Summer solstice murder suspect charged with assaults at stone circle

A 23-year-old Polish national accused of murdering a 26-year-old man at a summer solstice event faces two further charges of assault at a Bronze Age stone circle.

Szymon Babynko is accused of killing Isaac Clare-Watts, whose body was discovered at the Nine Ladies Stone Circle in the Peak District in Derbyshire at approximately 1.38pm on 22 June.

Babynko, formerly of Commonwealth Way, London, is also accused of attempted murder in relation to an incident in Hady Lane, Chesterfield, on 25 June.

Derbyshire Police said Babynko appeared at Chesterfield Magistrates' Court on Tuesday charged with two counts of assault alleged to have occurred in the area of the stone circle on 23 June.

He denied both charges, the force said.

Babynko is due to appear at Derby Crown Court on 18 December. He has been told he will face trial in March of next year.

An inquest opening was previously told Mr Clare-Watts, who was a carpenter from Carrington in Nottingham, died in a grassland area near the early Bronze Age stone circle.

According to English Heritage, Nine Ladies Stone Circle is “traditionally believed to depict nine ladies turned to stone as a penalty for dancing on Sunday”.