The intruder who stabbed a sleeping man to death has been jailed for a minimum of 28 years.
Ben Harvey murdered William Rudiak, 26, with a kitchen knife and bit the man’s girlfriends on the cheek in Andover, Hampshire, on 11 June. On the same night he went on to molested a teenage girl who was in bed.
Family photo// William Rudiak
Ben Harvey of Little London was convicted of murdering Mr Rudiak. He was also found guilty of assault causing actual bodily harm against Mr Rudiak’s girlfriend and trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence.
The trail was told that Harvey had drunk beer, smoked cannabis and taken a “fake drug” which he thought was cocaine ahead of the attacks. Mr Harvey thought he was in a dream when he killed Mr Rudiak.
A prosecutor said Mr Harvey entered the property in Turin Court through a downstairs window before going upstairs with a kitchen knife and stabbing Mr Rudiak around 03:00 BST. Mr Rudiak died from a single stab wound. A police interview with Mr Rudiak’s girlfriend, Alexandra Taylor, she said she went to bed with Mr Rudiak but woke up by a man biting her, she found her boyfriend covered in blood.
Ms Taylor had tried to resuscitate Mr Rudiak in a bid to save his life, but he did not respond. In a police interview, Miss Taylor said she called 999, adding: “He looked so scared. I couldn’t help him.”
The court heard DNA samples from the knife that killed Mr Rudiak and the pyjamas of the teenager matched that of Mr Harvey. It was also told in court he had a £11,000 drug debt.
In the interview the teenager describes her bedroom light kept going off and on shortly before 04:00 BST on July 11, 2019.
She said: “I woke up to someone’s hand round my mouth as if they were trying to stop me speaking or screaming or making any noise,”
“I think he was trying to rape me. I was so shocked.”
“I managed to hit him round the head to get him off me, he didn’t say a word during the whole thing.
“He went out of my room and sprinted down the stairs and out of the house.”
The girl adds that she had suffered scratches down her back and chin in the attack.
The morning following the attack, Mr Harvey messaged his girlfriend saying, “I think I’ve killed someone”. His girlfriend checked this black box records for his car and it showed Mr Harvey had been to the address where the murder was at. Mr Harvey’s father had called the police later that morning to inform them that his son may have killed someone.
Adam Feest QC, defending, said that Harvey’s actions are not disputed but it is argued with he had intent to commit the offences.
He added: “He [Harvey] had taken a quantity of alcohol, cannabis and cocaine.
“The effect and or the combination of the drink and drugs had a completely different effect on him than he had experienced previously. He has very little recollection of the following few hours.”
Det Ch Insp John McGonigle of Hampshire Constabulary said: “These were disturbing incidents that have had a significant impact on the friends and family of all those involved.
“Despite the clear evidence, Harvey’s pleas have meant that those affected have had to relive their experience in the courtroom.
“I would like to thank them for their courage and I hope that today’s sentence gives them some form of closure.”
Kerry Maylin of the Crown Prosecution Service added: “We hope that this conviction will bring some kind of comfort to the family of Mr Rudiak and to Miss Taylor.”
