Little is known of Edward Johnston, the man who allegedly stabbed his ex-partner, to death in the early hours of but videos posted on his social media profiles give a glimpse into his life and thoughts in the weeks leading up to the tragic events. Videos posted to Johnston’s YouTube channel portray him as an enigmatic figure, leading a spartan life in a modest two-bedroom St Julian’s apartment (“a luxury apartment in a prime location,” he says), while boasting about buying a Jaguar, a Rolex watch and a yacht. Several day-in-the-life videos posted by Johnston – who adopted the name Edwardo Sambora for his online persona – show him waking up to cook himself a breakfast of fried eggs, before settling down for a day’s work in his “office”, a bare desk and plastic picnic chair in his apartment’s second bedroom.
This is from where he would run the Sambora Trading Academy, an online academy for prospective traders. Students would reportedly pay hundreds of euros to learn Johnston’s trading tricks and hear him “deliver analysis on futures and stock trading on the London and New York stock exchanges”. Johnston claimed to have as many as 600 students in his academy but its online presence is as inscrutable as Johnston himself.
The academy’s website is no longer online and there is no sign of it ever having any formal recognition of any sort. Prospective students were directed to write to Johnston’s Yahoo e-mail address to sign up for the course. In any cas.