and hours before the attack, as well as agreed facts about a white Peugeot van once registered to Wood. That van was later found abandoned in an underground car park in London with concealed “hides” and a false floor, but jurors were told no forensic evidence linked it, or either defendant, to the attack.

In the closing stages of the prosecution case, the investigation itself came under scrutiny when Detective Sergeant Daniel Hunt, the senior investigating officer, was pressed by the defence over how much forensic work had been done at the scene. Michael Ivers KC, for Wood, questioned whether investigators had effectively “stopped” looking for forensic opportunities after identifying what was believed to be a glove smear on a freezer, something he suggested “could have been down to anybody”.

DS Hunt strongly rejected any suggestion that the forensic enquiries had been curtailed or were inadequate, insisting the scene was examined by more than one crime scene manager and telling the jury: “In the scene of an attack, you do not stop because one thing has been found.”

After legal argument in the absence of the jury, Mr Justice Murray ruled that, even taking the prosecution’s case at its highest, it was not open to the jury properly to convict either man on any of the counts. He therefore withdrew the case from the jury and directed the not guilty verdicts.

The ruling means Wood and Miah have now been cleared of all involvement in Mr Brabant’s killing.