Drug dealer jailed for life after murder victim named him with his dying breath
An ‘unstable and erratic’ drug dealer has been jailed for life after the man he murdered named him in his dying breaths.
Oliver Muldowney, 36, accused Tim Hipperson, 39, of sleeping with his partner moments before repeatedly stabbing him with a large knife in an alleyway in Richmond, south-west London.
As he walked away, Muldowney told an eyewitness ‘You saw nothing’, the Old Bailey heard.
The attack happened shortly before 4pm on May 17 2021, when many parents were picking up children from a nearby school.
As they rushed to help, Mr Hipperson was caught on a police body-worn camera naming his killer as ‘Olly’.
Mr Hipperson was taken to hospital where he later died from his injuries.
Muldowney, a prominent street drug dealer in Richmond, fled the area but was arrested within days.
On the day of his murder, Mr Hipperson, a recovering addict, had gone with a friend to buy drugs from Muldowney’s runner.
Afterwards, Muldowney unsuccessfully attempted to bribe the friend to get out of town with offers of drugs and money, but he instead refused and turned him in.
Following a trial at the Old Bailey, Muldowney was found guilty of murder and perverting the course of justice, having admitted dealing in crack cocaine and heroin.
On Friday, he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 29 years.
Judge Shani Barnes said: ‘It is clear this was a sad and tragic case. Tim Hipperson was a loved son, brother, friend, and no doubt partner, through his life.
‘He was a man afflicted with class A drug addiction from which he had repeatedly attempted to free himself.’
She rejected the defendant’s claim to the jury that he had no problem with Mr Hipperson, saying Muldowney had an ‘unstable and erratic personality’.
She told him: ‘I do not accept you were a kindly drug dealer not prone to make threats.
‘It is clear you are a man who is unpredictable and was to be feared.
‘What was extraordinary was that you believed you were so powerful that no-one would speak out against you.’
Referring to the aftermath of the stabbing, the judge added: ‘The number of people who rushed to Mr Hipperson’s aid were largely parents picking up their children from school.
‘This was an area – in public – where there were a lot of people in the middle of the day and there were children all around, so that is in my view an aggravating factor.’
Muldowney’s drug runner Jonathan Nash, 36, of Feltham, west London, was jailed for three and a half years after being found guilty of two counts supplying heroin and crack cocaine.
Earlier, Mr Hipperson’s mother Sheila had read out a victim impact statement in court, saying: ‘Tim had emerged from years of addiction and was taking huge steps to beat his illness.’
The ‘mindless’ manner of his death was made ‘all the more cruel’ because it happened in a period of his recovery.
She said: ‘The pain he would have felt when he was repeatedly stabbed is a pain I feel every day.’
Detective Inspector Maria Green, of Scotland Yard, said: ‘Muldowney was motivated by jealousy and Tim Hipperson paid the price for that jealousy with his life. Muldowney was convinced his partner was seeing other men, with Tim being one of them.
‘Determined to avenge his bruised ego, Muldowney killed Tim in an alleyway. He then attempted to bribe Tim’s friend, who was a witness to the attack, with drugs and money but it didn’t work. He did the right thing and spoke up for his friend.’
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