Men appear at crown court accused of murder of Halifax man

Two brothers have been remanded in custody after making their first appearance at Leeds Crown Court accused of murdering a Polish national whose body was found in woodland in March.

Pawel Piotr Olszewski, 25 of Bromley Street, Dewsbury and Krzysztof Olszewski, 20 of Crawshaw Street, Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury first appeared at Kirklees Magistrates Court last Friday charged with the murder of Marcin Siarczynski, 37.

The killing is alleged to have happened at a former address of Krzysztof Olszewski in Jessamine Street, Ravensthorpe between January 1 and July 31, 2015.

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The body of Mr Siarczynski was discovered this year on March 14 in a wooded area near to Low Mill Lane and close to the Calder and Hebble Navigation Canal at Ravensthorpe.

The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier QC said the case was at the crown court “simply because the magistrates have to send those charged with murder to this court in case of bail and the only thing I need to know immediately is whether there is to be any application for bail.”

Defence counsel informed the court there was not to be an application in either case. The judge then remanded the pair in custody until June 3 for a pre-trial preparatory hearing.

The court heard the custody time limit for the pair is November 4 and the judge said it was likely that a trial would therefore be held in October but no date was fixed.

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It was estimated that a trial would take up to two weeks and the defence indicated they would both be applying for Queen’s Counsel to represent them.

Judge Collier told the two defendants through a Polish interpreter: “You’ll both remain in custody until the next hearing which will be on June 3. That hearing is what is called a pre-trial preparatory hearing and the charges you face will be put to you and you will be expected to plead to the indictment and if the plea is not guilty a time-table will be set to bring the matter to trial within the custody time limits which is November 4.”

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