In the early 1940s two Cypriots, Savvas Demetriades and Christos Georghiou, were joint proprietors of a cafe in Cardiff. They had been friends for many years, but this changed in 1943 when they fell out over £1 10s. (£1.50), Georghiou claiming that his partner had pocketed it instead of ringing it through the till, thereby depriving him of his share. The partnership was dissolved, and Georghiou moved to London where he found employment as a cook in a restaurant.
On OCTOBER 24th, 1943, Demetriades went to London and was twice seen by Georghiou, who glared at him but said nothing. Then on the afternoon of the following day Demetriades was stabbed fatally while walking along Sohos Old Compton Street with his friend Christos Costa. The assailant fled the scene, and Georghiou, 37, became the prime suspect when Demetriades friends told the police of the rift between the two men.
He did not go home that night, but went instead to a friends house in Wealdstone. He was soon found, arrested and charged with the murder, and at his Old Bailey trial in December his defence was simply that he was not the assailant.
In the witness-box, however, Demetriades girlfriend described Georghious enmity towards his former partner over the £1 10s., and also over Demetriades seduction of one of Georghious girlfriends. Then one of the murders three eye-witnesses, a Swiss tourist, positively identified Georghiou as the killer, and the court heard that he had a graze on his leg which was consistent with the witnesss story that Demetriades had kicked the assailant.
Georghious claim in the witness-box that he was not in Old Compton Street at the time of the stabbing conflicted with what he had told the police. He had also told them, I cant think why it happened, he was such a good man to me. In view of the feud between the two men, this remark seemed less than sincere.
The jury found Georghiou guilty, he was sentenced to death, and on February 2nd, 1944, he was hanged by Albert Pierrepoint, assisted by Herbert Morris.