London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Pensioner died after being tied to chair by burglar, court told

Pensioner died after being tied to chair by burglar, court told

Adris Mohammed, 44, went back to the home of David Varlow, 78, to hunt for further items to steal, murder trial hears
A pensioner died after being tied to a chair by a burglar who returned to the crime scene more than a week later to free his victim’s body, a murder trial has heard.

Prosecutors allege Adris Mohammed went back to the home of David Varlow, knowing the pensioner would be dead, to hunt for further items to steal.

A trial at Birmingham crown court was told Varlow, aged 78, was found dead after police forced entry to his home in Manor Lane, Halesowen, West Midlands, last November.

Mohammed, from Icknield Port Road, Birmingham, denies murder, manslaughter, attempted burglary and two counts each of fraud and burglary.

Opening the crown’s case on Monday, the prosecutor, Peter Grieves-Smith, alleged that 44-year-old Mohammed went to Varlow’s home on 24 October, 3 November and overnight on 11-12 November.

The prosecutor told the court Mohammed had tried to break into the property on his first visit and went back to the house on 3 November in the early hours of the morning.

Grieves-Smith said: “On this occasion he got inside the house. He stole a bank card which he and others used to commit fraud.”

Alleging that Mohammed aimed to withdraw as much money as possible using the card, Grieves-Smith told jurors: “The plan would only work if David Varlow could not alert the police or the bank. He tied David Varlow to a chair in his living room in such a way he would never be able to free himself.

“It would have been obvious David Varlow was old and frail, but he didn’t care. In tying him up, Adris Mohammed either intended to kill him or to cause him really serious harm.”

Jurors were told that Varlow’s bank account contained almost £19,000.

The court heard that Varlow dialled 999 after the initial attempted burglary, in which a rear window was smashed.

During the burglary in which he was tied up, the court heard, Varlow was “compelled” to reveal his card’s pin.

Grieves-Smith said of Mohammed: “The first thing he did with the bank card was to check the balance.
Advertisement

“That bank account had more than £19,000 in it. Having checked to see how much money there was, he withdrew £250 in cash.

“To have done that he must have known the pin and David Varlow, the prosecution say, must have been forced to divulge it. He didn’t do so of his own free will. He must have been terrified.”

During his opening remarks, Grieves-Smith alleged that Mohammed was accompanied by co-defendant O’Shay Swan, who is accused of burglary and fraud, when he returned to Manor Lane late on 11 November or early on 12 November.

The prosecutor continued: “The prosecution suggest Adris Mohammed would have felt confident that when he returned, David Varlow would be in no position to recognise him because he would be dead.

“If he had thought there was any chance that David Varlow was alive, he would never have gone back.”

Alleging that Mohammed had untied the victim during the final visit, allowing the body to fall to the floor, Grieves-Smith added that the victim was found a few days later when the police forced entry.

Swan, 42, of Winson Green Road, Birmingham, denies burgling Varlow’s property on a day between 10 and 13 November and committing fraud in relation to the use of a bank card on 12 November.

The trial, expected to last for three weeks, continues.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that looks a lot like Telegram.
Investigations Reveal Rise in ‘Sex-for-Rent’ Listings Across Canada Exploiting Vulnerable Tenants
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
Ukrainian Nationalist Politician Andriy Parubiy Assassinated in Lviv
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
×