Edmonton man pleads guilty in 2013 killing after confessing in undercover police operation

An Edmonton man has admitted to beating another man to death in a case that went unsolved for nearly a decade.

The body of 31-year-old Ivan Stamp was discovered on June 5, 2013, near the Beth Israel Synagogue in Edmonton's west end.

Stamp's death was ruled a homicide, but the case ran cold, with no arrests until December 2022, when police took Edward Robinson into custody.

Robinson, now 34, was charged with second-degree murder. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter on Tuesday in Edmonton's Court of King's Bench.

According to an agreed statement of facts read by Crown prosecutor James Rowan, Robinson first told another man in 2016 that he had killed someone, saying he "had to tell someone to get it off his chest."

The witness reported the conversation to police in 2021, telling them that Robinson was crying and asking what he should do.

"I told him to turn himself in," he said in a police interview.

"The kid was flirting with his girl and he got jealous and beat him to a pulp."

Police reopened the homicide file in 2021, and in late 2022, police targeted Robinson in an operation that the agreed facts say was "in the nature of a 'Mr. Big' scenario."

Robinson then confessed to an undercover police officer, giving specific details of the assault on Stamp. He confessed again during a police interview after his arrest.

"Mr. Big" operations are a controversial undercover police tactic that typically involves police posing as criminals in an attempt to obtain a confession from a suspect.

Details of the assault

Court heard that Robinson was 23 at the time of the killing, living in a tent in the river valley with his girlfriend and picking bottles around the Callingwood neighbourhood. He, and other homeless people in the area, would often gather and drink alcohol behind the Beth Israel Synagogue.

The agreed facts say Stamp struggled with alcohol and drugs, and was transient at the time, couch-surfing with friends and family members around west Edmonton and Enoch Cree Nation.

Robinson and his girlfriend were drinking with Stamp in late May or early June of 2013 when Robinson got jealous because Stamp was speaking to his partner, and he believed he was hitting on her.

He led the victim away, and when they were out of sight behind a shipping container, he punched Stamp, who fell to the ground unconscious.

Court heard that Robinson continued the assault, punching him in the face, then dragging him into a wooded area where he stomped on him and kicked him multiple times.

An autopsy determined that Stamp died from multiple blunt and sharp force injuries. His numerous injuries included a fractured jawbone and ribs, bleeding in his chest and abdomen and lacerations to his spleen and kidney.

The agreed facts say Robinson and his girlfriend returned the next day and found Stamp lying dead where he'd been left. Robinson wrapped his feet in newspaper and garbage bags, took Stamp's ID and threw it in the garbage a few blocks away.

Defence lawyer Rahul Nanda requested a Gladue report, which presents circumstances of an Indigenous accused's life for a judge to consider while deciding on a sentence.

A date for a sentencing hearing is expected to be set on Jan. 17.