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TOP COVER 524+0)

*+5614;

THE LEICESTER SIEGE

94+66'0 $; 56'2*'0 5/+6* ] 5% 1 *+5614+#0

56 5'26'/$'4
ifty-year old Bulgarian born, Sabi Nikoloff, was a bitter
man after his marriage ended in divorce in 1974. Ordered
to hand over his house at 25 Lambourne Road, Leicester
Fto his ex-wife to bring up their three children in, he
believed he had been the victim of some kind of plot. In his
troubled mind it all made sense when he drove past his old home
and saw his ex-wife talking to her two neighbours, both of whom
had given evidence against him at his divorce proceedings.
Something in him snapped and he drove away to prepare his
revenge, even he could not have foreseen the level of misery and
suffering he was about to inflict on others.
It was 10.30am on the 1st of September 1975, when Nikoloff
returned to his lodgings and loaded a double barrelled 12-bore
shotgun and 48 cartridges into his boot, along with a carving
knife and cans of petrol and oil. He raced back to the quiet
road and parked outside his old house. His ex-wife stood on the
pavement at the end of the drive still chatting to the neighbours,
Mrs. Cabaniuk and Mrs. Shenton. Nikoloff went to the boot
of his car and took out the double-barrelled shotgun. Without
warning he shot Mrs. Cabaniuk dead at point blank range and
he fired at the other two women (but missed). Mrs. Nikoloff ran
inside her house to warn her two older children who escaped out
the back. She then ran upstairs and barricaded herself in the front
bedroom with her 10 year old son. Upon hearing the gunfire the two officers at the rear, PCs
Sabi Nikoloff took two cans of petrol from the car and entered Christian and Galloway who had just forced the rear door,
the house by smashing the front window. He immediately started withdrew back to the front of the house taking cover behind the
a fire under the staircase. Mrs. Nikoloff was screaming for help ambulance and their patrol car. T ey could hear WPC Dayman
from the upstairs window. A neighbour who was an off duty shouting for help. PC Galloway and PC Proudman (another
police officer borrowed a ladder and managed to rescue Mrs off-duty officer who lived nearby) along with a neighbour Mr.
Nikoloff and her 10 year old son. Another neighbour had dragged Dickman began to push the ambulance backwards in an attempt
the body of Mrs. Cabaniuk into her garden. to give them some cover from which they could retrieve the
In response to an emergency call two traffic officers arrived, wounded officers (they did not know at this stage if the sergeant
followed closely by an ambulance. T e ambulance stopped was still alive). As they got nearer, ambulance man Wilkinson
outside number 21, where the body had been taken. T e two opened the rear door to give more cover. Nikoloff fired again from
officers went around the rear of number 25 and attempted to the upstairs window. T ree slugs penetrated through the door
gain entry. hitting Wilkinson in the head and chest, killing him outright. In
Sergeant Dawson and WPC Dayman also arrived and parked another fusillade of shot PC Proudman and Mr Dickman were
behind Nikoloff’s saloon car. T ey walked up the driveway of also wounded and lay behind the ambulance.
number 25 to talk with PC Acton, the off-duty officer who had Several people, including others newly arrived, were now
rescued Mrs. Nikoloff and her son. trapped behind the ambulance. Nikoloff continued to fire,
Before any conversation could take place, Nikoloff leaned out peppering the ambulance. Mr. Oakley, the second ambulance
of the upstairs bedroom window and shot Sergeant Dawson in man, attempted to summon help on the radio in the cab but had
the stomach. T e sergeant fell to the ground and died almost to stop when the vehicle’s windscreen was shot out, wounding
immediately. He then shot WPC Dayman, wounding her in the him slightly.
head, shoulder, back and left leg. She also fell to the ground where PC Christian then attempted to summon help using the traffic
she remained seriously wounded. car’s radio but Nikoloff fired at him, wounding him in the head,