Michael Polding

Michael Polding was a 63-year-old man from Brighton, originally from Scotland whose life was tragically taken in July 2012.

He was found dead at his home in Kemp Town after having not been seen for several weeks.

His badly decomposed body was discovered by police on 16 July 2012, nearly two months after he had died in May from blunt-force trauma to the chest, with multiple injuries including all his ribs broken. 

Ricardo Pisano (also known as Ricky or Brandon Victor Pillay), a 36-year-old South African man and self-confessed male prostitute whom Polding had met years earlier, lived with him and presented himself as his carer.

Pisano was arrested in Southampton in May 2013 after an international manhunt. In December 2013 at Lewes Crown Court, he was convicted of manslaughter and causing actual bodily harm (but cleared of murder), as well as preventing the lawful burial of a body. He was sentenced to 18-and-a-half years in prison.

Rest in peace Michael. You will not be forgotten.