London's 'most persistent robbers' stole £1m cash and gems from wealthy women - including designer Nicole Farhi

The serial mugger who targeted fashion designer Nicole Farhi and a host of other wealthy women stole up to £1m in cash and jewellery.

Daniel Mykoo, 29, admitted 84 robberies of lone women in the plush London suburbs of Hampstead and Chelsea, in a bid to feed his £12,000 a month crack habit.

He was often aided by his brother Matthew - and the pair, who are originally from the French Caribbean, were today described as 'the most persistent robbers in London in recent memory'.

In an impact statement read to Wood Green Court today, Fiona Lindblom described how she was violently sick for three days after being attacked on the doorstep of her West London home.

BBC news reporter Sangita Myska was also attacked outside her home in Belsize park, and said she feared she would be 'seriously sexually assaulted'.

When one of her rings would not come off, one of the men said: 'Take the finger off then.' She said she felt her neck being twisted so hard, she thought it was broken.

'More than taking my wedding and engagement ring, they took my confidence,' Mrs Myska said. 'To this day, I can't stand men walking behind me.'

While Daniel grabbed victims from behind and held their throat - a technique he called 'the sleep hold' - Matthew would then remove earrings, necklaces and watches.

Police said Daniel could have killed any one of their victims - and had left several unconscious.

Matthew, of Brent, was convicted of seven robberies, having previously admitted two. He was cleared of two, including the one of Farhi. continues here

GANG WAR FEAR AS QUANGO FUNDS HATE FILM

AN ASTONISHING £380,000 of public money has been used to bankroll a violent new film that threatens to start a fresh gang war.

Bev Thomas, whose daughter Charlene Ellis, 17, and friend Letisha Shakespeare, 18, were murdered at a Birmingham hair salon six years ago, said she was “horrified” at the November release of 1 Day, a hip hop gangster movie filmed in the city that claimed their lives.

The film, bankrolled by Channel 4 and quango cash, is based on the notorious Johnson Crew and Burger Bar Boys, the gangs responsible for the 2003 New Year’s shootings.

To the outrage of victims’ families, former gang members helped with the storyline—and then paid to star in the movie.

Ms Thomas said: “If the film people talked to these gangs to get their advice, why didn’t they come and talk to the loved ones of victims? Families have been ignored.”

She and fellow anti-gun campaigners fear the hip hop film could act as a gang-recruiting tool and unleash renewed bloodshed.

They are afraid thugs could even battle it out at cinemas in a sick show of bravado.

It would undermine all progress made calming tensions since 2003, they warn.

The £380,000 investment was made by Screen West Midlands, a Birmingham-based quango which doles out Lottery money.

Tory MP David Davies, a member of the Home Affairs select committee, said: “People who buy Lottery tickets will be sickened to learn that their money has been handed against the wishes of grieving families to gun-toting gangsters rather than to worthy causes.”

Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne said: “The use of public lottery funds to pay gang members to appear in a film is a terrible mistake, and I sympathise with the victims who will be sickened by this whole episode.”

Shot on the streets of Birmingham’s inner city Handsworth, a district dominated by the Burger Bar Boys, filmmakers insist 1 Day is a realistic portrayal of the dangers of gang membership.

Internet trailers show armed mobsters and children marching to deafening gangster music launching into beatings and drive-by shootings.

Director Penny Woolcock spent months talking to former gang members to understand their mindsets.
She then rewarded them with parts in the film.

Screen West Midlands said the project had “local support” and offered “an insight into the challenges faced by young people growing up in tough conditions”.

However, anti-gang campaigners last night expressed disgust.

Ms Thomas, who with Letisha’s mother Marcia set up the New Year Shooting Memorial Trust to ward teenagers away from gang life, said the film had re-opened old wounds.

Her daughter Charlene and Letisha were the innocent victims of the January 2003 drive-by when the Burger Bar Boys opened fire at a late night party at the Uniseven hair salon.

Their target was a Johnson Crew member, but they killed the two young girls instead.

Four men, including Charlene’s half-brother Marcus Ellis, were convicted of their murder in 2005.

Last night, Ms Thomas said: “All that happened in 2003 has been brought back. I find the thought of this film horrifying and I’m disgusted by it.

“We’re trying to get young people off the streets, not glorify what these gangs do by making them into a film.

“Paying people who were in the gangs that killed my daughter is horrific. That money should have gone to community centres here, on after-school clubs and on educating children about gangs.”

The film’s plot centres on Flash, a gangster given 24 hours to find all the £500,000 he had been entrusted with by Angel, a mob boss about to be released from prison.

The film has been backed by some community leaders, but Cllr Keith Barton, who chairs Birmingham City Council’s gang reduction taskforce, said: “The idea that a gangster would leave £500,000 stuffed under some mattress is just not credible. continues here

Pictured: The terrifying moment when a would-be rapist dragged his victim off the street

Gripping his intended victim so she has no chance of escape, a would-be rapist forces the woman off the street with terrifying strength.

The 18-year-old had been out with friends when she was seized by the powerfully built man and dragged along 'like an animal'.

She was pulled into a side street and forced to the ground - but thankfully a passer-by heard her cries and came to the rescue.

Her attacker, schizophrenic Samson Bello, 23, committed two other sex attacks on women within hours of this.



The Nigerian-born predator, who came to Britain ten years ago, was sentenced this week at Southwark Crown Court in London. He will be detained indefinitely under the Mental Health Act.

He pleaded guilty to four charges - three attempted rapes and one count of kidnapping with intent to commit a sexual offence.

The harrowing images of the attack, which took place near King's Cross in Central London, were released yesterday as it emerged that detectives tracked Bello to his home using CCTV.

Yard chiefs say the case proves the value of surveillance cameras.

The court heard Bello pounced on his first victim on March 29 and attacked another three - including this woman - two days later.

He lurked in darkened alleys waiting for them to approach.



Bello, who has a history of mental illness, launched his first attack on a 16-year-old girl in Marylebone High Street at 3.30am on March 29.

The victim said she was grabbed by Bello who told her: 'Come with me. If you scream then I’ll hurt you.'

She was pulled into an alleyway and assaulted before a passer-by intervened. Two days later Bello went on the rampage attacking three women in three hours.

A 24-year-old woman was attacked in the Prince of Wales Passage off Hampstead Road at 12.30am.

The Spanish woman fought back and the attack was interrupted by a passer-by.



As they walked past, he grabbed them, dragged them into the shadows, threw them to the ground and did his best to tear off their clothes.

Their screams and the intervention of passers-by forced him to flee on three occasions, while the last victim he attacked put up such a determined fight he gave up.

Apart from severe psychological trauma, all escaped with bruises and abrasions.

Police examined hours of CCTV street and bus footage and eventually tracked the defendant to Hackney, East London, where he lived.

They then 'flooded' the area with officers and days later spotted him yards from his home.

Unemployed Bello pleaded guilty to attempting to rape a 16-year-old girl as well as carbon copy offences against a 24-year- old Spanish tourist and the 18-year-old student in Islington two days later.

He also pleaded guilty to kidnapping another student, 20, 'with intent to commit a serious sexual offence'. continues here

EDITOR'S Comment: You see the truth of the matter is that successive governments are almost as much to blame as the perpetrators, were it not for their insistence upon flooding this country with all and sundry then many victims would not have been created. Negroes have a high incidence of schizophrenia and similar mental illness and it is no lie to state that as such they present an absolute risk to the public at large. Yet we permit the influx of tens of thousands per year and little is done to check background and in many cases a background check is impossible, under a true nationalist government repatriation would be introduced and non-whites would be returned to their ancestral homeland, making the streets safer for all.

Man arrested after Ministry of Sound death

A man has been arrested in hospital after a reveller was murdered near the famous Ministry of Sound nightclub.

the south London venue in the early hours of Bank Holiday Monday.

A post-mortem examination found he died from head injuries believed to be caused by a collision with a vehicle, Scotland Yard said.

A second man, 29, was taken to a south London hospital after suffering a gunshot wound to the shoulder outside the club.

He has been arrested in connection with the incident but remains in hospital.

Police said his condition was not thought to be serious. continues here

Police action targets teen muggers

A POLICE operation targeting robbery hotspots has slashed muggings of young people by 100 per cent, officers said.

Patrols including stop and search on the Rye, Desborough Road, Eden and a skate park saw robberies fall to zero from 177 last year, they said. Police chose to launch the six-week operation after attacks by mostly Asian and afro-Caribbean gangs on white teenagers last summer, police said.

This was among 12 to 19-year-olds. Operation Gauntlet will run to the end of the school holidays.

Police chose to launch the six-week operation after attacks by mostly Asian and afro-Caribbean gangs on white teenagers last summer, police said.

DC Paul Bowen said: “Officers would still stop large groups regardless of ethnicity but they would have at the back of their mind that the robberies are committed by this group of ethnic minorities.”

About 80 per cent of last year’s robberies were committed by gangs of Asian and afro-Caribbean people, he said.

Of last year’s attacks, 44 included the showing or threat of a knife.

Some 73 were stopped and searched this year. This led to five arrests on drugs charges.

He said: “It is unusual to see so many people involved in a robbery.”

Officers also visited schools before pupils broke up for the summer to mark property so it can be returned to its owner if recovered.

Yet DC Bowen said the operation was not needed all year round as the robberies were common to the summer months. continues here

Man stabbed after answering fake ad

A man almost died after being attacked on his way to buy a car offered for sale in a fake advert on the Gumtree listings website.

The 42-year-old was beaten and stabbed in North Street, Barking, east London, at 3.50pm on July 30, after being lured to the area by the advert for a Volkswagen Golf.

Witnesses saw two men, described as black and believed to be in their 20s, punch, kick and finally stab the victim as they tried to wrestle a bag with around £5,000 in it from him.

He was treated at the scene by air ambulance personnel before being transferred to the Royal London Hospital where he had life-saving surgery.

Detective Chief Inspector Ellie O'Connor, Barking CID, said: "This was a brutal attack on an innocent man who was responding to an online advertisement in good faith.

"We are appealing for anyone who witnessed this attack or who knows anything about it to come forward."

She warned people replying to internet classified adverts to follow certain rules to stay safe.

She said: "Do not go to the meeting point alone, do not carry large amounts of cash on your person, make sure that you meet in a busy area and never allow yourself to be lured away from a safe meeting place."continues here

Police officer 'attacked by 40-strong mob after he told teenage girl to pick up burger wrapper'

A policeman told yesterday how he was attacked by a mob after asking a schoolgirl to pick up a burger wrapper.

PC Anthony Smith was surrounded by up to 40 people after confronting the teenager in a shopping precinct.

The officer was grabbed by the throat from behind and pulled to the ground before being kicked and stamped on, a court was told.

While PC Smith was targeted by the crowd, one of the girl's female friends grappled with his colleague, PC Perry Lathwood, repeatedly punching him in the face.

The 15-year- old friend then jumped on PC Lathwood's back and bit his shoulder, inflicting a wound through his protective vest, Croydon Crown Court heard.

The girl, who cannot be named because of her age, and two men went on trial yesterday accused of violent disorder. They deny the offence. Prosecutor Martin Goudie said the two officers confronted a group of up to six girls on a bench outside Burger King in the busy North End shopping area of Croydon, South London, shortly after 3pm on July 16 last year.

They asked one of them to pick up a paper wrapper which had been dropped on the ground in front of them.

She did so, the court heard, but as they walked away it was thrown on the ground again and the officers threatened her with a fixed penalty notice.

Mr Goudie said the officers tried to move the girl away from the group but the 15-year- old, on whose lap she was sitting, held her back.

He said: 'Her intervention led to the officers to try and arrest her and as they did she became louder and more violent.

'It was a busy time of the afternoon-and a large crowd gathered. Many of them became involved in an aggressive manner, which included assaulting the officers.

'The officers were so concerned by the actions of the crowd that they pressed the emergency alert buttons on their radios and summoned help.'

In court PC Smith relived the terrifying incident, saying: 'Perry
shouted out she had bitten him. I went over to try and arrest her and took hold of her arms.

'Her arms were swinging wildly in front of me. At this point I was held from behind and I felt some people were kicking me on the back and stamping on me.

'I felt arms around my throat, I was dragged to the ground. I could not see anything. I had someone's arm around my throat and I was trying to get out of their grip.

'In a matter of seconds a bigger crowd had built up. It felt like someone a lot bigger. It was a member of the public, not one of her friends.

'There was a group of people. Once I was on the ground all I could see was the feet of people trying to stamp on me. I was trying to protect myself as best I could.

'Luckily I managed to get back to my feet. I had lost my cap and my radio but I had not drawn my baton or my CS gas.

'The first thing I tried to do was locate PC Lathwood - we had been separated.'

PC Smith suffered bruising to his knee and head as well as cuts to his hands, the court was told.

PC Lathwood suffered a bite to his shoulder as well as bruising to his head, arms and legs.

Witnesses told police that the 15-year-old girl tried to strangle the officer and he hit her across the back of her legs with his baton. She was only subdued and handcuffed after he sprayed CS gas in her face.

The prosecutor said the two accused men, Wayne Elliston, 34, and Harold Hill, 38, both from Croydon, admit being at the scene.

They were arrested the next day after making a complaint at Croydon police station about the behaviour of the two officers.

Elliston admitted talking to the officers and Hill claimed to have been trying to control the teenage girl, the court heard. Both deny any violence.

The attack was witnessed by a large number of shoppers and employees at nearby stores. continues here

Mob attack obviously about race

Where's Jesse Jackson?

Where's Larry King?

Where are the protesters, the signs, the chants?

Where are the calls for the police chief's head?

Where is the righteous indignation erupting from an entire segment of the community?

Sure, Al Sharpton commented through a regional spokesman, but why isn't he here, demanding that the whole world pay attention?

Imagine what would be going on in Akron right now if a mob of 30 to 50 whites had launched a vicious, unprovoked attack on a defenseless family of blacks in a residential neighborhood in Firestone Park, chanting about white supremacy.

But the skin colors were reversed. The ugly mob that jumped four adults and two children June 27 consisted of black people, and they were attacking white people.

Fifteen years after the Akron Beacon Journal won a Pulitzer Prize for its yearlong study of race relations, this city and this nation still have a double standard — in media coverage, in law enforcement and in outrage.

''This is our world,'' the attackers yelled. ''This is a black world.''

Yet the Akron Police Department still won't call this a hate crime. Now let's see . . . 30 to 50 people, all of whom are black, attacking six other people, all of whom are white, while proclaiming black supremacy. If that's not a hate crime, what is?

Some have speculated the attack was gang-related. So what? If a black gang's initiation rite requires attacking whites, does that make it any less of a hate crime?

Granted, the city has asked for help from the FBI, and only the FBI can charge someone with violating federal civil-rights laws. But as the FBI's Web site says, ''A hate crime is not a distinct federal offense. [The FBI's efforts] serve as a backstop for state and local authorities, which handle the vast majority of hate-crime cases.''

No reasonable person can look at this incident and see anything other than a hate crime.

Not that I'm a huge fan of hate-crime laws. If somebody sucker-punches me because he doesn't like the way I walk or the way I comb my hair, am I supposed to feel better about it than if he had punched me because of my skin color?

Giving special treatment and harsher penalties to race-based attacks only reinforces our differences.

But the real point — which should be self-evident, but isn't — is this: Black people attacking white people for no particular reason is not one iota better than white people attacking black people for no particular reason. The level of attention and outrage should be absolutely equal. And until we fully embrace that concept, our sorry, seemingly endless race problem will never abate. continues here

Mallet-wielding mugging gang jailed over five-month crime spree that claimed 56 victims

A vicious gang of teenage street robbers who targeted young professionals were last night jailed for a total of 32 years.

The eight young thugs armed themselves with mallets and hunted for victims like a 'pack of wild dogs' in a chilling five-month crime spree.

Calling themselves G-Block - a reference to the South London street in which several of them lived - they are thought to have been responsible for more than 100 violent muggings.



One of the gang was just 13 at the time of the attacks.

Gang members cockily posed for photos wearing their 'robbing gear' of scarves and balaclavas, and used street slang to brag about their crimes on the internet.

They called their crimes 'eats' and disguised themselves in masks from the horror film Scream on Hallowe'en.

Brandishing mallets, knives and metal rods, the violent teenagers pounced on their unsuspecting victims under cover of darkness.

They would split up to surround their target before attacking with 'extreme violence' - sometimes coming away with nothing more than a mobile phone.

One woman feared she would die after she was pushed to the ground and the gang's then 17-year- old ringleader, who cannot be named for legal reasons, stamped his foot on her neck and chest before stealing her bag.

Another woman was hit 30 times in the face with a mallet and a further victim was left with a bruise in the shape of a footprint on her face.

Sentencing the gang members at Kingston Crown Court yesterday Judge Nicholas Price QC said they had 'gloried in notoriety'.

He added: 'You all hunted like a pack of wild dogs intent on seeking out your prey and treating them without mercy.

'A very disturbing factor is that as time went by, the attacks grew even more vicious. It appeared you derived more pleasure from gratuitous violence than from the robberies themselves.

'For the time you were engaged in such behaviour, south-west London - in particular Wandsworth, Balham and Tooting - became unsafe for law-abiding citizens to walk the streets without a real danger of being attacked.'

One detective on the case said the gang had egged each other on.

'It started off with one person recruiting people he knew who lived nearby,' he said.

'Their initial attraction was the easy cash - iPods, mobile phones and things they couldn't readily afford themselves.

'Very quickly it turned into a power trip where they liked controlling adults and beating them up. The vast majority of the victims were professional victims in their 30s.'

Police believe the teenagers were responsible for at least 113 robberies, starting in the summer of 2007.

In the first attack, on July 18 that year, Carolyn Doughty and Quinton Newell were confronted by the gang as they walked home from a night out.

The pair were separated from each other before the ringleader attacked Miss Doughty, who was unable to breathe as he stamped on her neck.

After another attack which left a female student needing hospital treatment, the ringleader boasted on internet messaging service MSN that he 'almost killd da woman 4 nothing'.



He added: 'I stamped her face out an bust her head open coz she was getting me mad.'

Describing how she resisted he added: 'She said why, so boi she had it comin 2 her... blud she got me so vex I wernt showin any mercy.'

Just three days before the gang were arrested, the teenager wrote about his lack of concern that the police would catch him.

He said: '**** it im still gonna eats (rob) its jus now im gonna **** the person up so dey cnt even describe wat we look like or even know der location.'

The gang revelled in being told that robbery had risen 15 per cent in the area where they lived.

They were finally caught after targeting Alex and Caroline De Groote on Wandsworth Common.

After robbing the couple, one gang member turned, made a gun shape with his fingers and said 'bang, bang'.

Despite the threat, the couple called police and were able to point out some of their attackers, who were still in the area.

When police arrested the thugs they found an array of stolen property in their homes.

Text messages, MSN messages and postings on social networking sites were all used as evidence against them, along with photographs gang members had taken.

Six of the gang admitted conspiracy to rob - including the 18-year-old ringleader, who was sentenced to seven years in a young offenders' institution.

Akheem Gray, 16, of Tulse Hill, south London, was sentenced to four years, while his brother Ameel Gray, 15, of nearby Streatham, was given three and a half years.

The eldest member of the gang, 19-year-old Lufter Ahmed, of Wandsworth's Gearing Close - the street after which the gang was named - was sentenced to three years and nine months in a young offenders' institution.

Abdi Nur, 18, also of Gearing Close, was given a four year sentence and Jordan Rattray, 17, also of Gearing Close, was given a two year detention and training order.

The two remaining members of the gang were both found guilty at trial. continues here

Revealed: Police blunders that left knife thug free to murder Harry Potter actor

A serial knife attacker was found guilty yesterday of murdering teenage Harry Potter actor Robert Knox.

Cannabis addict Karl Bishop, 22, refused to hear the jury's verdicts at the Old Bailey.

As he awaited sentencing, it emerged that he was accused of a knifepoint robbery in March last year. But even though he had already been jailed for a knife attack, detectives failed to follow up the complaint.

This meant that two months later he was free to kill 18-year-old Robert with two 12in kitchen knives during a bloodbath in a suburban bar.

Friends of the family said Robert's father Colin believed his son would still be alive today if the complaint had been dealt with correctly. Two Scotland Yard officers have been disciplined over the scandal.

Robert was stabbed to death last May at the Metro Bar in Sidcup, South-East London, as he confronted Bishop over threats made to his younger brother Jamie, then 17.

During the frenzied 90-second attack, Bishop - whose face was 'screwed up in rage' - stabbed six people 11 times with the two knives. In an apparent reference to the Dirty Harry films starring Clint Eastwood, he said: 'Who's going to make my f****** day?' before lashing out. 

Robert was knifed five times. The fatal stab wound ruptured an artery close to his heart and he died in hospital soon afterwards. 

The attack came after a series of run-ins between Robert and his friends and Bishop. In the same bar a week earlier, Bishop, from Sidcup, threatened Robert for having the temerity to stand up to him following a row over a lost mobile phone. He warned: 'I'm going to come back next week and someone is going to die.'

After carrying out his threat at the Metro Bar, Bishop was overpowered by onlookers. Cut and bruised, he begged police to protect him from the angry crowd. But as he was led away, he winked and smirked. 

Later that evening, he came face to face with some of his victims in hospital and hurled a volley of abuse in which he threatened to rape their relatives. He told a police officer to take him straight to Belmarsh prison, saying: 'I'm going down anyway. I don't mind, I get gym every day, meals, just take me there.'


His reaction to learning that Rob had died was: 'Yeah, sweet.'

In the melee, Tom Hopkins, 18, Nick Lee Jones, 20, Charlie Grimley, 17, Andrew Dormer, 16, and 22-year-old Dean Saunders were all stabbed by Bishop. Mr Saunders was almost paralysed after being knifed in the neck. He spent months at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Buckinghamshire and still has difficulty walking unaided for any length of time.

Two days before his death Robert had finished filming the role of Marcus Belby in Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, which is due out this summer. He was also celebrating being offered a part in the final instalment of the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

He had been acting since joining a drama school at the age of 11 and had already had parts in ITV's The Bill and BBC's When You've Gone with Nicholas Lyndhurst. His father and mother Sally separated a year ago.


Colin Knox collapsed in tears yesterday as the jury unanimously found Bishop guilty of his son's murder plus three counts of wounding with intent.

Mr Justice Bean, who heard impact statements from both of Robert's parents, will pass sentence today.

In her statement read to the court, Sally Knox said: 'As a mother and parent, I can never forgive the person responsible for taking my son Robert's life, or the devastation that has been caused by these actions.'


During the trial, prosecutor Brian Altman QC described Bishop as a habitual knife carrier who 'carried knives like others carried pens in their pockets ... he quite happily thinks little or nothing of stabbing others as if it were some occupational hazard'.



Bishop himself admitted he regularly carried knives for 'protection innit?'. He said that at the time of the stabbings the 'red mist' had descended and he 'didn't care' what happened. continues here

Ex-England cricket star Chris Lewis 'smuggled £200,000 of cocaine into Gatwick'

In recent years both Heathrow and Gatwick Airports have been recognised as 'drugs hubs' used by Caribbean smugglers. It is estimated that almost half the cocaine sold in Britain comes from Jamaica.

Former England cricketer Chris Lewis appeared in court yesterday charged with trying to smuggle £200,000-worth of cocaine hidden in tins of fruit into Gatwick. 

Lewis, 40, played 32 tests and 53 one-day internationals as an all rounder in the Nineties and was once hailed as an heir to Ian Botham. 

He was arrested on Monday morning with basketball player Chad Kirnon, 26, after Border Agency staff allegedly found nearly 9lb of the drug in their luggage. 

The cocaine, apparently in liquid form, was allegedly discovered in a routine search just after they arrived at 6am on a Virgin flight from St Lucia in the Caribbean. 

Friends spoke of their shock at his appearance yesterday at Crawley Magistrates' Court in West Sussex, where the two were remanded in custody until next week. 

Lewis said nothing during the short hearing and was refused bail by chairman Elaine Richards due to the 'nature and seriousness' of the alleged offence and because such a 'large quantity' of the drug was said to be involved there was a risk Lewis might abscond if bailed. 

The alleged large quantity of drugs also suggested a potential link with 'international crime'. 

Lewis, who was born in Guyana, South America, was one of several all-rounders brought in to revitalise the struggling England team in the Nineties. 

But having failed to fulfil his potential, he drifted through the county game in a career that was plagued by injury. 

Yesterday it emerged that he had spent the last few years living in a housing association flat in North London after trying to resurrect his career last summer by rejoining Surrey to play Twenty20 cricket. 

Lewis - who came to Britain at ten - claimed 93 wickets during his England Test career and finished with a Test batting average of 23. 

He retired from county cricket in 2000 because of a persistent hip injury after spells with Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Surrey. 

Nadeem Shahid, 39, a former Surrey colleague and now coach at the county club, said: 'Chris played for us in the summer and was his normal self. 

'His work ethic was top drawer and he was determined to do well. 

'I did not feel he had any problems like money worries. He was always professional. This has come as a complete shock.'



Lewis believed he was 'driven out' of county cricket after alleging that three England team-mates had taken bribes to throw matches.

The claim was never substantiated and he was later jeered by crowds and snubbed by players before ending his career at just 32.

After drifting out of the first-class game he spent several years playing league cricket and had recently been coaching schoolchildren.

Yesterday Cherise Kirnon, 23, the sister of Lewis's co-defendant, told of her 'complete shock' over the charges faced by her brother.

Speaking from the flat in Islington, North London, where Kirnon lives with his mother Carol and 14-year- old brother Charles, she added: 'Chad just suddenly announced about ten days ago that something had come up and he was flying to the Caribbean.

'He did not say what he would be doing there or exactly where he was going. I did not know when he was due back. I cannot believe what has happened.'

Miss Kirnon, who came to Britain with her brother and their family from the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean, added that Kirnon did 'not even smoke' and that she did not know Chris Lewis.

She said: 'Chad used to play basketball for the London Towers team. He has been playing for a Somalian team recently.

'He is unemployed at the moment and was planning to do a course to become a plumber. But that was going to cost about £10,000 and he did not have that sort of money.'

Lewis and Kirnon will appear at Mid Sussex Magistrates' Court in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, via video link next Wednesday. continues here

Youths who gang-raped girl in stairwells are named

Seven schoolboys aged as young as 13 who joked as they took turns to rape a 14-year-old girl because she “disrespected” a gang member can be identified today for the first time. 

The girl was subjected to an ordeal lasting several hours in stairwells around a housing estate in East London, parts of which were filmed on mobile phones. 

O’Neil Denton, known as Hitman by the Kingshold Boys gang, now aged 16, ordered his friends to snatch the girl from the streets of Hackney after she was said to have insulted him. The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was attacked while walking home from school in April last year. 

After being disturbed, Denton and some of the group took their victim to another stairwell where she was forced to commit a sex act at knifepoint. The boys rang friends during the attack, and a crowd began to gather, including Weiled Ibrahim, now aged 17, Jayden Ryan, Yusuf Raymond, and Jack Bartle, aged 16, and Alexander Vanderpuije and Cleon Brown, both 15. The final, and worst, assault took place on the ninth floor of another block of flats where the girl was raped repeatedly during a 50-minute ordeal. When she tried to fight back, junior members of the gang kicked her and smashed her head against a wall. 

Nicola Merrick, for the prosecution, said: “The victim knew, of course, she was going to be raped again. She could hear Ibrahim and others saying there were other boys who would rape her badly.” 

Eventually 15 boys assembled on the stairwell. “The boys threatened her throughout, intimidating her and physically assaulting her. Ibraham slapped her face and pulled her hair whilst another banged her head against the wall and someone threw a bottle of water at her. 

“She broke down, turned her face to the wall and wept. The boys referred to this as crocodile tears.” In a newspaper interview the victim relived some of the ordeal. She said: “I was taken to the ninth floor of the tower block where I was thrown on to the landing. Another gang member pulled a knife out and I was forced into more sex acts with five others. I was like a zombie. 

“There were so many grabbing at me, pulling my clothes off. I’d reached the point of giving up. I really thought I was going to die. Then I recognised a boy I’d known for years. I felt relieved. He was a friend. But when I asked him to help me, he said, ‘No, I’m with my boys now’. I will never forget that.” 

The girl escaped only when a 14-year-old boy, a football apprentice, realised what was happening and, ignoring the threats of others, walked her out of the premises. Six of the defendants were arrested within hours, because of CCTV footage, and the rest were in custody within two days. None of the gang, who were of Caribbean, Ethiopian, Moroccan and British descent, showed any remorse during questioning or throughout the six-week trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court. 

Two others, who were convicted of rape on the basis that they “aided and abetted”, remain anonymous. 

All nine, from East London, will be sentenced on Monday. 

How I suffered: the victim’s story

In an impact statement the victim described how she had attempted suicide, could not leave her home alone and was always looking over her shoulder. 

She said: “My whole world has been turned upside down. Trying to get back to normal has been very difficult. I used to have a lot of friends. I used to go places. I used to like shopping and the cinema and meeting new people. 

“I long for all that back — instead I feel like a prisoner, having to look over my shoulder everywhere I go. Although I used to find the unexpected fun, the unexpected is now frightening and not exciting.” She suffers recurring nightmares and wakes feeling tired. The teenager said she hated herself for not screaming more or fighting off the rapists but was “frozen with fear”  continues here

Wannabe gangster who shot teenage girl in the head while dancing with a gun in his hand is jailed for eight years

A wannabe gangster who shot a teenage girl in the head while dancing around with a gun was jailed for eight years today.

Wayne Bryan, 20, said by police to be fascinated by guns and gangs, had been drinking and smoking cannabis but thought it was 'cool' to dance with the weapon which accidentally went off in his hand.

Sophie Finucane, 16, who was enjoying a sleepover party with girlfriends at her house, was shot at close range in the head.

Bryan had been invited as they were friends, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Sophie, who had been 'excited' after buying a new dress to attend a school prom, was given just 40 minutes to live after bullet fragments lodged in her brain.

Miraculously Sophie, living with her mother in Manchester at the time, regained consciousness after 10 days in intensive care.

Her father, John, kept a bedside vigil, and is now looking after Sophie at his home in County Cork, Ireland.

Sophie is still unable to walk, has lost use in her right arm, her vision is damaged and she suffers seizures. She will never make a full recovery.

Just three days before the shooting police raided the Gorton home of Bryan, who had a long criminal record, and found a magazine with seven bullets. He was bailed by police.

Today officers denied this was a mistake and branded Bryan a 'coward' for getting rid of the gun before handing himself in an hour after the shooting, around 5.30am on June 14.

The weapon has never been found and police warned someone will die because it is still on the streets.

Unemployed Bryan admitted reckless wounding, possession of a firearm, possession of an imitation firearm and two counts of possession of ammunition at an earlier hearing at Manchester Crown Court.





Jailing him for eight years, Judge Andrew Gilbart QC said: 'This is a sad, tragic, terrible case.

'Guns are a scourge in parts of Manchester. Their possession is seen as something to be expected or proud of. They are neither.'

He quoted from a statement given to police by Sophie's father.

It said: 'I feel sad my only child will miss out on the three fundamental things in life; work, marriage and children.

'But that said, thank the Lord she is with us today.'

The prosecution accepted Bryan did not intend to shoot Sophie and had found the gun in the house.

But the court heard Bryan had been in and out of the courts for violent assaults and burglary, but had repeatedly been given non-custodial sentences.

A picture found by police on his mobile phone shows him posing with a revolver, and another with the words West Gorton Crew - a Manchester street-gang Bryan associated with.

He had also repeatedly been picked up by police and found to be wearing body armour - which he had tested by firing at with a Webley handgun.

On the night Sophie was shot, Bryan told police he found the gun in a bag at her house during the sleepover party.

'He took it out and began to dance around with it,' Adrian Farrow, prosecuting, told the court.

'He was drunk... and also smoking cannabis all day. He was waving his arms around.

'He described the feeling of holding the gun as being, "good" because it was a gun.'

Sophie was blasted in the left side of the head. Fragments of bullets are still in her brain and cannot be removed.

Bryan fled with the gun and bullets before going back to the scene with his mother to hand himself in.

Outside court Andy Tattersall, senior investigating officer for Greater Manchester Police branded Bryan a 'coward' for getting rid of the gun before helping his stricken friend.

'I personally think he should have got a longer sentence, but the courts are restricted by rules that govern sentencing.

'Wayne Bryan is a young man fascinated with gun and gang culture.

'What was his first reaction when he shot Sophie? His first reaction was not to help Sophie, it was to gather the gun and gather the bullets and run. continues here

Teenage girl 'gang raped and covered in burning caustic soda'

A teenager with learning difficulties was gang raped by up to ten youths who then showered her 'head to toe' with burning caustic soda, a court heard today. 

The attackers left the girl 'naked, screaming, crying and in a desperate state' as they ran away laughing, it was alleged.

They had picked on the shy 16-year-old because they claimed she was a 'dirty ho who was asking for it', Wood Green Crown Court in North London heard.

The girl was left traumatised and severely disfigured by the attack. 

Prosecutor Rosina Cottage said she may have been raped because she had recently slept with three men known to the gang.

'She was shy and insecure and with learning difficulties and thought that she would be liked by these boys if she had sex with them.

'Of course, the world can be an old-fashioned place and they did not like her. 

'They thought she was, to use the words of a number of these defendants, ''dirty''.'

On January 9 this year Mark Hendricks, one of the men she had previously slept with, allegedly lured her to a unoccupied house in Tottenham, North London, where the other youths were waiting.

Miss Cottage said: 'She had no idea what was in store for her.

'They raped her ..., and when they had enough of her, and she dared to say no, her body was burned from head to toe with caustic soda.

'She was naked and unprotected, and as she screamed they laughed and ran away.'

As the alleged attackers fled, a neighbour heard screams and banging coming from the house.

'When she went in there was a naked woman at the top of the stairs. She was screaming constantly for help. She said that she had been raped.'

A harrowing 999 call made by the neighbour was played to the court in which the girl's howling screams could be heard in the background.

At hospital she was sprayed with water jets to clear the caustic soda from her.

But her injuries were so bad that she was unable to talk for over a month and remained in hospital for several weeks.

In all, half her body was burned, leaving her permanently disfigured. She has been operated on several times and still requires further surgery.

The court heard that immediately after the rape some of the gang gathered at a nearby friend's house where a witness described how they were 'having a laugh, and then started to talk about some madness and being chased down the road'.

When one of the victim's friends telephoned defendant Bradley Daley-Smith, who she suspected of being involved in the attack, he told her that 'she was a ho and she deserved it'. 

He added that it was not rape and the boys 'were not going to prison for this'. 

Daley-Smith, 21, Bruno Abrantes, 24, Jason Brew, 18, Miguel Almedia, 22, Ismail Opeyemi, 20, Hector Muaimba, 20, and a 17-year-old who cannot be named, all deny two charges of rape and one of grievous bodily harm.  continues here

'Samaritan' mugged by casualty

A 'GOOD SAMARITAN' who stopped to help an injured man in Plymouth city centre was left shocked after the casualty mugged her and stole her phone.

Adele Neeves, a volunteer with St John Ambulance from Stonehouse, said the experience would not stop her helping other strangers in need – or even the man who mugged her.

Miss Neeves, aged 44, said: "It was six o'clock in the morning and I was at the bus stop on Royal Parade, when I saw a black gentleman at the corner of Debenhams, not very far from me. He appeared to be drunk and was staggering."

Bravely, she approached the man to see if he needed help, and saw that he was covered in blood, and appeared concussed and confused.

Miss Neeves always carries her first aid kit. Concerned for the man, she called an ambulance and started to treat the large cuts on his face.


"I got him sat in the bus shelter and started to clean his wounds," she said. "He had horrific facial injuries, he was concussed and he had a lot of blood on him."

But as she crouched in front of him, the man suddenly pushed her over, grabbed her phone and ran off.

"I don't know how he made such a miraculous recovery," Miss Neeves said.

Acting on instinct, she gave chase, calling after the man, who shouted back that he had left her phone on the seat. She went back to look – he hadn't – and when she turned again he was gone.

Miss Neeves, a cleaner at B&Q in Derriford, said: "Basically my casualty mugged me. It's really shaken me and upset me, to be honest.

"I get moments when I get flashbacks of the man. It's been a very upsetting experience. It's made me a little bit nervous about being on the bus stop on my own.

"Having said that, I will continue to give first aid treatment at St John Ambulance and within the community."

Miss Neeves said her main concern at the time had been for the man, because his injuries appeared serious and she feared he could have passed out somewhere and died if he didn't get treatment.

She said: "If it happened again, I would still treat the same person, because I couldn't see anyone suffer."

She described the man as "pretty nasty," and said that he spoke with a Caribbean accent and gave his name as 'Jay', which he pronounced more like 'Hoy'.

Miss Neeves, who regularly helps strangers who are in need of first aid, said she had never had a problem with a casualty in the past.

"The majority of the public I've looked after have been really appreciative," she said.

A police spokesman said: "It's appalling that this lady, who was acting as a Good Samaritan, became the victim of a crime.

"We would hope that the person responsible would have enough of a conscience to return the stolen phone. We would also appeal to anybody who knows the person responsible to call Crimestoppers." continues here

A police spokesman said: blurb and then, "We would hope that the person responsible would have enough of a conscience to return the stolen phone”, yes and I’m a cake, this event, is indicative of the west’s relations regarding itself and the rest of the world. The compassionate Miss Neeves said: "Having said that, I will continue to give first aid treatment at St John Ambulance and within the community", rest of the world says, “thanks for the compassion but I’ll have that”, the west says, “the incident won’t stop me doing it again, non-white says, “hope to see you soon”.

When are we going to learn, start to think about our own, instead of trying to sort out the whole worlds problems, how much more must we give to peoples that are for the most part, ungrateful. It seems that we are a nation of givers, a nation built upon the concepts of fair-play and decency, when the world at large simply isn’t like that, moreover, why should it be we that gives and not the governments of these countries.

Like the reprehensible Jay or “hoy” as he pronounced it, who chose to attack his good- Samaritan, the non-western peoples of this world have no time for us, if it were we in their position I hate to think how we would suffer. Of course benevolence is good, to be a good Samaritan to your neighbour, however, be careful lest they bite the hand that feeds. 14

Knife crime 'fuelled by brutalised refugees' from war-torn regions of Africa

Knife crime is being partly fuelled by a brutalised generation of refugee children who have come to Britain from "vicious war-torn regions" of Africa, the head of the Government's equalities watchdog has warned.

Trevor Phillips, the chairman of Commission for Equalities and Human Rights, said that one of the causes of knife crime was a lack of integration for refugee children who had witnessed untold horrors in their early lives.

He said: "There is a very specific issue for some minority communities in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds. We have had a generation of refugee children who have come from unimaginable levels of violence, absolutely terrifying situations.

"We admit them - rightly - and then we plonk them in schools and we expect behave like everyone else. You look at the names of those who are involved, they come from Congo, they come from east Africa and so on. 

"I don't think anybody has been very keen on saying it. Let's recognise what it is that is making it happen. It is not the fact that they are black but the fact that they have come from vicious, wartorn regions."

The comments come amid widespread concern about knife crime. Figures earlier this summer revealed that one person is the victim of such a crime every four minutes and the Home Affairs Committee said that it will be launching an inquiry into knife crime in November.

Last year, teenage Angolan refugee Roberto Malasi was jailed for 30 years after he admitted stabbing to death an 18-year-old student and shooting dead a woman cradling a baby at a christening in a two week period. 

The Old Bailey heard that the killings were the culmination of his horrific "upbringing of pitiless persecution" in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Sir John Nutting QC, his defence lawyer, said that Malasi was influenced by witnessing scenes of daily violence in his early teens, including people being "hanged, shot and burned to death". 

Campaigners welcomed the comments from Mr Phillips. Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch, said: "This is another courageous intervention from Trevor Phillips. If we are to tackle these problems we must have a frank analysis of where they stem from. 

"The black African community now numbers 694,000 and has overtaken the black Caribbean group as a result of high net migration in recent years. This is a further consequence of our failure to control immigration."

Damian Green, the shadow immigration minister, added: "Obviously knife crime is a much wider problem than just affecting immigrant communities. But what Trevor Phillips has illustrated a wider problem with integration. As well as having no control over the numbers the Government has failed to integrate new arrivals successfully."

A spokesman from the Home Office said: "Violent crime is an extremely complex issue with many different drivers. With knife crime, we are concerned about the number of young people involved and the age of both victims and offenders." continues here

Senior black MP in impassioned lament of self-image 'crisis' among young men seduced by 'bling' and crime

Middle-class parents who go out to work are helping fuel a crisis of confidence in young men and boys, a Labour minister warned.

David Lammy said an entire generation is growing up with inadequate male role models, unable to control their own emotions, and seeing crime as a short cut to wealth and power.

The dangerous crisis in masculine 'self-image' is not just confined to working-class estates, he added.

'There are also children in Middle Britain whose parents become strangers in a culture of long working hours,' he said. 

'Boys, young men and grown men are struggling to find their place in society.' 

Mr Lammy, a junior minister at the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, said far too many young men have 'unhealthy attitudes towards sex, money and violence'.

A 'bling culture' and a collapse of responsible fatherhood means some are being lured into gang and knife culture. 

Echoing the title of U.S. rapper 50 Cent's smash album, he said youngsters are inhabiting a world of 'get rich or die trying'.

The minister said 59 per cent of black Caribbean children are looked after by a lone parent - but warned that children of all races and social backgrounds are suffering because they have no father in their lives.

His analysis flies in the face of years of Labour family and welfare policies that have been based on the notion that all types of families are just as good as each other, and that both mothers and fathers should be encouraged to go out to work.

Mr Lammy, Labour's most senior black MP and a friend of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama, said many adolescents are growing up struggling to control their emotions.

Writing in this week's New Statesman magazine, he said: 'An inability to delay gratification - whether with food, alcohol, money or sex - is becoming a hallmark of our age.'


Many adolescent males, he added, carry knives or guns not because they hope to use them but because they are seen as symbols of status and power.

'The issue is one of self-image,' Mr Lammy said. 'In a warped world of gang culture, carrying a weapon has come to be associated with being a man.

'Rather than being seen as a risk, the knife confers "respect".'

He added: 'In society, the fetishisation of money and growth of consumerism add new pressures.

'In a bling culture, criminality easily becomes a short cut to symbols of wealth and power that will otherwise take years of hard work to achieve. continues here

Police officers attacked by mob over litter row

Two unarmed police officers who were attacked by a mob of 30 adults and teenagers were today receiving hospital treatment after being bitten, kicked and punched. 

The officers were attacked by the gang after asking a teenage girl to pick up some litter. 

Other teenagers and adults then attacked the officers after the girl refused their request and dropped the litter again. 

One of the officers required hospital treatment after the attack in Northend, Croydon, South London on Wednesday afternoon.

Police said violence was sparked after the patrolling officers confronted the teenage girl at about 3pm. 

They asked her to pick up a fast food wrapper from a nearby takeaway which she did, before immediately dropping it in front of them. 

When they asked her to pick it up again a friend with the girl became aggressive towards the officers. 

The incident escalated quickly as a group of 30 people gathered around the officers and attacked them. Around five young females were joined by a group of older males in their thirties and forties. All members of the gang were described as black. 

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said the officers, aged 34 and 29, were on sick leave suffering from bruising and knee injuries. 

One officer, who was white, was bitten on the shoulder. The other officer, who was black, was kicked in the knee, police said. 

“The incident escalated very quickly as a group of people gathered around the officers and intimidated and attacked them,” a Met Police spokesman said. 

A 15-year-old girl was arrested at the scene on suspicion of assault. She has been released on police bail. 

Two men aged 34 and 38, both from South Norwood, were arrested on suspicion of assault and violent disorder yesterday. 

Inspector Simon Ellingham said officers were examining CCTV footage from the area. 

He said: “We have heard from several retailers in the area who were horrified at the level of violence used by the crowd against the officers. 

“Whilst we would never use the word 'mob' which is an inflammatory word, we can confirm that eye witnesses have described their initial fear that officers were going to be seriously injured or killed.” continues here

Man beaten by masked robbers

A GANG of seven teenage thugs wearing knuckle-dusters beat and robbed a man in Walthamstow on Sunday (6).

The man, 45, was walking along Lloyd Road when the gang confronted him and began punching him in the face, arms and back.

One of the assailants grabbed his leg, causing him to fall to the ground.

The thugs then kicked him as he lay on the floor, before going through his pockets and taking a wallet and mobile phone.

The robbers then ran away in different directions.

The man was taken to hospital and treated for a swollen face and bruising to his body.

The robbers are all described as black, about 16 years old and wearing dark clothing, hooded tops and balaclavas. continues here

Crack-addict serial rapist stabbed mother to death in front of her son after being freed on bail

A serial rapist murdered a young mother in front of her baby son just days after being bailed over another sex attack.

Crack cocaine addict Christopher Braithwaite, 22, was arrested for a rape in August last year but was released the next day.

He killed 23-year- old Stacey Westbury a week later.

The case will reignite debate on whether bail should be granted to those accused of serious offences. Government lawyers recently ruled that a blanket ban on bail for murder suspects would breach their human rights.

Braithwaite is today beginning a life sentence, and the prosecution has asked for six charges of rape against two other young women to remain on his file.

Braithwaite denies carrying out those six rapes, but he dramatically halted his trial this week to admit sexually attacking and murdering Stacey.

He was arrested on suspicion of raping a woman in her twenties on August 9 last year, but was released the next day pending further police investigation.

Then on August 17 he killed Stacey in her home in West London while her ten-month-old son Kayden lay in his cot yards away.

Katherine Rake of the Fawcett Society, which campaigns for justice for women, said yesterday: ‘The fact Braithwaite was released on bail shows that criminal justice agencies have utterly failed to implement adequate safeguards.

‘There is an urgent need for the Government to do more to ensure that better evidence is collected and acted upon when dealing with rape cases.’

The Old Bailey heard that Braithwaite, who had been at school with Stacey, sexually attacked her before killing her.

Her father Ken found her body 18 hours later, with her face bloodied and bruised from repeated punches. She had been strangled and stabbed in the neck, stomach and right hand with a nine-inch blade.

Her son was still in his cot, while his mother’s body lay on the sofa yards away. After the killing, jobless Braithwaite had tried to wash the blood from Stacey’s naked corpse, before ransacking her flat trying to find anything he could sell for drugs.

Stacey’s mother Lorraine Beasley, a dinner lady, said that Kayden had suffered nightmares and would scream hysterically if strangers came to the family’s home.

In a statement read to the court, she said: ‘Kayden has had his first birthday, which every child should spend with their Mum. Christmas was just terrible. Stacey should have been with us to watch her son open his presents.’

An statement from Mr Westbury was also read to the judge before sentencing. He said: ‘I can only describe the initial feeling of discovering what had happened to Stacey as numb shock, to be replaced very quickly by the most awful pain I have ever felt.

‘I also felt a white-hot rage that someone could do this to my little girl. On the day of Stacey’s funeral I stood at her graveside. You shouldn’t have to bury your children." continues here