Oxford Uni worker in court on US murder charge
Written by News on 12/08/2017
An ex-employee of Oxford University who is accused along with a US professor of killing a Chicago man has appeared in court for the first time since his arrest.
Somerville College’s Andrew Warren, 56, and Professor Wyndham Lathem, 42, are facing murder charges after a 26-year-old hairdresser was found dead in Lathem’s apartment on 27 July.
Warren appeared in a court in San Francisco, the city where he handed himself in on 4 August after eight days on the run with Lathem, who surrendered himself in the Californian city of Oakland.
Warren, who appeared wearing an orange prison sweatshirt and jogging bottoms, quietly confirmed to the judge that he will accept a public lawyer, as he cannot afford his own.
He was denied bail and will be held in custody.
Warren and Lathem will be questioned in Chicago, where a police spokesman said officers hav "a lot of questions" for them.
Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi also revealed that the victim, Trenton Cornell-Duranleau, suffered more than 40 stab wounds on his upper body in what police described as a "very violent scene".
Mr Guglielmi said: "We have information to suggest there was tension in the relationship between Dr Lathem and the victim.
"We have a lot of questions for Mr Lathem and Mr Warren and we look forward to their return to Chicago."
Warren is reportedly from Swindon in Wiltshire and has been suspended from his job as senior treasury assistant.
He left the UK on 24 July for the US and was reported missing to UK police a day later, two days before Mr Cornell-Duranleau’s body was found.
After the hearing, Warren’s lawyer, Ariel Boyce-Smith, said his client was "agreeable" to being moved to Chicago.
"He wants the process to be started.
"I just want to remind everyone that he is presumed innocent and his agreement to go there to start the process is where we are now."
The lawyer acting for Lathem, who has been sacked from his microbiology post at Northwestern University, said that he plans to plead not guilty.
Kenneth Wine has described his client as a "gentle soul".
Neither of the suspects have been formally charged.
(c) Sky News 2017: Oxford Uni worker in court on US murder charge
