Two brothers on trial over 1984 killing of civil servant in north London

Two brothers have gone on trial accused of bludgeoning a civil servant to death 42 years ago amid a spree of violence targeting lone gay men.

Mr Littler, 45, was hit twice over the head with blunt weapons and was found mortally wounded half an hour later, still with his briefcase, £80 cash and credit cards.

Despite an appeal on BBC Crimewatch and ITV’s Police 5, no meaningful leads were identified and the case remained unsolved for decades, the Old Bailey heard.

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The breakthrough came on the 29th anniversary of Mr Littler’s death, when the defendants’ younger brother Daniel, who was aged 10 at the time, came forward to police following a family falling out.

He told officers they had confessed to the killing and boasted about being involved in “queer bashing”, jurors were told.

Years after the killing, Michael Stewart also allegedly admitted his guilt to a girlfriend and even showed her where it happened.

Anthony was said to be a man of few words but Michael proved to have a “loose tongue” and allegedly bragged about what he did in 1984, the court heard.

Mr Littler had been a real ale enthusiast and had spent the evening before his death at a pub in Carshalton, Surrey, at a meeting of the Ponds Branch of The Society for the Preservation of Beer from the Wood.

Having travelled back to London, he arrived at East Finchley Tube station at 12.18am on May 1 and walked down a narrow alleyway, where he was attacked, jurors heard.

Mr Price told jurors the assailants lay in wait and “ambushed” Mr Littler, immediately striking him over the head, even though there was no evidence they knew their victim.

He suggested they may have panicked and fled the scene without going through his pockets when it became clear from the amount of blood that they had killed him.

Late resident Edward Dyer had been walking his dog and heard a loud shout which “sounded like a cry of pain”, jurors were told.

In a statement, Mr Hainge said he saw what he thought was a “bundle of clothes” before realising it was a man lying face down in what appeared to be a pool of blood.

Mrs Hainge ran to call emergency services from a phone box while her husband stayed with Mr Littler.

The victim suffered two skull fractures and a “catastrophic brain injury” from which he died at the scene.

Mrs Hainge’s call to emergency services had been the second 999 alert from a public phone kiosk, jurors were told.

At 12.22am, an unknown person had called an operator and asked for an “ambulance – quick”.

He allegedly told her: “I can’t stop, just get an ambulance to East Finchley station, there’s a man hurt outside the station.”
London Ambulance Service recorded the caller saying the casualty was “bleeding heavily”, before putting the phone down.

The call handler had noted the male seemed “abnormally concerned over the matter”, was “well-spoken” and had a “young-sounding voice”.

Station staff searched the area and found no trace of a bleeding man so the incident was stood down, the court was told.

Mr Price told jurors that given the timing of the call, the unknown person must have been there when Mr Littler was attacked.

He said: “The prosecution submits that 42 years later, the evidence now available shows that it was Michael Stewart who had made that first 999 call at 12.22am and then hung up without giving the operator his name or the information she needed.”
Mr Price said Michael and binman Anthony Stewart, from East Finchley, had been among a group of young males who attacked Mr Littler.

He told jurors: “You will hear that this was not the only time that Michael Stewart, Anthony Stewart and others associated with them used violence on a solitary man they did not know, in a public place.

“By the spring of 1984, it is alleged by the prosecution that for quite a while this had been a habit or hobby of theirs.

“It was something they enjoyed doing.

“They had begun by targeting men whom they thought might be homosexual men.”
Jurors were told the defendants’ younger brother Daniel would be giving evidence that he knew about their activities, and that both brothers had separately confessed to what they did to the man in the alley.

He told police that Michael Stewart had admitted that a man had died in a “robbery gone wrong”.

On his account, there were three assailants with Anthony Stewart bashing Mr Littler’s head in with a wooden object like a rounders bat, and Michael Stewart “learning” from him.

Daniel said he was in a pub with his oldest brother Anthony when his sibling allegedly broke down and admitted being involved in the killing.

In an interview in 2025, the defendants’ sister Gaynor told police they were racist and had engaged in “queer bashing and P*** bashing”.

Michael Stewart had also allegedly bragged to a girlfriend about being the “Kray Brothers” in his area, and that he had killed a man while out “gay-bashing”.

Michael Stewart, from New Barnet, and Anthony Stewart, from East Finchley, have denied murder .

The Old Bailey trial was adjourned until Tuesday.