A man who bled to death on a Basildon pavement was using a false name, police today revealed.
Detectives travelled to Jamaica to find the true identity of Omar Locke after discovering the victim of the stabbing had been using a friend's passport.
Despite getting caught up in the riots which hit the Caribbean island last month, officers discovered the man's real identity was Venroy Patrick Pinnock.
Det Insp Dave Sharpe, who made the 16-day trip to Jamaica, said he had interviewed the real Omar Locke who worked with his friend Venroy on a roadside food bar.
Venroy, a promising chef, had decided to visit England to study catering and for some reason obtained a passport in the name of his friend.
He bled to death on January 19 after being stabbed in the buttocks on the Cranes Court estate in Basildon. He died in nearby Whitmore Way.
On returning to Essex, Det Insp Sharpe explained he and a team of detectives became caught up in riots which lasted three days and saw seven people killed and 152 people arrested.
He said: "We were waiting for the coup. Things just erupted.
"We ended up sitting on the hotel balcony counting the fires being started around the city. We heard frequent volleys of gunfire."
He explained that at times detectives ventured into the most dangerous parts of the city in Trench town and Spanish town to carry out interviews, often accompanied by heavily armed guards.
Two men, Darren Robinson, 24, from Lincoln Road, Craylands, Basildon and Dennis Twilley, 26, of Spire Road, Laindon, are charged with the murder. The pair are due to enter a plea at Chelmsford Crown Court on May 24.
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