A man who carried out a vicious attack on a loving father from Wolverhampton and left him to die in the street has been jailed for his murder.
At Wolverhampton Crown Court today (Mon 5 Feb) Carl Ellitts was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 27 years for the murder of 48-year-old Roy Deeley-Price, ten years each for the rape of two women, eight years in total for three violent robberies and three years for an assault with intention to rob. All will run concurrently.
Ellitts, 26, had admitted murdering Mr Deeley-Price as well as the robbery offences and assault with intention to rob but was convicted of the rapes following a trial which concluded last month.
Ellitts had targeted vulnerable people in the community and robbed them of money to pay for drugs.
Our officers worked hard on the investigation and secured CCTV which proved crucial. It showed Ellitts approach Mr Deeley-Price as he had visited an ATM at a nearby petrol station on Tettenhall Road to withdraw cash shortly before 10pm on the evening of May 28.
CCTV showed the two men engaging in conversation before they both left the forecourt area. Footage captured the two men grappling before Ellitts tripped Mr Deeley- Price, holding him on the ground on his back and by his throat.
He then stamped on Mr Deeley’s head and face up to six times knocking him unconscious before kicking him again to the head.
Ellitts walked away but less than a minute later returned and dragged Mr Deeley-Price’s body into a nearby bush before carrying out another vicious attack on him. His body was discovered the following morning.
A post-mortem revealed Mr Deeley-Price had suffered multiple blunt force injuries to his face and head.
Through CCTV enquiries made as result of Mr Deeley-Price’s murder, detectives were able to identify and piece together a string of offences against vulnerable people that were committed by Ellitts in a violent four-day rampage leading up to the murder.
Days before the attack on Mr Deeley-Price, he raped a woman on St Peter’s Square in Wolverhampton. She had approached him asking for a spliff in the early hours of May 26. Ellitts led her to some bushes and after they had smoked a spliff together he raped her. She escaped from him and ran for assistance from a bouncer at a nearby nightclub.
On the same morning he had robbed a man who had approached him. Ellitts wasn’t wearing shoes so the man took pity on him and offered assistance. He took him back to his house to let him use his facilities and he gave him some shoes. Whilst there he demanded his bank card and pin. They went to a bank in Church Street in Wednesfield where the man who feared for his safety handed him £180.
Later that evening he carried out his second rape in Wolverhampton. His victim was a woman who approached him as she thought he was homeless. Ellitts put a cloth around her mouth and took her to a secluded location where he raped her. She managed to escape from him and bravely reported the rape to a shopkeeper.
CCTV outside the shop showed a man matching the description of Ellitts.
The following day, in the evening of May 27, he carried out another robbery. The victim was carrying a bag containing £60 cash. CCTV captured him grabbing the victim’s bag causing him to be dragged along the floor before he ran off.
Then on May 28, the same day as Ellitts killed Mr Deeley-Price, he assaulted a man with the intention of robbing him in Market Square. The man had withdrawn £60 from a cashpoint before he was approached by Ellitts who walked beside him.
Ellitts then stood in front of him holding a silver object in his hand which he later told officers was a Baaz, an item used by Sikh men to set their turbans. He then threatened the man saying he would stab him if he refused to give him money. He pushed the Baaz on his stomach. The victim managed to push Ellitts away and ran into a nearby shop.
In a tragic turn of events this victim died of an unrelated cause in the weeks following the robbery. This meant that despite reporting the matter to police he never saw justice be done.
On the afternoon of the same day Ellitts had targeted another victim on the Tettenhall Road kicking him to the floor and putting a broken glass to his face. He then removed the victim’s Nike trainers from his feet.
We launched a manhunt and arrested Ellitts on 30 May after appealing to the local community. Police received information as to his whereabouts and he was taken into custody. He refused to make any comment when we questioned him.
A statement released by Mr Deeley-Price’s heartbroken family following sentencing said: “We are incredibly relieved to know that the monster who murdered Roy will be in jail for life.
“Life without Roy is now our new normal, the horrors of what has happened, the loss that we have experienced and the pain that will never go away.
“We can only hope to try to move forward with our lives, Roy will live forever in our broken hearts.”
Detective Inspector Damian Forrest, from the force’s Major Crime Unit Homicide team said: “Ellitts is an extremely violent bully who carried out a number of robberies and two rapes all targeted against vulnerable people in Wolverhampton before he attacked Mr Deeley-Price leaving him to die in the street.
“Sadly this sentence will never bring Roy back and it will not heal the family’s sense of loss, I hope it will go some way towards helping his heartbroken family come to terms with what has happened.
“I would also like to commend the bravery of the two women who Ellitts raped. They courageously came to court during the trial and gave evidence, securing convictions for all his cowardly crimes.
“Lastly I would like to thank the communities of Wolverhampton that provided our investigation with information and assistance that allowed us to convict Ellitts of his crimes and get him behind bars.”
