A grieving father, Oladapo Ogundipe, has urged the United Kingdom Police to reopen the case of his 26-year-old daughter, Alanis Ogundipe, who allegedly jumped into the path of a moving train on May 29, 2023 at a station in Manchester.
The grieving father gave details of why the probe was necessary at a news conference in Ikeja, Lagos State on Monday.
Ogundipe said the boyfriend of Alanis, Ryan Leggetts, should be prosecuted for breaking into the phone of the lady, invading her privacy and seizing her private information, with which he then blackmailed her.
According to the father, it was the blackmail by Leggetts that made Alanis kill herself by jumping onto a railway track and being crushed.
He said: “I call on the UK authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into these matters to ensure that justice is served for my daughter.
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“Breaking into her phone without her consent and then blackmailing her with information from the phone are criminal acts and as such Leggetts should be prosecuted.
“If the police do not wish to investigate, then a private legal team will take up the case since there is no time limit for prosecution of crimes such as murder and manslaughter.”
According to Ogundipe, the fact that the UK Police and his wife refused him to see the CCTV footage of the alleged suicide of Alanis has further created doubt in his mind, with him wondering if truly she killed herself.
He said: “I have also reached out to the UK Embassy in Nigeria on this matter for them to prevail on their police to reopen this case.
“Alanis’s mom is the one obstructing investigation and justice.
“We’ve been married for 28 years.”
Although there has been an inquest, Oladapo was not happy with how the matter was concluded, insisting that Leggetts should be made to face the wrath of the law.
He opined that if Leggetts was not prosecuted, he could very well carry out a similar act on another unsuspecting girl.
He explained that initial investigations painted a picture of Alanis having financial and mental health problems.
However, Ogundipe said: “I’ve never heard of this until after her death.
“Josephine said she didn’t tell me about Alani’s mental health problem because she did not want me to take her away from her.”
The man, who cried through parts of the briefing, described the situation that led to the death of his daughter as “tragic”.
Ogundipe was also not pleased that his statement was not taken and he had no opportunity to put some questions across to Leggetts concerning the death of his daughter.
He also said that new evidence with him should be enough to assist the police in prosecuting Leggetts.
His words: “As this month marks a year since her death and based on the evidence at hand, I have come to a distressing realisation regarding the events leading to her passing.”
He explained that his daughter and Leggetts met in June 2022, and by the first week of August, Leggetts had allegedly infected her with Herpes.
Ogundipe said: “My daughter was ignorant that she thought she would not be able to meet anyone again due to the infection.
“Also, if they wanted to do anything together, he would loan her the money to make her do it.
“He would first tell her it was a gift and then tell her it was a loan.
“When Alanis was expecting to collect £102,000 in May 2023, her new salary of £2,000 was expected on the 28th May, 2023, and an additional £100,000 on the 30th May, 2023.
“Alanis’s passport was requested on the 26th May, 2023 for her to collect £100,000 I wanted to send to her, which was meant for a particular investment in the UK.
“She and her brother had also been notified on the 19th of May, 2023 that they would be visiting Nigeria shortly.
“Ryan, who knew about these, broke into her phone without her consent and stole her bank statements and sensitive information whilst she was asleep at 10am on the 28th May, 2023 in Manchester, to blackmail Alanis and use the stolen information for other purposes.
“Then he woke her up, shouted at her violently and kicked her out without her property and the passport she required to collect the money.
“This, Ryan admitted to me in writing on the 7th June, 2023 when I reached out to him after Alanis’ death.
“Ryan Leggett lied to the police in his witness statement on the 15th of August, 2023 after admitting to me and showing me evidence in writing on the 7th June, 2023 that he stole Alanis’s password and had blackmailed Alanis until she died on the 29th May, 2023.”
Ogundipe recalled that Alanis was frightened on the 28th of May, 2023 and promptly reported the psychological attack to her mother, Josephine Dillon, also known as Josephine Ogundipe, a Briton.
He stated that on the 29th of May, 2023, Leggets continued the psychological assault on Alanis in the presence of Josephine, using the information he had stolen from her phone until Alanis agreed to his demands.
He added: “Around 9pm, according to the officers who attended the scene, Ryan repeatedly rang Alanis’s phone.
“Again, according to the officers who attended Alani’s flat, Ryan repeatedly rang Josephine’s mobile number.
“That was after Alanis had told him that she was ‘going to do it’ and he had failed to stop her after failing to acknowledge the pain she cried out that she was feeling in her body.”
Ogundipe said that he told Josephine on June 29, 2023: “If I ever found out that she or any family member were obstructing the police investigation I would find it suspicious.”
He mentioned that in the course of getting justice for Alanis, “a coroner’s inquest into the cause of her death came up this month, May 9.
“This was the point where it became clear to me that it had been a conspiracy all the while.”
He stated that at the inquest, the lawyer representing his family while acting on the instruction of his wife, told the court not to allow him to present his evidence, which he was later allowed after insistence.
Ogundipe recounted: “The lawyer was also not in support of a question I planned to ask to prove that Leggetts, who was also in attendance, did not get the consent of my late daughter before breaking into her phone.
“Part of the questions included why he refused to tell the police the truth about his access to Alanis’ phone.
“I was vindicated by the outcome of the inquest.
“I have made allegations of murder and manslaughter against Ryan because he inflicted emotional and psychological injury upon Alanis from 1st August, 2022, when he allegedly infected her with a virus, until 28th May, 2023 when he broke into her phone and stole her bank statements and sensitive information to blackmail her up until the 29th May, 2023 when he continued to blackmail her until she yielded to his demands and Alanis eventually died.
“All this suggests a coordinated effort to manipulate and harm Alanis, ultimately leading to her tragic death.”
Ogundipe said he did not know that Leggetts was subjecting Alanis to psychological torture until after her death.
He felt that Alanis would have been alive today if his wife, who works with a domestic and violence organisation in the UK, had immediately reported to the police that Leggetts breached the privacy of her phone and was using contents discovered to blackmail her as confided in her by their daughter.
He said: “She didn’t go to the police to report and she also did not encourage Alanis to go to the police.
“Rather, she advised her to take an anti-depressant.
“Alanis started gambling because of Ryan, infected her and demanded repayment of loans, which were money he initially gave to her as a boyfriend.”
The distraught father, who described his daughter as caring and brilliant, added: “It has been difficult for me to continue, to move on.
“I stopped working.”
In November 2023, The PUNCH reported that the UK Police promised to review the case.
Detective Inspector Jonny Dyer of Great Manchester Police disclosed this, adding that the police were in correspondence with Alanis’s family.
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