A jealous friend who stabbed a man to death after accusing him of sleeping with his girlfriend has been sentenced to at least 29 years in prison.
Oliver Muldowney, 36, accused Tim Hipperson, 39, of sleeping with his partner, Bobbie Tomkins, just before stabbing him repeatedly with a large knife in an alleyway in Richmond, southwest London.
As he walked away, Muldowney told an eyewitness, “You saw nothing,” the Old Bailey heard.
The attack took place shortly before 4 p.m. on May 17, 2021, when many parents were collecting children from a nearby school.
As they rushed to help, Mr. Hipperson was caught on a police-carried camera that named his killer as “Olly.”
Mr Hipperson was taken to hospital where he later died of his injuries.
Muldowney, a prominent street drug dealer in Richmond, fled the area but was arrested within days.
Oliver Muldowney, 36, accused Tim Hipperson (pictured), 39, of sleeping with his partner, Bobbie Tomkins, just before he repeatedly stabbed him with a large knife in an alleyway in Richmond, south-west London
On the day of his murder, Mr. Hipperson, a recovering addict, had gone to buy drugs from Muldowney’s runner with a friend.
After that, Muldowney unsuccessfully tried to bribe the friend into leaving town with offers of drugs and money.
After a trial at the Old Bailey, Muldowney was found guilty of murder and perverting the course of justice after admitting to dealing in crack cocaine and heroin.
On Friday, he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum sentence of 29 years.
Judge Shani Barnes said: “Obviously this was a sad and tragic case. Tim Hipperson was a beloved son, brother, friend and no doubt partner all his life.
“He was a man who suffered from a Class A drug addiction that he had repeatedly tried to free himself from.”
She rejected the defendant’s claim to the jury that he had no problem with Mr Hipperson, saying Muldowney had an “unstable and erratic personality.”
She told him, “I don’t accept that you were a friendly drug dealer who wasn’t inclined to make threats.
As he walked away, Muldowney (above) told an eyewitness ‘You saw nothing’, the Old Bailey heard
“Obviously you are a man who is unpredictable and to be feared.
“The special thing was that you thought you were so powerful that no one spoke against you.”
Referring to the aftermath of the stabbing, the judge added: ‘The number of people who came to Mr Hipperson’s aid were largely parents taking their children out of school.
“This was an area – in public – where there were a lot of people in the middle of the day and children everywhere, so that’s an aggravating factor in my view.”
Muldowney’s drug runner Jonathan Nash, 36, of Feltham, west London, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison after being found guilty of two charges of supplying heroin and crack cocaine.
Previously, Hipperson’s mother, Sheila, had read a victim statement in court that read, “Tim had come out of a years-long addiction and was taking huge steps to beat his illness.”
Mr Hipperson collapsed and was flown over from Kings Road in Richmond (pictured) on May 17 last year after the attack. He died in hospital from his injuries three days later
The “brainless” manner of his death was made “all the more cruel” because it happened during a period of his recovery.
She said, “The pain he would have felt when he was repeatedly stabbed is a pain I feel every day.”
His brother George also spoke fondly of his “brutal” sibling and how he was “controlled” by drugs while studying graphic design.
In a letter read to the court, Muldowney expressed regret by saying, “I feel terrible about what happened. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I never wanted this to happen.
“I’m really sorry that things ended the way they did and I wanted to offer my condolences to his family and friends for the loss they suffered.”
Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Maria Green said: ‘Muldowney was motivated by jealousy and Tim Hipperson paid the price for that jealousy with his life.
Muldowney was convinced his partner was seeing other men, including Tim.
Determined to avenge his bruised ego, Muldowney killed Tim in an alleyway. He then tried to bribe Tim’s friend, who witnessed the attack, with drugs and money, but was unsuccessful. He did the right thing and stood up for his friend.’