Judge Orders 29-Year Minimum Term for Man Who Pursued Colleague to Railway Station
A hotel worker finished her Sunday night shift shortly before midnight and walked to catch her train home, talking on the phone with a friend. She never completed that journey.
Deng Chol Majek, 27, pursued Rhiannon Whyte from their shared workplace to Bescot Stadium station on October 20, 2024, where he carried out a fatal knife attack on the platform. Whyte sustained severe injuries and succumbed to a catastrophic brain injury three days later while hospitalized with family present.
The sequence of events was captured on surveillance cameras, which documented Majek’s movements after the assault. Footage showed him departing the station, purchasing alcohol at a nearby shop, and returning to his hotel residence, where he was observed singing and dancing. Officers took him into custody hours afterward.
Wolverhampton Crown Court jurors delivered guilty verdicts on murder and offensive weapon possession charges on October 24. The case proceeded to sentencing at Coventry Crown Court, where judicial proceedings concluded with a life imprisonment order carrying a 29-year minimum term before parole eligibility.
Court proceedings included a statement from Whyte’s relatives describing ongoing daily struggles with the aftermath. The family noted that the defendant’s courtroom silence had compelled them to witness repeated accounts of their daughter’s final moments in a public forum.
Detective Chief Inspector Paul Attwell, who led the investigation, acknowledged that no legal outcome could constitute true justice for those grieving. “Their own life sentence began in October 2024,” he stated, referring to when Whyte was killed.
The case now enters the correctional system phase, with Majek beginning his custodial term. Standard life sentence provisions require periodic parole board reviews after the minimum term expires, though release remains contingent on risk assessment determinations by authorities.
