Updated

Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jun 29

Szymon Babynko Charged in 26-Year-Old Isaac Clare-Watts' Murder After Peak District Solstice Death

Updated

Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jun 29

Szymon Babynko Charged in 26-Year-Old Isaac Clare-Watts' Murder After Peak District Solstice Death

Q: A murder at a stone circle, an attempted murder nearby. What is the link between these two brutal crimes?

The apparent link is the suspect: Derbyshire Police have charged the same man, 23-year-old Szymon Babynko of London, with both the murder of Isaac Clare-Watts at the Nine Ladies Stone Circle and a separate attempted murder in Hady Lane, Chesterfield. Police say Clare-Watts, 26, from Nottingham, was found dead at the stone circle on June 22 during the summer solstice period. Detectives described the killing as especially brutal and opened a murder investigation after he was pronounced dead at the scene. Babynko was later arrested and charged not only with that murder but also with attempted murder over an incident in Chesterfield on June 25. On the information now public, that is the only confirmed connection between the two crimes: the same defendant is alleged to be responsible for both. Investigators have not publicly set out any wider motive, relationship between the victims, or sequence explaining how the two cases may fit together. So while the locations are both in Derbyshire and the timing is close, it would be premature to infer more than the charging decision itself supports. A 41-year-old man previously arrested on suspicion of murder has been released on bail. Police are still seeking information, including footage from people who attended the solstice gathering at the Nine Ladies site between June 19 and 23. Babynko is due to appear at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court.

Q: Was the murder at the sacred solstice site a random attack or a crime with a much darker motive?

It is not yet known whether Isaac Clare-Watts was killed in a random attack or in a crime driven by a darker, specific motive. What is clear is that police are treating the case as a murder investigation and have described the killing as exceptionally violent, saying Clare-Watts’s life was taken in “the most brutal way.” A 23-year-old man, Szymon Babynko of London, has now been charged with murder and is due in court. He has also been charged with attempted murder over a separate incident in Chesterfield, a detail that may become important in assessing whether there was a broader pattern of violence, but it does not by itself establish motive in the solstice-site killing. The setting has fueled speculation because the body was found at the Nine Ladies Stone Circle, a Bronze Age monument with strong solstice and Pagan associations, during a summer solstice gathering. But there is no public evidence so far that the site’s sacred status played any role in the killing. Police have not said the attack was ritualistic, targeted because of the location, or linked to extremist beliefs. Investigators are still trying to reconstruct what happened and have appealed for witnesses, video and dashcam footage from people at the solstice event between June 19 and 23. That suggests they do not yet have a complete picture of the circumstances. For now, the most accurate reading is that the case remains unresolved on motive: the charge answers who police believe was responsible, but not why.

3 articles · Updated · bbc.co.uk · Jun 29

Derbyshire Police charged 23-year-old Szymon Babynko with murdering Isaac Clare-Watts, 26, whose body was found near the Nine Ladies Stone Circle on 22 June.
Police were called at 13:38 BST to Stanton Lees in the Peak District, where Clare-Watts, from Nottingham, was pronounced dead at the scene and a murder investigation was opened.
Babynko, a Polish national from Commonwealth Way in London, was also charged with attempted murder over a separate incident on Hady Lane in Chesterfield on Thursday.
Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court is due to hear the case later, while a 41-year-old man previously arrested on suspicion of murder was released on bail last week.
Derbyshire Police have also opened a major incident public portal to gather information from witnesses and the wider public.