Cristian was discovered injured at a residence in The Hides around 5.40 p.m. on November 8, last year.
Officers were dispatched to the address after reports of a disturbance.
They had to force entry to get inside before discovering the 24-year-old collapsed on the floor with a significant amount of blood in a number of rooms and a trail leading up a path outside to the rear gate.
Cristian was pronounced dead at the scene, sadly.
He’d been stabbed in the chin, back, and neck.
A witness told our officers that around the time of the attack, he saw a man dressed in a dark tracksuit vaulting the fence at the back of the property.
Officers discovered a connection between Cristian and a drug dealer named Jayden Drake, who was running the ‘Bobby Davro’ drug line in Harlow.
There was also information that Drake, 25, had been using the address in The Hides for drug purposes and had a history of carrying knives.
Drake’s fingerprints, as well as those of another man, 19-year-old Igors Andersons, were discovered on a number of items in one of the bedrooms.
Detectives were able to determine that Drake and Andersons were present at the time of the attack.
A manhunt led officers to an address in Bournemouth, where they were apprehended on November 11.
Cristian’s blood was discovered on Drake and Anderson’s clothing and shoes, some of which were discarded at the location where they were apprehended.
Both were charged with murder.
Drake testified at the trial that Andersons stabbed Cristian but that he was looking away at the time.
Andersons claimed he blacked out at the time the injuries were inflicted but assumed he was the cause of the injuries – but he claimed it was in self-defense.
Drake, of Maclean Road, Bournemouth, and Andersons, of Tickenhall Drive, Harlow, were both found guilty of murder today (Tuesday, May 31) following a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Fraser Chung, 18, of Tudor Avenue, Cheshunt, who had also been charged with murder, was found not guilty.
Drake and Andersons will be sentenced at the same court on July 22.
“Cristian was killed in a brutal and senseless attack,” said senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Ant Alcock.
In a planned attack, Jayden Drake and Igors Andersons used extreme violence to take Cristian’s life.
“They then fled the scene, travelling more than 120 miles to avoid prosecution.”
However, neither they nor Essex Police could escape what they had done.
They now face a significant amount of time behind bars, and Essex is a safer place as a result.
Officers from across the force work every day to reduce drug-related violence in our country and protect the most vulnerable members of society.” It is and will remain a policing priority for us.
No court decision will ever bring Cristian back, but I am hopeful that the convictions of these two men will help his family move forward
