Central Criminal Court Crown Court Sentencing Results

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.

Nazli Merthoca violently shook her three-month-old daughter, causing catastrophic brain injuries, a broken leg, and broken ribs in July 2024 at their home in East Ham, east London. The baby stopped breathing, and the parents called emergency services but Merthoca did not disclose the shaking. The victim was taken to Great Ormond Street Hospital where she died days later from brain injuries. Merthoca was under social services supervision and lost her temper due to accumulated stress, including despising social workers.

On 5 May 2023, Michael Tommy-Mbogba and three others, armed with machetes, attacked the 18-year-old victim near Dagenham Heathway station. Tommy-Mbogba stabbed the victim in the chest while he sat in a car. The victim fled but collapsed and died. CCTV evidence and a blood-stained knife matched to Tommy-Mbogba, along with fingerprints in a taxi, connected him to the murder. He was convicted at the Old Bailey.

On 5 May 2023, Toulwalase Odunewu and three others, armed with machetes, attacked the victim's 18-year-old friend near Dagenham Heathway station. Odunewu was part of the group that stabbed the victim in the chest while he sat in a car. The victim fled but collapsed and died. CCTV evidence, a blood-stained knife, and fingerprints in a taxi connected the group to the crime. Odunewu was convicted at the Old Bailey.

The victim, 21, was shot dead on April 1, 2024, in West Kensington when he opened his door on Comeragh Road. The killing was a planned and organised execution linked to a drugs dispute. Khuder Al Kurdi, 23, from Fulham Palace Road, coordinated with the group, including confirming the victim's location, after which the group changed clothes, concealed themselves, and carried out the attack.

Timothy Tinson murdered the victim, 44, in Beverley marketplace on January 4, 2024. The incident followed a verbal disagreement at a property in Lairgate on January 3, 2024, after which Tinson was asked to leave. A later confrontation in Saturday Market resulted in Tinson repeatedly applying force to the victim's head, causing life-threatening injuries. The victim was found unconscious with a serious head injury and died shortly after in hospital. Tinson and the victim knew each other through a mutual acquaintance.

On the afternoon of 13 May 2021, Muhammad Ilyas strangled his partner the victim at their home in Ilford. Police and ambulance services were called that evening and found the victim unresponsive with no visible injuries. A post-mortem examination on 26 May 2021 revealed she died from neck compression due to strangulation. CCTV footage and witness statements confirmed Ilyas' involvement. He denied responsibility, claiming natural death, but evidence proved otherwise. The couple had moved to the UK in 2019, with the victim studying English and Ilyas working on a market stall in Stratford.

On 2 April 2017, Lekan Akinsoji and Sundjata Keita, dressed in black clothes, balaclavas, and gloves, participated in a 'gang ride-out' attack using a stolen black Mercedes car. They targeted rival gang members in east London, chased the 21-year-old victim, a member of the Custom House gang, into BJ Wines off licence near Custom House station, and during a struggle, Akinsoji stabbed him in the heart. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, 426ft from his home.

On 2 April 2017, Sundjata Keita and Lekan Akinsoji, dressed in black clothes, balaclavas, and gloves, participated in a 'gang ride-out' attack using a stolen black Mercedes car. They targeted rival gang members in east London, chased the 21-year-old victim, a member of the Custom House gang, into BJ Wines off licence near Custom House station, and during a struggle, Akinsoji stabbed him in the heart while Keita assisted. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, 426ft from his home.

Fiona Beal, a 50-year-old primary school teacher from Northampton, stabbed her partner in the neck in November 2021 at their home. She concealed his body in a shallow grave at the side of the house under the pretence of isolating following a positive Covid test. Beal deceived the victim's family by pretending he had run off with another woman and sent texts from his phone. In March 2022, she travelled to a holiday lodge in Cumbria, where a journal admitting to the killing was found, leading to the discovery of the body, a bloodstained mattress, and traces of blood under fresh paint. The first trial in summer 2023 was discharged due to issues with a defence witness; the second trial began in April 2024.

Paul Proctor, aged 61, from Ramsay Avenue, Farnworth, committed the offence in the 1990s in Fife, Scotland, where he attempted to rape a young girl who was eight years old at the time. The crime was reported to police in 2020, leading to a trial. He was found guilty and sentenced for his actions, which involved attempted rape and using lewd, indecent and libidinous practices and behaviour.

Michael Wynter raped a woman while she was asleep or unconscious in Pinner between 2019 and 2021. He was arrested in December 2021 following an investigation that included evidence from communication on devices, witness statements, and a detailed statement from the victim. This offence occurred alongside his history of sexual crimes, including a prior conviction.

Evans Innocent, 45, of no fixed abode, carried out a series of premeditated, unprovoked random stabbings in Islington, London, in April 2023. He attacked a woman arriving for work shortly after 6am, striking her on the head and stabbing her repeatedly, causing four wounds to her head, neck, and left shoulder; she survived after hospital treatment. The next day, he was arrested nearby armed with four weapons, including a knife with the victim's DNA. He was linked to two other random stabbings in April 2023 despite attempts to disguise his identity with masks and gloves, via mobile phone data, Oyster cards, and CCTV.

Vladimir Motin, 59, from Russia, was on watch aboard the Solong when it collided with the US tanker Stena Immaculate off the East Yorkshire coast on 10 March 2023. He failed to maintain a proper lookout, did not use all available means to assess the risk of a collision, and left insufficient time to take action. Thirty-six people were rescued from both ships, however one crew member from the Solong — the victim, a Filipino national, 38 — was declared missing and is presumed dead.

Sheldon Rodrigues brutally murdered his housemate the victim on 30 December 2022 after discovering her new relationship. He had spent over 150 hours eavesdropping using hidden surveillance devices planted across their home, stalked her partner including paying £100 to have him followed, made violent threats from fake social media accounts, and contacted their employer demanding dismissal. On 29 December 2022, while at work, CCTV showed him listening via phone and earphones. After his shift, he attacked the victim, inflicting 20 knife wounds and 39 impact injuries. He reported her death to police but had cuts on his hands disproven as from carving chicken, shown by CCTV to be from after 29 December.

Lisa Richardson, along with Shaun Pendlebury and Ashana Studholme, dominated, tortured, and brutally beat the victim to death over an extended period. They isolated her from family and friends, controlled every aspect of her life, burned her with hot water and a flame, and left her alive in a locked cupboard before abandoning her to die alone in her home in Hanwell, Ealing. In the lead-up to her death, she was only allowed to eat sachets of ketchup. Her body was left for around 12 days before discovery by police on a neighbour's report of maggots. The defendants returned multiple times to clean up, captured on CCTV buying cleaning equipment and odour neutralisers.

Ashana Studholme, along with Shaun Pendlebury and Lisa Richardson, dominated, tortured, and brutally beat the victim to death over an extended period. They isolated her from family and friends, controlled every aspect of her life, burned her with hot water and a flame, and left her alive in a locked cupboard before abandoning her to die alone in her home in Hanwell, Ealing. In the lead-up to her death, she was only allowed to eat sachets of ketchup. Her body was left for around 12 days before discovery by police on a neighbour's report of maggots. The defendants returned multiple times to clean up, captured on CCTV buying cleaning equipment and odour neutralisers.

Shaun Pendlebury, along with Ashana Studholme and Lisa Richardson, dominated, tortured, and brutally beat the victim to death over an extended period. They isolated her from family and friends, controlled every aspect of her life, burned her with hot water and a flame, and left her alive in a locked cupboard before abandoning her to die alone in her home in Hanwell, Ealing. In the lead-up to her death, she was only allowed to eat sachets of ketchup. Her body was left for around 12 days before discovery by police on a neighbour's report of maggots. The defendants returned multiple times to clean up, captured on CCTV buying cleaning equipment and odour neutralisers.

Noel Farrell sexually abused his five children (four daughters and one son) at various addresses in County Sligo, Ireland, over two decades from 1979 to 1997. The abuse included locking them in a room for days without food, forcing them to drink urine, and committing rape, indecent assault, and sexual assault. The children were neglected, often hungry, and some were taken into care. Concerns about sexual misconduct were reported in 1989.

Apapale Adoum, a 39-year-old homeless man, met the victim, 37, at a homeless shelter on 6 February 2024. She invited him to stay at her flat in Hammersmith, west London, hoping he would provide protection from local drug dealers threatening her. On 8 February 2024, Adoum bludgeoned her to death with a mallet in a brutal and savage attack after she asked him to leave. The victim was found face down in a bedroom with a bin bag over her head on 9 February 2024 following a report of a man attempting to break in.

On December 15, 2020, Steven Allan, a 35-year-old electrician from Hook in Hampshire, who was drunk, mistakenly believed the victim had his friend's mobile phone after the victim left the Ivy Club in Soho. Allan approached the victim, grabbed for his phone, pursued him when he walked away, punched him to the ground, punched him again as he tried to get up, and delivered an upper-cut that knocked the victim unconscious. The incident lasted 12 seconds and was captured on CCTV. The victim suffered serious head injuries and died six months later. Off-duty nurses provided aid at the scene.