A "tenant" from hell who made excuses for not paying rent and developed a "siege mentality" murdered a security guard when he tried to evict him from his flat.
Chad Henderson, a United States national, killed dad-of-one Nathan Burton when he attempted to evict him on April 7, 2021. Henderson had become "obsessed" with his tenancy rights and fortified his Moseley flat to defend what he over-dramatically described as a "home invasion" a court heard.
Mr Burton, 27, who was licensed by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) and trained in conflict management went to the flat in Moseley to remove Henderson once and for all. But after he forced the door and climbed the stairs that were barricaded by a sofa, he was stabbed four times in the chest.
Henderson said nothing before he lunged at Mr Burton from over the banister with a hunting knife, and as he stabbed Mr Burton he said: "Why are you here? Why are you doing that? You know you shouldn't be here," Birmingham Crown Court was told.
Nathan Burton with his daughter (West Midlands Police / SWNS.COM)Mr Burton was dragged outside by his colleagues and collapsed, before dying in hospital the next day. Following two years of legal issues that included Henderson sacking his lawyers and refusing to attend his own trial, he was found guilty of murder, reported Birmingham Live.
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Mr Burton's aunt Paulette Bassan was among devastated family members who provided emotional statements at Henderson's long-awaited sentencing. She said the thing she struggled with most was that the killing simply 'made no sense'.
Henderson came to the UK in July 2020 seeking medical treatment, but ran out of money and was unable to work. He went to stay at the flat in Moseley and became locked in a dispute over rent with the landlady who had moved to Brazil. Prosecutor Peter Finnigan KC stated the landlady was actually 'pretty patient' with Henderson and said: "Things actually started going wrong almost from the start. He wanted time before he could pay.
"He came up with various reasons why he couldn't pay. He said his internet banking was at fault, then said he lost his phone with internet banking on it, then he said the internet had gone down so he couldn't pay. He said he had an accident in Poland and as a result his head was injured which affected his memory. This sort of thing goes on and on. He said he had visa problems."
The jury was told Henderson accepted he owed the money and paid around £2,600 of the debt but he owed more than £4,000. Mr Finnigan added: "There he was at the end of March 2021 not paying rent and not going anywhere and being asked to leave."
A probe of Henderson's phone revealed that at that time he was making internet searches for tenancy rights, but the landlady did not consider him to be a "tenant" and demanded he leave by the end of the month. At the start of April someone from the charity Shelter became involved and tried to find Henderson somewhere else to live, while he also contacted the Citizens Advice Bureau and even the police.
At one point he told the landlady she would be charged with intimidation and emailed her: "I would hate for your return to England to conclude with you being arrested at the airport." In another incident Henderson ranted about the 'audacity of this b****' as he claimed to police the landlady had forged his signature, when all she had done was provided him with a registration document he had asked for. On April 4 he moaned to officers again, this time because his electricity had been cut off.
Mr Finnegan said: "By the beginning of April the defendant was told by the landlady of the flat a security firm would be used to remove him. The landlady was of the view the defendant had been given more than enough leeway and was engineering the situation to come up with all manner of reasons. To her mind the defendant didn't have the legal right to remain in the property."
He added: "His attitude had hardened and he wasn't going to leave without putting up resistance. This defendant was developing a siege mentality and he was prepared to withstand any attempt to force him out of the property by making preparations to defend it."
The landlady's son instructed Mr Burton and his colleagues to evict Henderson on April 7. With the help of a locksmith they forced the door and were immediately confronted by Henderson standing at the the top of the stairs holding what appeared to be a Molotov cocktail, which turned out to be fake.
Mr Burton did not take the threat seriously and thought it was a "bit of a show". Shortly afterwards the police arrived, having been called by the defendant himself, and told Mr Burton's group they needed a court order to evict him. But the security team felt the force had got it "completely wrong" and after talking it over with the landlady's son they decided to return to the property later that night, around 10.50pm.
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Again the door was forced and the group made it clear they were security. Mr Burton led the way up the stairs and was fatally attacked by Henderson. The defendant called the police again and told them he had been "assaulted" by Mr Burton putting his hand on him. He claimed: "I defended myself."
Later, in his interview, Henderson described being "petrified" and said: "I thought they were going to kill me." He also stated that he acted to deter a "home invasion", a phrase more commonly used in America. It is an aggressive form of burglary where the intruders have intent to commit another crime once inside, such as robbery, sexual assault, kidnap or murder.
But the prosecution argued he had not simply 'over-exaggerated' his fears, he had lied. Mr Finnegan said: "He wasn't prepared to reason with anybody. Instead he decided to threaten and then to actually use extreme violence. He wasn't defending himself when they came up the stairs he decided to go on the offensive and punish them.
"The fact of the matter is this defendant was obsessed with his property rights and exercising and protecting what he believed to be those rights. He had resolved not to be moved at any cost, even if that cost was the life of a person. He prepared the ground at which he would make his stand.
"Then he chose his preferred weapon. The decision to use that type of knife was deliberate and he stabbed Nathan Burton, perhaps in anger, four times."
Henderson's arrest was just the beginning of another nightmare for the victim's family who claimed they have prepared for him to be put on trial on five occasions since. Last year he claimed he had boiling water thrown over him in prison and was allowed to go to hospital but "subsequent investigations showed that to be untrue".
When he finally was put on trial, in his absence, he made a last ditch request towards the end of the proceedings to give evidence but his application was refused. The victim's mother Beverley Burton said: "As a family we have been taken on a rollercoaster ride as one man has evaded the British justice system in ways we could never imagine possible."
His uncle Ray Hoffman claimed the justice system had "pandered" to Henderson's requests while his murdered nephew was "just another victim, long forgotten". The family paid tribute to "selfless" Nathan who worked two jobs to support his young family.
His twin brother Liam stated 'part of me died' when he was killed. Mr Burton's father Ronald told the court his "heart breaks" at his granddaughter pointing at pictures of him and not "being able to grasp why he's not around".
Henderson refused to attend his sentencing where Judge Simon Drew Kc concluded he "acted unlawfully" throughout the confrontation with Mr Burton and had intended to kill him. He sentenced him to life with a minimum term of 19 years.
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