New Cross man who killed bus passenger on the 53 night bus convicted of murder

BY TOBY PORTER
toby@slpmedia.co.uk

A man who brutally attacked and killed a bus passenger in an unprovoked attack has been convicted of murder.

Kirk Wright, of Egmont Street, New Cross was yards from his home when he left Julian Joseph (pictured above) bleeding and unconscious on the 53 bus in the early hours of March 13.

Wright, 32, was found guilty of the murder of the 36-year-old, from Lewisham, who died 11 days later.

The court heard how police and paramedics rushed to the junction of New Cross Road and Alpha Road and found Mr Joseph suffering from a severe head injury.

Investigators established Wright had attacked Mr Joseph on the lower deck of the bus and assaulted him, knocked him to the ground and then kicked and repeatedly stamped on him.

Mr Joseph was taken to a South London hospital but died on March 24.

A post-mortem examination at Greenwich Mortuary established the cause of death as a head injury. CCTV footage and DNA evidence gathered at the scene led to Wright’s prosecution.

He claimed to have known Mr Joseph and said the attack was motivated by an existing dispute – claims dismissed by the court. On Thursday Wright was found guilty of murder at Woolwich Crown Court. He will be sentenced this Thursday.

Detective Chief Inspector John Massey, from the Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: “This attack was brutal and sustained.

Wright must have known his savage actions would result in very serious injury or worse as has sadly proven to be the case.

I hope this conviction for murder goes someway to helping Julian’s family being consoled after such a harrowing episode in their lives.”