Fifty-seven-year-old Mustapha Charkaui was a kind, hard-working family man who had moved to Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England from his native Morocco. He worked for many years as an orderly at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, and lived with his wife Krystina in a house on Dunsham Lane.
On the evening of March 12th, 2007, two masked men, armed with a spade, forced their way into Mustapha and his wife Krystina’s home through a rear window. The attackers targeted the couple with chilling brutality. Mustapha was struck over the head with the spade, suffering a fractured skull that left him unconscious. Krystina, chased upstairs by one of the assailants, was also struck in the face, sustaining deep lacerations to her eye and forehead.
Both Mustapha and Krystina were rushed to the very hospital where Mustapha worked. Krystina was treated for her severe wounds and subsequently released, but Mustapha was transferred to John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, where he fought for his life for eleven days before succumbing to his injuries on March 23rd, 2007.
The ferocity of the attack stunned the close-knit Aylesbury community. Police investigations revealed that the assailants likely knew Mustapha, as the family believes the crime may have stemmed from jealousy over his respected status within the community or knowledge of his planned trip to Morocco the following day, possibly with a large sum of money. Despite this, the exact motive remains unclear.
Thames Valley Police launched an extensive investigation following the murder, with the Major Crime Unit dedicating significant resources to the case. Two men were arrested in April 2007, but no charges were brought due to insufficient evidence. Police divers searched a watercourse at Aylesbury Park Golf Course for the spade used in the attack, but it was never recovered.
A Crimestoppers appeal offered a £50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction, and a £10,000 reward was announced by Thames Valley Police during a national appeal on BBC’s Crimewatch in May 2007. The Crimewatch appeal generated two significant leads, but they did not result in arrests.
In January 2021, a private investigator was hired to work on the case, renewing hopes of a breakthrough, but no new developments have been publicly reported. As of this writing in June 2025, the savage murder of Mustapha Charkaui is still unsolved.
Crime Immemorial 