Photo:Metropolitan Police
Police have released an artist’s impression in a bid to identify a man whose body was discovered in the River Lea.
A member of the public discovered the body in the river, near the Bow Bridge, last December. The man has still not been identified and police hope the artist’s impression and an image of his T-shirt will help establish who he was. (more…)
Photo: Metropolitan Police CCTV images
Police have released CCTV images of potential witnesses to the murder of a Stoke Newington teenager. (more…)
Police have issued a new appeal for witnesses and information in the hunt for the killer of a man who was murdered in South Norwood on Valentine’s Day.
Mark Corcoran, 26, died at Subitha Food and Wine shop on Whitehorse Lane, near Crystal Palace FC ground, Selhurst Park.
It is believed Mr. Corcoran, from Croydon, was stabbed within 100 yards of the shop at about 8.20pm before staggering there for help. Emergency services were called but Mr. Corcoran was pronounced dead at the scene.
The murder investigation is headed by Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons, from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command in Lewisham.
DCI Lyons said: “We know that Mr. Corcoran attended a wedding on Valentine’s Day and we are appealing for anyone who has knowledge of his attendance at this wedding or his movements throughout the day to come forward.
“We would also like to hear from anyone who was in the area of the Crystal Palace football ground, particularly after 7.30pm, who may have seen or heard anything.”
At this stage the police are keeping an open mind regarding any motive for the assault.
Initial enquiries led to the arrest of a man in his forties two days after the killing. He has been released on police bail until mid-March.
Three potential witnesses who are visible in CCTV footage from the shop have also been traced after an appeal last week.
Anyone with information should call police on 020 8721 4961, or can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
Kobina Essel, convicted for Matalan murder
A teenager has been found guilty at the Old Bailey of murdering the manager of a Matalan store in Dalston.
Kobina Essel, 19, stabbed store manager Jamie Simpson at the shop in March 2008 during a failed robbery with six other men.
Essel admitted stabbing his victim in the neck but claimed he reacted out of ‘panic’ after Mr Simpson, 33, grabbed him as he tried to prevent the crime.
Three other men were found guilty of manslaughter in connection with Mr. Simpson’s murder: Anthony Maina, 20, Randy Osei-Owusu, 17, and Simeon Jumah, 25.
Maina, who played a critical role in the robbery was on bail for murder at the time of the killing. Five months earlier he had stabbed an A-level student to death for a mobile phone.
Essel and his fellow gang members lay in wait for Mr Simpson at the end of the day with the intention of stealing the shop’s weekend takings of an estimated £20,000 to £30,000.
Last week, the other gang members, Roy Williams, 31 and Jamal Chambers, 18, were convicted of conspiracy to rob along with Duane Owusu, 20, their getaway driver.
Investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire of the Homicide and Serious Crime Command of the Metropolitan Police, said: “Today, following a long and complex investigation, seven defendants have been convicted.”
She continued: “Jamie was a good man who was simply going about his job as a store manager at Matalan, Hackney when he was fatally stabbed. He lost his life because the defendants, who each played their various parts, had devised a plan to steal the store’s takings.”
All seven men have been remanded in custody and will be sentenced next month.
Mr Simpson’s mother, Lorna Simpson, said: “For anyone who takes the life of another person, then all I can say is that they are scum.”
She added: “If you are killed on a battlefield it is a different thing, but when you are going to work and you are doing your job you don’t expect to be killed. For those who are already in the knife culture or the gang culture the justice system has to lead to a stronger deterrent.”
Classical music is not normally associated with street demonstrations over miscarriages of justice. But campaigners are planning a special ‘dignified’ concert to highlight the case of a young Hoxton man they claim was unfairly convicted of murder.
The open-air classical performance will take place this Friday outside the Ministry of Justice offices in central London.. It is designed to bring pressure on officials to re-open the case of 22-year old Sam Hallam, from the Arden Estate in Hoxton, who is serving a life sentence for a 2004 murder in Shoreditch
The case is currently the subject of an inquiry by the Criminal Cases Review Commission who are studying new evidence which could lead the case being referred back to the Court of Appeal for a second time.
The organiser of the protest, Tom Ogg said: “We want to attract attention to Sam’s case, and put pressure on the authorities to help. We just hope the Criminal Cases Review Commission will swiftly complete investigating his case, refer it to the Court of Appeal, and for Sam to be freed soon.”
Mr Ogg said he musicians will be playing pieces by Beethoven and Messiaen and aiming for a “dignified protest’. He said: ‘Classical music is principled, refined and beautiful. You would not normally see classical musicians playing in the street without a very good reason. We chose classical music because it makes a point. When people see the orchestra playing outside the concrete of the Ministry of Justice, they will think something is not right here.”
Hallam, who was just 18 when he was arrested in October 2004 for the killing 21-year-old trainee chef Essayas Kassahun. The chef died after being injured in an altercation with a gang of youths armed with spiked baseball bats and knives in Old Street in Shoreditch..
Hallam, a jobbing kitchen fitter who had planned a future in the army, had no previous criminal record and denied being at the murder scene. Although he was not originally named as being at the scene, two of the original witnesses subsequently revised their evidence, naming him as part of the gang that attacked Kassahun – testimony hotly disputed by those who protest Hallam’s innocence. However, his alibi witness declined to give evidence on his behalf and he was convicted, along with another youth, at a trial in September 2005. Six others were cleared.
In 2007, the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal. Although the judges accepted inconsistencies in the evidence of one of the two witnesses, they said there was enough evidence from the second to support the conviction.
Since then, over a dozen witnesses have stepped forward since signing statements saying he was not at the crime scene, but playing football half a mile away. The fresh evidence was submitted to the CCRC early in 2008 and in September that year announced that it was formally reviewing the case.
A spokesman for the CCRC said: “It is not possible to say exactly how long it might be before our investigations will be complete but we can confirm that the CCRC is actively investigating an application from Sam Hallam.”
But Mr Ogg says that this is insufficient. “Two years in jail for a crime you didn’t commit is a long time to wait, due to underfunding. The protest on February 19th occurs on the second anniversary of submitting our evidence to the CCRC.”
He continued: “We want to put pressure on the Ministry of Justice and the CCRC to put more effort into investigating Sam’s case, and to make sure the CCRC is properly funded, so that cases like Sam’s are investigated in a reasonable amount of time.”
As for Sam’s reaction to the concert, Mr Ogg said: “He is keen for us to do anything to help his case get attention.”
Scamnesty bin to collect scam mails. Photo: Xiaming
The Office of Fair Trading is joining forces with Croydon Council this month to help fight fraudsters.
‘Scamnesty 2010′ calls (more…)
Domestic abuse victims are being encouraged to speak out this Valentine's. Photo: Tower Hamlets council.
Kisses, flowers and chocolates abound on Valentine’s Day, but for some the occasion is far bleaker.
Tower Hamlet’s (more…)
Murdered Adam Pervaiz had planned to become a firefighter. Photo: Metropolitan Police
The murderer of a teenager who bled to death in a Deptford stairwell after being stabbed was found guilty at the Old Bailey last Friday.
Ahmed Mire, 20, from Catford, fled to Dubai after fatally stabbing 18-year-old Adam Pervaiz in the leg. Police arrested him as he returned to Britain at Heathrow Airport. (more…)
Young people at the centre take part in 'Critical Encounters' programme. Photo: Second Wave
It’s not often that you would find a policeman in casual clothes being ordered to turn out his pockets by a black teenage boy dressed in a hoodie and baggy jeans – and rarer still to see the policeman meekly complying. But at Sedgehill school in Lewisham such scenes are soon to be a regular event.
Stop and Search tactics aim to get knives off the street, but are they working? Photo: Ch@n
Stop and search in Tower Hamlets and Hackney appears to be working, despite claims by a leading criminologist that it has no positive impact on knife crime.
Marian FitzGerald, visiting professor of criminology at Kent Crime and Justice centre, analysed new Metropolitan Police figures and found no link between stop and search and a reduction in knife crime.
