Erik Feld

The offence

What the court heard

He was found guilty of murder in Tower Hamlets, east London, on 16 August 2021. Sentencing remarks 1. Erik Feld, you have been found guilty of the murder of Ranjith Kankanamalage, and I must now sentence you for this horrific, and abhorrent, murder. 2. When I make factual findings in these sentencing remarks I am satisfied so that I am sure of such facts having presided over your trial and seen the overwhelming evidence against you. 3. In the early hours of 16 August 2021 Ranjith Kankanamalage was walking in the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park in East London which is both a park and a graveyard. It is very secluded at night being neither lit, not benefitting from CCTV. There are extensive areas of trees and dense undergrowth interspersed with gravestones. Your own view of the park, as you recounted to the jury, was that it was a creepy, gothic and monochromatic place at night. That no doubt fitted in well with your fantasies and the opportunities it presented in order to carry those fantasies into effect. 4. The park is frequented by a variety of people at night, some just passing through to or from night shifts, others for drinking, for drug taking, and also as a place where men go to meet up socially and (in certain parts of the park, though not the part where the offence occurred) as a venue for cruising, a pattern of behaviour whereby men meet each other for casual sexual encounters during the hours of darkness. I have no doubt that you would have known that there would have been people in the park for one or more of those reasons on any night. I am satisfied that why they were there did not matter to you. In particular it was not a matter of significance to you what the sexuality of those in the park was. Rather you knew that there would be individuals in that park even late at night for purposes of their own, and which would provide an opportunity for you to carry out your own, and very different, purpose. 5. Ranjith Kankanamalage had the severe misfortune to encounter you in that park that night. Why he was there will never be known, and I am not in a position to make any factual findings in that regard. I am satisfied, however, that you were not in the park for any of the purposes for which it is well known. Rather you had gone to that park equipped with a claw hammer with the intention of hammering to death any man who you might randomly encounter, knowing that there were likely to be potential victims in the park at that time. 6. On the evidence of…

Aggravating and mitigating factors

Planned / Premeditated / Degree of Planning; Specific planned use of the weapon / weapon brought to scene; Offence committed whilst on bail; Mental Health Disorder / Antisocial Personality Disorder / PTSD / Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD)

Around this case

• Central Criminal Court Crown Court
• Prosecuted by Crown Prosecution Service
• Investigated by Metropolitan Police Service