Victim named following Plumstead murder

Formal identification has yet to take place but officers are satisfied the victim was Rene Richardson, 24, from SE18.

Police continue to appeal for information and witnesses to come forward. 

Police were called at around 16:30hrs on Monday, 10 April to reports of a man stabbed in Bournewood Road, SE18.

Officers, London Ambulance Service and London's Air Ambulance attended and found the man, aged 24, suffering stab wounds. 

He was pronounced dead at the scene. His next-of-kin have been informed and formal identification will take place in due course.

A post-mortem examination is taking place today, Wednesday 12 April, at Greenwich Mortuary.

Detectives from the Homicide and Major Crime Command (HMCC) are investigating.

At this early stage it is believed the victim was approached by two males in Grasdene Road, Plumstead, before he was attacked.

The victim then made his way to Bournewood Road where he collapsed and an ambulance was called.

On the afternoon of Tuesday, 11 April a 23-year-old man was arrested at an address in Bognor Regis, Sussex on suspicion of murder. He remains in custody at a south London police station.

Detectives are still trying to trace a second man, described as a black man, wearing a white t-shirt who was seen to leave the scene of the attack in a BMW sports car. 

Detective Inspector Will Reynolds, of the HMCC, said: "Whilst an arrest has been made I would urge anyone with information or witnesses to this incident to speak to us as soon as possible.

"I am particularly keen for the man seen leaving the scene in the BMW vehicle to come forward and make himself known to us. We believe he may hold vital information." 

Mile End stabbing: Third young man knifed to death in London in space of 24 hours

A young man has been knifed to death in the third fatal stabbing in London in just 24 hours.

Police say a 20-year-old was stabbed in Wager Street, Mile End, at around 4.45pm on Tuesday.

He was rushed to hospital by paramedics but died around an hour later from his injuries.

Witnesses said the victim had been stabbed near his home and collapsed in the street.

Family members and neighbours ran out to help the young man as he lay in the road, it is claimed.

One witness told the Standard people were desperately trying to give the victim mouth-to-mouth in a bid to save his life before emergency services arrived on the scene.

He said: "Many people were trying to help, shouting and crying."

Another neighbour said: "All we heard was a lot of screaming and then a car sped off with tyres screeching."

Footage published on social media showed a group of residents and distressed family members desperately trying to help the stricken man as he lay on the ground beside a car.

Detectives believe the man was with friends in Wager Street before he was approached by a group of men and stabbed.

Police have arrested an 18-year-old man on suspicion of murder. He is currently being quizzed by detectives at an east London police station.

Detective Chief Inspector Tony Lynes, from the Met's Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: "We are keen to speak to anyone who was in the area at that time and might have seen what happened or who has any information about the circumstances."

Young father shot dead at music studio was turning his life around

A YOUNG father shot dead by a gunman in Archway on Saturday was trying to turn his life around after converting to Islam in prison, it has been revealed.

David Robinson, 25, also known as Dawood, was shot numerous times, including in the head, in what police have described as a “cold-blooded” attack at a music studio in Sunnyside Road. 

Police believe an altercation that began inside the relatively unknown Big House 101 music studio just before 9pm resulted in the father-of-one being shot at point-blank range.

“This was a cold-blooded, very calculated and targeted attack,” said Detective Chief Inspector Dave Whellams, who is leading a 25-strong murder squad from the Met’s Homicide and Major Crime Command. “Somebody has targeted him for a specific reason.”

Witnesses described paramedics battling to save Mr Robinson’s life. He was taken to the Royal London Hospital, in Whitechapel, but was pronounced dead just after midnight. 

Mr Robinson, who lived with his mother and brother in Barnsbury, grew up in the borough and was a former pupil of Islington Arts and Media School. He has a young daughter with an ex-girlfriend who lives in Leicester.

Flowers were left at the scene of the murder this week as friends took to social media to express their grief. Jordan Buitrago wrote: “RIP Brother Dawood AKA Monkey, can honestly say he was one of the nicest brothers I ever met and he always took time to help you if you was in need Mashallah. May Allah Reward him.”

Another woman said: “Omg can’t believe what I just heard RIP Monkey another life gone and taken too young.”

The Tribune understands Mr Robinson was linked to gangs in his late teens and had a number of convictions for violence, drugs and knife possession. He was jailed for 18 months and given an anti-social behaviour order for his part in a street brawl in 2011.

However, he converted to Islam while in prison and had been trying to break away from his criminal past following his release, finding a new, positive direction in religion and spoken word poetry.

He frequented the studio – based at the former shop of a petrol station, part of which is now occupied by a car wash – to record “nasheed” music. Lyrics of the chanting music, either sung a cappella or accompanied by percussion instruments, usually make reference to Islamic beliefs, history and current events.

A man in his 20s who works close to the scene of the murder said this week: “What people are saying is that he came from prison, where he became a Muslim and changed his name to Dawood.

“On the night apparently there were a lot of boys on a nearby estate drinking and getting high in the garden bit of the estate while he was doing his music. They must have known he was here and they moved here. One of them had a gun and just used it. There were a lot of boys.

“Apparently he was saying: ‘Stop! I’m not getting involved in this kind of stuff anymore.’ Then they shot him three times.”

The man added: “I’m thinking because of his past maybe someone wanted to take revenge. Even though suddenly now he’s a changed man.”   

Police believe that on the night he was killed Mr Robinson had gone to the studio to meet someone. 

Detectives said they are pursuing “all lines of inquiry” in the search for a motive. They are not sure whether the shooting was the result of an argument that got out of hand or the tragic consequence of a long-standing grudge between victim and killer. 

“We believe he [Mr Robinson] went to the studio to meet someone,” DCI Whellams added. “We believe David was involved in an altercation that began inside the music studio. That altercation resulted in him being shot.

“We know there were people in the area at the time, both inside and outside the venue, and would like to hear from anyone who saw or heard anything suspicious or who has any information about what happened.

“If someone has seen something, even if they think it’s not important, we would like them to come forward and they can speak to us in confidence.”

The Big House studio, which opened in February of last year, remained closed this week as police guarded the scene. The building had previously been a pottery shop. 

How gang terrorised doomed estate

Three members of a gang who terrorised a London housing estate have been given long spells in jail. Their reign ended when one of them fired shots as two policemen chased him.

The case has some echoes in the 2009 film Harry Brown, in which Michael Caine plays a pensioner and ex-soldier who turns vigilante to combat a gang of violent youths terrorising a council estate.

That film was shot on the Heygate estate in Elephant and Castle, south London, not far from where Caine grew up.

A few months before the film came out, in the summer of last year, a real-life gang - led by Callum Hall and Deniz Ozdil - was terrorising the nearby Aylesbury estate.

In one incident Hall, now 21, 18-year-old Anthony Babalola and two other gang members forced their way into a flat in a tower block and threatened a young woman, Karen Sohyly, and her two young children with a gun.

Philip Bennetts, prosecuting, takes up the story: "They demanded to know where her brother Patrick was. Hall showed her bullets in the gun."

At one point Ms Sohyly's 10-year-old daughter told Hall: "Please don't shoot my mum".

Mr Bennetts said: "Hall said he was the one running the estate. He would be running things from now on."

A week later the gang approached a teenager and demanded money from him, waving a hunting knife and a pistol in his face.

Seven days later, on 5 August 2009, Hall - by now wanted for questioning by police - was spotted not far from Waterloo station in central London.

He abandoned a bicycle and ran off, pursued by PC Colin Hutton and PC Vincent Turner.

At one point he turned and fired in the direction of the officers.

Customers enjoying the sunshine outside several restaurants watched the chase and - in a CCTV clip shown to the jury - could be seen reacting in shock to the gunshots.

In court PC Turner described the incident: "His arm was outstretched and I could see the tip of the gun or the barrel of the gun. He was pointing it towards me and he's clicked it.

"He held the gun in his right hand. He fired it and it's made a bang this time. The bang made me duck to the right.

"I believe that if he had hit me it would have hit me directly from the chest outwards - the chest, neck or face."

Hall was acquitted of attempted murder by the Old Bailey jury after he claimed he was not aiming at the officers.

Judge Brian Barker, the Common Serjeant of London, praised PC Hutton and PC Turner: "Their devotion to duty when under fire and afterwards was of the highest order.

"London is fortunate to be protected by officers of that quality and they deserve to be commended."

Hall eventually shook off his pursuers, but was arrested two weeks later, still in possession of the 9mm Baikal pistol fired.

But the reign of terror was not over.

A few days later Babalola visited Ms Sohyly and threatened to shoot her if she gave evidence against Hall.

Babalola said: "You grass and you will all get sprayed."

Changing landscape

But the gang was arrested before members could follow up their threats.

Crucially, eyewitnesses had the courage to testify.

The gang members were sentenced on Friday.

Hall was given an indeterminate sentence for public protection with a minimum term of 13 years.

Ozdil was given 10 years for possession of a firearm with intent to rob.

Babalola was jailed for a total of five-and-a-half years.

Soon the landscape in which the gang operated will change out of all recognition.

The Heygate and Aylesbury housing estates are in the process of being demolished as part of Southwark Council's plan to regenerate the Elephant and Castle area.

Those two projects will cost £3.9bn and involve the construction of hundreds of new homes, shops and open spaces and the rebuilding of several schools.

Jean Bartlett, chair of the Aylesbury Tenants Association, said it was unfair to describe it as a "sink estate" but she conceded there were problems and the blocks needed to come down and be redeveloped.

"It will take about 20 years to complete and cost billions of pounds but it's considered a high priority and hopefully the money can be found for it," she said.