Hero street cleaner 'stabbed to death by burglar after tackling him with broom as he fled house'

A street cleaner was stabbed to death by an armed burglar he tackled with his broom after seeing him flee a house he had broken into, a court has heard.
Polish national Piotr Mikiewicz, 40, saw Roger Buckingham coming out of a property with a laptop computer and a kitchen knife when he investigated the alarm, a jury at the Old Bailey heard.
The brave cleaner repeatedly hit the thief with his broom as he tried to stop Buckingham fleeing the affluent semi-detached property in Shepherds Bush, west London.

Police inspect the scene after Piotr Mikiewicz was allegedly stabbed in the chest and died

The court heard that the street cleaner had shown a 'laudable sense of civic duty and right and wrong'

But Buckingham allegedly stabbed him in the chest with the knife and ran off, leaving Mr Mikiewicz dying on the ground, the court heard.
Prosecutor Aftab Jafferjee QC said Mikiewicz had shown a 'laudable sense of civic duty and right and wrong' on August 29 last year which had cost him his life.
'That man, armed only with his dust cart and broom, took on the defendant, striking him in order to apprehend him and prevent him leaving with the fruits of his crime,' he said.
'Eventually the defendant responded by stabbing Mr Mikiewicz through the heart before fleeing.
'It was a terrible and needless waste of the life of a man who provided a service to the local community and did that which we all wish we had done.'
Buckingham, 31, of Shepherd's Bush, denies murdering Mikiewicz in the street where the cleaner had been working.

Piotr Mikiewicz took on an alleged thief and tried to stop him with his broom, a jury at the Old Bailey heard

A woman believed to be a relative of Mr Mikiewicz broke down in tears in court

A woman believed to be a relative of Mr Mikiewicz broke down in tears and shielded her eyes as the jury of six men and six women were shown the knife used in the murder.
The court heard that Buckingham broke into the house using a crowbar and grabbed a Dell laptop belonging to the son of the owners before leaving as the alarm started sounding.
'In a perfect world, if one hears the alarm from a neighbour has gone off we would raise the alarm or go and call the police,' Mr Jafferjee said.
'But it is a sad fact, especially in London, that people don't go out, thinking 'It must be another false alarm'.
'But in this case, there was one such person, a responsible and public-spirited person who raised the alarm.
'He had a laudable sense of civil duty and right and wrong.
'It was to cost him his life.'
The court heard that Buckingham was accosted by Mr Mikiewicz in the driveway of the house.
The burglar attempted to get into his car but could not get it to start, the jury was told.
Still being harried by the street cleaner, he got out and brandished the knife in an attempt to ward him off, Mr Jafferjee said.
It did not work, Mr Jafferjee continued, so he stabbed Mr Mikiewicz and ran off.
The court heard that the murder weapon was found abandoned in an Opel Zafira, which had been stolen from a petrol station a few days previously and fitted with false 'cloned' number plates.
It had been ticketed by a traffic warden in Bentworth Road, near Buckingham's home where he lived with his father, that morning, the jury was told.
Buckingham was later arrested at his girlfriend's home, the court heard.
The trial continues.

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