Central Criminal Court Crown Court Sentencing Results

Nathan Otitodilchukwu and a 16-year-old accomplice harassed the victim, a 76-year-old pensioner, by threatening to torch his home and then punching a hole in his window to push a firework inside on July 27, 2024, in Oval Road North, Dagenham. This act caused a fire that filled the house with black smoke, leading to the victim's death. The incident was preceded by ongoing harassment, including previous acts of criminal damage to his property. CCTV and doorbell footage captured the events, showing the defendants launching fireworks earlier and fleeing after the attack.

Angel Gonzalez Angulo was one of five men convicted of the murder of the victim, 21, who was fatally stabbed in Walworth on 14 April 2025. Detectives reviewed over 1,500 hours of CCTV footage during the investigation.

Bryan Villada Hernandez was one of five men convicted of the murder of the victim, 21, who was fatally stabbed in Walworth on 14 April 2025. Detectives reviewed over 1,500 hours of CCTV footage during the investigation.

Christian Batista Gonzalez was one of five men convicted of the murder of the victim, 21, who was fatally stabbed in Walworth on 14 April 2025. Detectives reviewed over 1,500 hours of CCTV footage during the investigation.

Joseph Jimenez was one of five men convicted of the murder of the victim, 21, who was fatally stabbed in Walworth on 14 April 2025. Detectives reviewed over 1,500 hours of CCTV footage during the investigation.

Zozoro Mohamed Olivier Boizo was one of five men convicted of the murder of the victim, 21, who was fatally stabbed in Walworth on 14 April 2025. Detectives reviewed over 1,500 hours of CCTV footage during the investigation.

On 2 May 2024, Caleb Wallace, along with Hayat Umar and Joshua Amoaka, jumped from a vehicle and chased an 18-year-old victim who was cycling along Whalebone Lane South in Dagenham. Wallace stabbed the victim with a machete after the victim fell from his bike following a collision with a passer-by. The attack was captured on CCTV in broad daylight in full view of witnesses. The victim required multiple surgeries and extensive recovery time for severe injuries. Wallace was arrested on 10 May 2024 in Kent, where the machete was found.

On 2 May 2024, Hayat Umar, along with Caleb Wallace and Joshua Amoaka, jumped from a vehicle and chased an 18-year-old victim who was cycling along Whalebone Lane South in Dagenham. Umar fired a sawn-off shotgun at point-blank range into the victim's back after the victim fell from his bike following a collision with a passer-by. The attack was captured on CCTV in broad daylight in full view of witnesses. The victim required multiple surgeries and extensive recovery time for severe injuries. Umar was arrested on 10 May 2024 in Kent.

Kyle Kitchen assaulted his eight-week-old daughter the victim by hitting and vigorously shaking her in November 2014, causing serious brain injuries and a fractured skull that left her disabled and requiring 24/7 care. The victim was placed in the care of her maternal grandmother but died in May 2021 from aspiration pneumonia resulting from the profound neurological, postural, and developmental disabilities caused by the traumatic head injury. Kitchen was subsequently charged with and convicted of her murder.

Abdul Khan was sentenced after two violent assaults in Harrow. On 20 August 2022 he attacked a man, punching him to the ground and repeatedly stamping on him until he was unconscious. On 8 July 2023 police were called to Pinner Road in North Harrow, where they found a man with stab wounds; despite medical treatment he died. A post-mortem examination confirmed the victim died from multiple stab wounds to the chest and neck. CCTV showed Khan disposing of the weapon and walking away from the victim's home, and he was arrested and charged within 24 hours.

Nathan Tokosi, also known as rapper DigDat, carried out a premeditated drive-by shooting on 20 November 2023 in Notting Hill, west London. He fired multiple shots at the 27-year-old victim through an open car window using a self-loading pistol from a stolen Audi, hitting the victim six times in the head, mouth, and body. The victim required two lifesaving surgeries after being found severely injured in his flat. CCTV showed Tokosi driving around the area in the stolen car in the days and hours before the attack. The Audi and firearm were dumped after the incident.

Omar Wilson attacked the victim in a late-night assault in central London on 26 August 2024, causing a severe head injury; the victim died four days later in hospital. Wilson fled but left behind sunglasses, house keys and car keys. DNA from the sunglasses linked him to the scene, and CCTV showed him travelling to a nightclub around 90 minutes after the attack. Phone records placed him in the area at the time. He was arrested on 28 August 2024 and later found guilty by a jury.

Ben Laing, a 24-year-old from Feltham, acted as the getaway driver for Dualla Abdi in the fatal stabbing of the victim, 24, in Hounslow, west London, shortly before 1am on January 16, 2024. The attack stemmed from drug dealing rivalry, with the victim on rival territory. Laing drove Abdi to the scene, stood beside him as Abdi stabbed the victim in the chest, then sped off in the car, leaving the victim to die. Evidence from CCTV, mobile phone data, and GPS on the hire car linked them. They fled to Morocco but were arrested at Stansted Airport on January 19, 2024, upon return.

Dualla Abdi, a 21-year-old drug dealer from Acton, fatally stabbed the victim, 24, in the chest in Hounslow, west London, shortly before 1am on January 16, 2024. The attack was linked to drug dealing rivalry, with the victim operating on rival territory. Abdi and his accomplice drove up beside the victim, exited the car, and Abdi delivered the fatal blow while Laing stood beside him. They then fled in the car, with Laing driving. Abdi disposed of his clothes but kept his distinctive Louis Vuitton manbag, which helped identify him via CCTV, mobile phone data, and GPS tracker on the hire car. The pair fled to Morocco but were arrested at Stansted Airport on January 19, 2024, upon return to the UK.

Steven Sansom and Gemma Watts murdered the victim in March 2024 at Sansom’s flat in London to satisfy their shared sexual and sadistic fantasy. They lured her to the flat, killed her in horrific circumstances, dismembered her body, and disposed of the parts in various locations to conceal the crime. Evidence included extensive messages, voice notes, CCTV footage, and signs of a cleanup operation.

Steven Sansom and Gemma Watts murdered the victim in March 2024 at Sansom’s flat in London to satisfy their shared sexual and sadistic fantasy. They lured her to the flat, killed her in horrific circumstances, dismembered her body, and disposed of the parts in various locations to conceal the crime. Evidence included extensive messages, voice notes, CCTV footage, and signs of a cleanup operation.

Deveca Rose left her four young sons—twins aged 4, and twins aged 3—unattended in their home to go shopping. The house was in poor condition, and a discarded cigarette or tea-light candle in the front room started a fire. The boys were unable to escape the locked property and died in the blaze. Following an extensive police investigation, it was determined that Rose had lied about leaving the children with a carer named “Jade”, who did not exist.

Zak Baako was part of a group of men who arrived at Mayfield Crescent in Thornton Heath in a white BMW and waited for around 30 minutes. When the victim and a witness arrived in a Vauxhall Grandland on 19 December 2023, the victim was confronted by a man holding a large knife, stabbed multiple times including in the chest, and pronounced dead at the scene. The group also committed robbery by threatening the witness with a knife, forcing the witness out of the car, and stealing it. DNA from cigarette butts at the scene matched Baako.

Dajour Jones, 27, murdered the 20-year-old victim in an Upper Norwood hostel last year using a knife.

Joshua Michals, a 26-year-old American student at Goldsmiths, University of London, murdered his 31-year-old sexual partner the victim by stabbing her twice in the face with a kitchen knife and compressing her neck at her flat in Manor Park, Lewisham, south-east London, on March 20, 2024. The couple had an on-and-off casual relationship starting in 2023 after meeting on campus. The victim, who was germophobic, became stressed after sex, believing she had contracted an STD and demanding Michals get tested. Michals arrived at her flat with a charcuterie selection but claimed she attacked him with a knife after he exited the bathroom. He admitted using the knife to push her away and pressing his forearm to her neck to restrain her, but the judge found he acted in rage with severe force. Post-mortem confirmed death from stab wounds to the head and neck compression. After the incident, Michals called his father for solicitor details, hid the victim's phone in a bin, and then called 999 from his flat.

On Sunday, 4 February 2024, police and ambulance crews responded to a stabbing in Enfield and found a 37-year-old man with serious knife wounds. Despite efforts by paramedics and hospital staff, the victim died that afternoon. Kozma Papa was arrested the same day in Hertfordshire after police stopped a vehicle, and was charged with murder the next day. At the Central Criminal Court he pleaded guilty to murder and possession of a blade and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 20 years, plus a concurrent nine-month term for carrying a bladed article.

On December 31, 2023, at a New Year's Eve fireworks event on Primrose Hill, north London, the 16-year-old victim accidentally bumped into another boy while playfighting, sparking a fight. Areece Lloyd-Hall, then 16, pulled a knife from his waistband and stabbed the victim in the neck as he swung a punch, witnessed by police and revellers. The victim collapsed and died shortly before midnight. The knife scabbard with Lloyd-Hall's DNA was left at the scene. He surrendered to police on January 4, 2024, claiming he only hit with the sheath.

Francie McCarthy, 22, stabbed the 16-year-old victim in the neck and chest in Islington, north London, in October 2023. McCarthy was a drug dealer and habitual knife carrier in the area to collect a drug debt when his path crossed with the victim, who was riding a stolen moped with false plates. McCarthy claimed self-defence, believing he was going to be robbed. The victim crashed into a lamppost after being stabbed and died. The pair were linked with rival gangs.