History > 2006 > UK > Justice (V-VI)

Men who gunned down PC

in bungled raid must serve

at least 35 years in jail

· Killer claimed pistol went off by accident
as he fled
· Second defendant told
he might never be released

Saturday December 23, 2006
Guardian
David Ward

Two men must serve at least 35 years before being considered for parole for the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky, who was gunned down during a raid on a travel agency in Bradford.

After an 11-week trial at Newcastle crown court, Mr Justice Andrew Smith yesterday sentenced Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah, 25, from London, and Yusuf Abdillh Jamma, 20, from Birmingham, to life and said they must both serve at least 35 years.

Shah had admitted murder but denied firing the fatal shot. He had been earlier cleared of the attempted murder of PC Beshenivsky's colleague PC Teresa Milburn on the direction of the judge.

Faisal Razzaq, 25, from London, who was cleared of PC Beshenivsky's murder but convicted of manslaughter, robbery and firearms offences, was also jailed for life and told that he must serve at least 11 years. Razzaq's brother Hassan, 26, was convicted of manslaughter, robbery and firearms offences and will be sentenced next month after reports.

The judge told Shah he was a danger to the public and might never be released. "There could hardly be a starker contrast than that between [the police officers'] dedication to serving others and the callousness of those who killed Sharon Beshenivsky," he added.

PC Beshenivsky, 38, was shot dead on November 18 2005, her daughter's fourth birthday, as she and PC Milburn, 37, responded to a silent alarm at the Universal Express travel agency. She had qualified as a police officer only months earlier.

She was killed by a single bullet that smashed her spine and a main blood vessel. PC Milburn, who was in court with PC Beshenivsky's husband Paul, was seriously wounded in the bungled raid in which the gang had hoped to seize thousands of pounds in cash.

Jamma told the jury that the 9mm self-loading pistol went off accidentally three times as he fled. "I didn't mean to do it," he said. "It was an accident. I didn't mean to squeeze the trigger."

The court heard that Shah and Faisal Razzaq were on police bail on suspicion of firearms offences at the time of the raid. Shah has convictions for robbery and for having a .38 calibre handgun containing three live rounds in a public place, for which he was detained for six months.

"To say the lives of all the members of [PC Beshenisvky's] family were devastated beyond belief is an understatement," Robert Smith QC, prosecuting.

PC Milburn had returned to work with "courage and resolution". "She will never understand why they had to shoot them," he said. "She said, 'They could have just threatened us with the guns, that would have been enough'."

Diana Ellis QC, for Shah, who is married with a 14-month-old son, said he had told his solicitor he was sorry. He had said: "I'm sorry. Sorry for the two police officers. I've got a mum and sisters, they have children, I know what they have lost. If I ever get a chance many years down the line I will go to her tombstone and say what I feel. They are little kids, her husband, they will never be able to forgive us. I wish it had been my life."

Ms Ellis told the court Shah's personality changed after an assault in 1998 in which he had suffered three compound fractures to his skull. He came from a good family but had changed from an 18-year-old with eight GCSEs who was working towards higher qualifications to a man whose father contacted police because he grew so concerned about his behaviour.

Ms Ellis added that Shah had been unable to cope with the "stress and the strains of studying" and had suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as he went into a "severe depression".

Jamma's counsel, Peter Griffiths QC, said his client was not an "unfeeling individual" and had expressed his "profound remorse and sorrow".

Raza Ul-Haq Aslam, 25, from London, was cleared of murder and firearms offences, but the jury failed to reach a verdict on a robbery charge. He faces a new trial in February.

Men who gunned down PC in bungled raid
must serve at least 35 years in jail,
G, 23.12.2006,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,1978062,00.html

10.45am

Man remanded

over Ipswich murders

Friday December 22, 2006
Staff and agencies
Guardian Unlimited

A lorry driver charged with the murder of five women who worked as prostitutes in the red light area of Ipswich appeared before magistrates today.

Police drove 48-year-old Steven Wright, of London Road, Ipswich, to the rear entrance of the Suffolk town's magistrates court at 9.30am.

Half an hour later, he appeared in court three, where allegations that he killed Tania Nicol, 19, Gemma Adams, 25, Anneli Alderton, 24, Paula Clennell, 24 and Annette Nicholls, 29, were put to him.

Mr Wright, wearing a dark blue suit, a white shirt and a blue striped tie, showed no reaction as the charges were read out during the five-minute hearing. Flanked by three police officers, he spoke only to confirm his name, address and date of birth.

Robert Sadd, prosecuting, gave a brief outline of the case to magistrates Peter West, Renu Mandal and Mark Shackell.

Paul Osler, Mr Wright's solicitor, told the court he was not making any application for bail. Mr Wright was remanded in custody until January 2, when he will appear at Ipswich crown court.

"He is bearing up well," Mr Osler said prior to the hearing. "Of course anybody accused of these sorts of offences is going to experience trauma, but he is bearing up well.

"Anything to do with the case, facts and evidence is for the courtroom. I would remind everybody about the presumption of innocence."

Mr Wright, a former steward on the QE2, was charged last night after being arrested at his home, in the heart of the red light district, at 5am on Tuesday. He has been kept in custody at an unnamed police station for the past three days.

Another man, 37-year-old Tom Stephens, arrested on Monday at his home near Felixstowe, Suffolk, was released on police bail last night.

"There have been significant ongoing inquiries and interviews during the period that these men have been in custody," Detective Chief Superintendent Stewart Gull told a press conference late yesterday.

Michael Crimp, a senior prosecutor for the Suffolk Crown Prosecution Service, reminded journalists they should exercise care in reporting the case.

"Steven Wright stands accused of these offences and has a right to a fair trial before a jury," he said. "It is extremely important that there should be responsible media reporting which should not prejudice the due process of law."

The naked body of Ms Adams, the first victim to be found, was discovered on December 2 in a brook at Hintlesham, Suffolk. She had last been seen in Ipswich's red light area on November 15.

Ms Nicol was the next woman to be found, having disappeared on October 30. Her body was discovered in the same waterway at nearby Copdock Mill.

On December 10, Ms Alderton, who was three months pregnant, was found dead in woodland at Nacton, outside Ipswich. She had been strangled.

Two days later, Ms Clennell's body was found at Levington, a village five miles from Ipswich. She died as a result of "compression to the neck". The body of Ms Nicholls, the fifth victim, was found at the same location within an hour.

    Man remanded over Ipswich murders, G, 22.12.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/suffolkmurders/story/0,,1977700,00.html

12.30pm

Youths convicted

of killing woman at christening

Thursday December 21, 2006
Press Association
Guardian Unlimited

Four teenagers were convicted at the Old Bailey today of killing a woman as she cradled a baby at the child's christening party.

One, aged 17, was convicted of murder and the other three, aged 15, 16 and 17 were cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter.

They will be sentenced in February after pre-sentence reports. Two of them were in Britain illegally and now face deportation. All face lengthy jail terms.

The four were members of an armed masked gang of raiders who burst into a christening party at Wood Dene estate in Peckham, south London, on August 27 last year to rob guests.

Mrs Zainab Kalokoh was shot dead. She had fled to Britain from her native war-torn Sierra Leone.

As Mrs Kalokoh, 33, lay dying, the raiders stripped cowering guests of valuables as part of an "audacious" robbery plot, prosecutor Brian Altman had told jurors.

Mrs Kalokoh had come to the UK "in the reasonable expectation that this country would provide her with a peaceful, violence-free life," he said.

"She was tragically wrong. Her life ended in a dilapidated community hall where she and other guests had become targets of this gang of masked and hooded youths."

About 100 people - including young and very young children - were at the party when Mrs Kalokoh was shot in the head.

Mr Altman told the court: "The fact that Mrs Kalokoh was holding the baby girl for whom the christening party was arranged did not prevent her death. She was shot as she cradled the baby and the effect caused her to collapse to the floor still with the baby in her arms."

The four were also convicted of robbery and possession of a firearm at the time of committing an offence.

Two members of the gang were in Britain illegally and had already committed crimes here. Both boys - aged 15 and 17 - were under supervision orders when they took part in the raid. The pair from Nigeria had the prospect of a new life in the UK, but shunned education and youth programmes. The father of the baby whose christening party it was called for the return of the death penalty to end gun crime in Britain. Alfred Sesay said: "One minute we were all laughing, talking and dancing - then suddenly we were crying. It was horrible.

"It has had a terrible effect on all of us. We would not have thought we would experience anything like this in Britain."

His close-knit family had fled Sierra Leone to find sanctuary in the UK.

"If there was a death penalty, they would throw away their guns. At present it's just bang for a watch, bang for a mobile."

    Youths convicted of killing woman at christening, G, 21.12.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,1976998,00.html

5.30pm

Robber guilty of Beshenivsky murder

Monday December 18, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Staff and agencies

A 20-year-old man was today found guilty of the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky who was shot dead at point blank range following a bungled armed robbery at a travel agency.

A jury at Newcastle crown court unanimously found Yusuf Abdillh Jamma guilty of the murder of the 38-year-old mother in Bradford city centre on November 18 last year.

A few hours later today, two brothers, Faisal Razzaq, 25, and Hassan, 26, were found guilty of her manslaughter by a majority of 10-1 by the jury, who cleared them of murder.

A fourth man, Raza Ul-Haq Aslam, 25, was cleared of murder, manslaughter and four firearms offences. After more than 20 hours of deliberations, the jury is yet to give a verdict on a charge of robbery against him.

Jamma, of Small Heath, Birmingham, had admitted firing the fatal shot but had denied murder, saying he did not intend to kill or harm anyone.

He admitted to the jury last month that he "must have" pulled the trigger of a gun three times, though he said he did not know who shot at Ms Beshenivsky and her colleague PC Teresa Milburn, who was seriously injured.

Today, the jury convicted Jamma of murder after more than 17 hours of deliberations in the 11th week of the trial. He showed no emotion as the verdicts were read out.

Jamma was also found guilty of possessing a MAC-10 machine gun and a 9mm pistol with intent to endanger life. Earlier in the trial, he admitted two counts of possessing the firearms and robbery. The Razzaq brothers, both of Forest Gate, east London, were both cleared by a majority of the jury of possessing a MAC-10 sub-machine gun and a 9mm pistol with intent to endanger life.

A fifth man, Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah, 25, pleaded guilty earlier to Ms Beshenivsky's murder, robbery, and related firearms offences. Earlier in the trial, the judge, Mr Justice Andrew Smith, ordered the jury to clear Shah of the attempted murder of Ms Milburn, 37. Nobody else has been charged with her attempted murder.

Shah, of London, was told he would play no further role in the trial and was not in court today.

During the trial, Jamma repeatedly denied the prosecution's suggestions that his version of events was a lie "to try to help Muzzaker Shah get off the attempted murder of PC Milburn".

Jamma said: "I just remember hearing me pulling the trigger, sort of thing."

He denied he intentionally discharged the gun, or that he knew it was real and loaded.

Two other men, Mustaf Jamma and Piran Ditta Khan, remain on the run. The court heard that Mr Khan was the "architect of the robbery".

Ms Beshenivsky was shot and killed as she arrived at the scene of the Universal Express travel agency on the day of her youngest daughter's fourth birthday. The robbers escaped with just over £5,000.

Mr Aslam, of Kentish Town, north London, had told the court he had no part in the robbery or murder and was simply "in the wrong place at the wrong time". He said he believed he was entitled to a £100,000 reward for helping police catch PC Beshenivsky's killers. He had called the television programme Crimestoppers and passed on information after the officers were shot.

Mr Aslam insisted the first he knew of the officer's murder was when the gang returned to their base in Harehills Lane, Leeds, where he worked as a handyman.

During the trial, Faisal Razzaq admitted he was around the corner from the travel agency when the shootings took place. He told the jury he and Mr Aslam were having a meal in the Royal Balti Chicken House, in nearby Chester Street, at the time.

The court heard that Faisal Razzaq drove a Toyota Corolla into a dead-end street which backs on to the road where the travel agency is situated at around the time the robbers were fleeing across the street, but he denied he was acting as a look-out.

Hassan Razzaq, the only defendant who chose not to give evidence in the trial, had a "powerful case" against him, prosecutor Robert Smith QC said. The court heard that Hassan Razzaq was involved in a reconnaissance trip to Bradford from London on November 13 last year, five days before the shooting.

The trial continues.

    Robber guilty of Beshenivsky murder, G, 18.12.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,1974767,00.html

Lord Ramsbotham exclusive:

Justice system is absurd.

Broken. Chaotic

The former prison chief lambasts
a justice system in meltdown
after Tony Blair's decade of failure

on crime and punishment

Published: 30 November 2006
The Independent

Yesterday's announcement that the prison population now exceeds 80,000 is the latest low point in what one can only describe as the Government's headlong and self-induced race to absurdity as far as the conduct of imprisonment is concerned.

The reasons for this dreadful figure are not hard to find. If you produce legislation that results in longer prison sentences, more people will be in prison. If you do not resource prisons, to enable them to conduct work, education and training, prisoners are more likely to reoffend, as proved by the fact that the reoffending rate among adult males has gone up from 55 per cent to 67 per cent in the past five years. If you continue to have a dysfunctionally organised prison service, you will continue to have dysfunctional organisation of an overstretched system. And so on.

Many people have been warning the Government about this for years but, instead of listening to those with practical experience, it has preferred to take advice from people who know nothing about running large organisations, let alone an operational service. When, as now, the whole is run by a home secretary who, within weeks of taking office, publicly described the Home Office and the overburdened immigration service as not being fit for purpose, and recently disparaged the probation service to prisoners in Wormwood Scrubs, you do not exactly have a recipe for getting out of what is an increasingly dire situation. Leaders undermine the morale of their own troops at their peril. If, at the same time, you continue to bombard them with a continuous torrent of flawed legislation, much of which replaces previous legislation before the ink on it is dry, you create a mess that can only be cleared up by long-term planning, based on discussion with those who understand not only what needs to be done but how it might be done. That requires ditching current plans that are marching the whole system into even greater chaos.

The result of all the upheaval in the Home Office over the past decade is we have a prison service left in a state of shambles. Every time a governor changes in a prison, then the regime in that prison changes, and all the good work that is under way is in danger of being ditched - it's a ridiculous way of trying to introduce systems that are meant to prevent reoffending.

Prisons are split between the public and private sectors - but prisoners are the same whichever institutions they are in. Education is being run by the Learning and Skills Council, without direction from the Home Office. It's all recipe for confusion.

The probation services are overstretched - there are 300 fewer officers and 1,500 more bureaucrats than five years ago. Now they face a new period of uncertainty as the Government threatens to hand some of their services to the private and voluntary sectors.

In addition, they are being asked to focus on the most serious "heavy" offenders, because of pressure from the press, rather than the repeat offenders who cause real concern to the public.

What would I do? It is difficult to know where to start but my first move would be to drop any move towards what is euphemistically called a national offender management service.

That is getting in the way of making essential improvements to imprisonment and probation. Imprisonment needs firstly a reorganisation into regional clusters of prisons, so no prisoner, with the exception of those requiring high security conditions, is held too far from home. Secondly, named individuals, responsible and accountable for each type of prisoner, need to be appointed to see consistent treatment and conditions, including courses designed to help prisoners to live law-abiding lives, are provided in every prison holding that type.

Existing Area Criminal Justice Boards should be made responsible for ensuring that what goes on in prisons in their area is related for conditions in that area, for example in job training. Population management should be delegated to regions, so that both local prison and probation services are responsible for deciding who moves where, for what and when.

That will cut down the vast waste caused by endlessly moving prisoners to where there is a bed in a cell, rather than because of a course that he or she needs.

Local government should be made responsible for establishing adult offender teams, male and female, along the lines of youth offender teams. These are multi-functional including education, health care and the voluntary sector in their set-up. They would cater for the supervision of low-level offenders, leaving high level to specialist probation officers.

Of course much more could follow, but such a foundation could stand the strain of overcrowding much more easily. There are no short-term palliatives to the nonsense the Government's approach has created in the past nine years, but, unless it recognises its long-term thinking and planning is deeply flawed, and the situation is bound to get worse before any palliative can be introduced, there can be no satisfactory solution.

The system

80,000 Prison population today. There are just 317 spare places.

60 Pieces of legislation relating to criminal justice since Labour came to power in 1997.

25,000 10-year rise in prison population.

£100,000 Cost of each new prison place.

4,452 Female prisoners in 2004 compared with 1,804 in 1994

10,089 Foreign national prisoners.

80% Foreign female prisoners who have committed drug offences.

2, 528 15-17 year-olds in prison. There were 100 under-15s in 1992.

78 Self-inflicted deaths in prison in 2005. There were 65 in 1997.

    Lord Ramsbotham exclusive: Justice system is absurd. Broken. Chaotic, I, 30.11.2006, http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2026812.ece

11am update

Goodman pleads guilty

Wednesday November 29, 2006
MediaGuardian.co.uk
Jemima Kiss

Clive Goodman, the royal editor of the News of the World, has pleaded guilty and could face jail for plotting to intercept private phone messages involving the royal family.

Goodman, 48, from Putney, south-west London, was arrested on August 8 after a police investigation into allegations of phone tapping at Clarence House. Members of the Prince of Wales's household claimed there had been security breaches in its telephone network.

In the dock at the Old Bailey with Goodman was former AFC Wimbledon footballer Glenn Mulcaire, 35, also from south-west London, who admitted the same charge.

Mr Mulcaire further admitted five charges of unlawfully intercepting voicemail messages left by a number of people, including publicist Max Clifford and Elle Macpherson.

The charges, under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, date to interceptions between February 16 2006 and June 16.

The conspiracy charge, under the Criminal Law Act, relates to conspiring to intercept voicemail messages between November 1 2005 and August 9 2006.

Mr Justice Gross told the pair: "All options are open. It is an extremely serious matter."

They will be sentenced on a date some time after January 12.

During the hearing at the Old Bailey this morning, Goodman's defence lawyer John Kelsey-Fry QC said that Goodman wanted to apologise publicly and unreservedly to those affected by his actions, Prince William, Prince Harry and the Prince of Wales.

Mr Kelsey-Fry said: "Now that Mr Goodman has entered his plea of guilty, he wishes, through me, to take the first opportunity to apologise to those affected by his actions.

"The prosecution case refers to a gross invasion of privacy and Mr Goodman accepts that characterisation of his acts. He apologises to the three royal members of staff concerned and to the principals, Prince William, Prince Harry and the Prince of Wales."

Dressed in a dark wool suit, Goodman spoke only to confirm his name and to confirm his guilty plea.

Mr Mulcaire issued a similar apology to Goodman, including to those named in the charges he admitted.

Simon Hughes MP, Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers Association, and Andrew Skylet, agent for England defender Sol Campbell, also were identified as people who had messages intercepted by Mr Mulcaire.

Staff at the Prince of Wales' residence became suspicious after two of Goodman's stories in the Sunday tabloid in 2005 detailed extracts of private staff phone messages concerning princes William and Harry.

Anti-terror police investigated the allegations and searched Goodman's home as well as properties in Chelsea, Sutton and the offices of the News of the World.

Goodman has been suspended by the News of the World since his arrest by officers from the Royal Protection Unit, and now faces the end of his career.

He admitted conspiracy to intercept communications to get royal scoops for the News of the World.

Glenn "Trigger" Mulcaire was a player and assistant manager with AFC Wimbledon in 2002.

He runs Nine Consultancy, a Chelsea-based firm described as a "crisis management consultancy".

Both men remain on unconditional bail. The probation service is to prepare reports on them before sentencing.

    Goodman pleads guilty, G, 29.11.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1959754,00.html

'There are no more tomorrows for us'

Following is the impact statement of Adele Eastman, read today by the prosecuting counsel Richard Horwell QC at the Old Bailey
before the sentencing of teenagers Donnel Carty and Delano Brown for the murder of her fiancé, Tom ap Rhys Pryce

Tuesday November 28, 2006
Guardian Unlimited

My name is Adele Eastman. I am the fiancée of Tom ap Rhys Pryce. I have been invited to make a statement on the impact that Tom's murder on 12th January of this year has had on me. I had hoped I might be able to read my statement from the witness box in open court. I wanted Carty and Brown to hear directly from me the absolute devastation which they have caused.


I must start by saying that my sense of pain and horror at losing Tom, and in such a brutal way, is literally indescribable. I have found it almost impossible even to try to put it into words, but hope that I manage to convey it at least to some extent through my statement.

Tom was determined from an early age to reach his full potential in life. He worked incredibly hard and made the most of every opportunity available to him. He gave his best in everything he did and he succeeded. Yet, despite his many achievements, he was the most humble person I have ever known.



In a message left on the tree next to where he died, a friend of our's wrote, "I remember sitting next to you at our friend's wedding, standing to sing the first hymn, and looking in wonder at you as this pure, amazing voice came out. I had no idea, after so many years of knowing you, how beautifully you sang. You were often like that - quietly achieving all these amazing things."



There was still so much more that Tom wanted to achieve, and to experience. I grieve for his loss of life, and for my loss of him.

Tom was my best friend, my soul mate. I adored him - I always will. I miss him more than I could ever describe: his beautiful heart, his brilliant mind, his big loving eyes, his gentle voice, his gleeful laugh and quirky sense of humour, his dancing, our chats, and the great fun that we used to have together. I miss us.



We had been together for four years when last October Tom asked me to marry him. It was the most beautiful moment of my life. I said yes immediately, through tears of joy. We were deeply in love and blissfully happy together. One of our friends wrote, in his letter of condolence to me, "The love between you was so infectious. It radiated outward and filled everyone around with warmth."



Our plans for our wedding, which was due to be held in Italy in September this year, were going so well and, as with everything, Tom and I planned it together. We were so excited - the period of our engagement (just three short months) was the happiest time of our lives. On the day Tom was killed, he had made contact with the priest who was due to conduct our wedding ceremony. He printed off the details he had received that afternoon, together with his wedding vows. They were found later that night strewn around him on the pavement as the paramedics battled to save his life.



We had felt that the best was yet to come: our wedding, children, and a long and happy marriage. But it was all only ever to be a dream. As I ran in and out of our home that night over a period of hours, frantic for news of Tom, as I received the news of his death, as I lay convulsing in shock, Carty and Brown were chatting to their girlfriends on Tom's and Mr Ali's mobile telephones.

The day after Tom's murder, a friend kindly cancelled the appointment I had made to show my mother what would have been my wedding dress. We then had to wait for a couple of days before being able to identify Tom's body. I could not do it. I could not bear to see Tom dead. I wanted our last memory of each other to be the same - the wonderful goodbye we had had on the Thursday morning at the train station.



In a matter of seconds wedding plans and a future together had changed to funeral plans and a lifetime apart. I will never forget the complete confusion of Tom's three-year-old niece on the day of his funeral: one day being swung through the air and chased around the garden by her beloved Uncle Thomas; the next, there were no more games, there was no more laughter - only tears. As she sat quietly by his graveside, her little hands gripping hold of the edge, we watched her Uncle Thomas being gently lowered in a "big box" into the ground. If there was anything left of my heart to break, it broke in that moment.



The pain is unlike anything I have ever experienced, and unlike anything I could have ever imagined. I feel as though Carty and Brown have ripped out my heart with their bare hands and torn it, very slowly, into pieces. Witnessing the pain that our families and friends are also suffering only adds to my own. The waves of devastation caused by Carty's and Brown's greed and bravado roll on and on. The attack which they carried out on Tom was barbaric, they showed him no mercy, and have shown absolutely no remorse since. They have made the experience even more agonising by refusing to face up to and admit to their crime, and by dragging me, our families and friends through a full trial.



Greed fuelled Carty's and Brown's attack on Tom, but it is obvious, particularly from the trademark injury which they inflicted on his left leg, that they were also trying to play the 'big man'. I despair at their deeply misguided sense of logic - because it is not a man who attacks a defenceless person with a knife, or any other weapon, or hunts victims down in a pack - it is a complete coward - someone who lacks the confidence to take someone on on an equal footing, and instead feels the need to put themselves at an unfair advantage. There can be no sense of victory for Carty and Brown over Tom - he never stood a chance in the first place. He was alone, defenceless, and a stranger to violence.

I very much doubt that as children, any of the hopes and aspirations they held for their future included killing a man, and yet here they stand convicted of that heinous crime. What happened along the way for them to become so cruel and hateful towards others, and at such a young age? What a huge waste of life - not just of Tom's but also of their own - years in prison for an Oyster card and a mobile telephone. How, on any level, could it have been worth it for them?



Tom did his best to make it home that night, and he nearly made it. Although I was not there to help him, or to hold him in his final moments, as I desperately wish I had been, it comforts me to know that as he passed on from this world, he was absolutely safe and secure in the knowledge that it just would not be possible for me to love him any more than I do and will forever.



There are no more tomorrows here for me and Tom, and all of our hopes and dreams have been brutally torn away. I just hope that there is something better for us on the other side. In the meantime, just as hate and bitterness had no place in Tom's life, neither will they in his memory. I am determined to ensure, along with many others, that as much good as possible comes out of this horrific tragedy, so that I can say to Tom when I see him again, as I believe I will, "That was the most agonising experience of my life, but everything that you worked so hard to achieve, and everything of you that you left behind was cherished and built upon to touch the lives of others in the way you would have wanted - and it was all done out of our great love for you."



My family, Tom's family and I are all so thankful that justice has been done for Tom. We are enormously grateful to everyone involved in securing the convictions against Carty and Brown - for their relentless hard work, determination and support.



We especially wish to thank the Metropolitan police, in particular Teresa Defanis, Steve Smith, Tony Bishop, Paul Webb (our liaison officer), and all the team. We are also extremely grateful for the meticulous presentation of the prosecution case by Mr Richard Horwell QC, and Mr Simon Dennison.



In addition, we wish to thank Linklaters and Farrer & Co, who we feel could not have been any more supportive to us.



· Ms Eastman, Mr ap Rhys Jones's family and his employers, Linklaters, have set up a registered charity in his memory. The Tom ap Rhys Pryce memorial trust aims to help disadvantaged children make the best of their abilities and avoid violence and crime. Donations can be made online at www.tomaprhyspryce.com , or by post to Caroline Batho, Linklaters, 1 Silk Street, London EC2Y 8HQ.

    'There are no more tomorrows for us', G, 28.11.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1959121,00.html

4pm

Teenagers guilty

of murdering lawyer

Monday November 27, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Staff and agencies

Two teenagers were today convicted of the murder of a promising City lawyer who died clutching his wedding plans after being attacked outside a tube station.

Tom ap Rhys Pryce was stabbed through the heart during an attempted robbery at Kensal Green, north-west London, as he made his way home from an after-work function on January 12 this year.

Donnel Carty, 19, of Kensal Green, and Delano Brown, 18, of Sudbury Hill, north-west London, killed Mr ap Rhys Pryce, and attacked and robbed another man at the same underground station less than 20 minutes earlier, and used both victims' mobile phones later that night, the Old Bailey heard during the trial.

The jury was also told that traces of Mr ap Rhys Pryce's blood were discovered on a pair of trainers found at the house were Carty was arrested. Forensic tests linked Brown with the clothing worn by Mr ap Rhys Pryce when he was killed.

The jury saw CCTV footage of the man being robbed on a platform at 11.07pm and a minute later, two men in hooded tops running out of the tube station.

Mr ap Rhys Pryce was attacked outside the station at 11.30pm. The jury also heard that the morning after the murder, Carty tried to use Mr ap Rhys Pryce's Oyster travel card, which he claimed to have found lying on a wall.

After the verdicts, Carty went over to Brown and shook his hand, putting his arm around him.

Crown prosecutor Jaswant Narwal said: "The streets are safer without them. Acting callously and stupidly, they viewed their victims as easy targets for getting hold of cash, mobile phones and travel cards.

"If anyone resisted, they were attacked. Tom ap Rhys Pryce unfortunately paid with his life. We hope now that Tom's family can at least gain some comfort from this conviction."

Richard Horwell, prosecuting, told the trial that the two defendants murdered Mr ap Rhys Pryce, a promising young man, with everything to live for, through sheer greed.

"It did not matter to them that this man had worked hard for his position in life, that he had a promising career in the legal system ahead of him," said Mr Horwell. "It did not matter that he was to marry in September. All that was best in life was ahead of him but to them he was no more than a means to an end and they treated him accordingly. The motive was greed. He was being targeted as the victim of a robbery."

Mr Horwell described the victim as a proud man and said there were indications that he had tried to resist his assailants. "Tom ap Rhys Pryce was a proud man and there is a real prospect that he did not submit to the demands of the robbers. He may well have taken them on and if he did, the robbers rose to the challenge and they proceeded in their attack on him."

He said the last call Mr ap Rhys Pryce made on his mobile was to his fiancee before he boarded the tube to let her know he was on his way home.

After the murder, Carty used this mobile and Brown used one belonging to the other man to phone their girlfriends. Carty sold Mr ap Rhys Pryce's phone to a shop assistant for £30 the next day.

Carty and Brown both denied murdering Mr ap Rhys Pryce. Carty also denied robbing him, but Brown admitted this charge. Both men pleaded guilty to robbing the other man.

When arrested on January 18, Carty said he was innocent of the allegations and claimed he had been in a pub in Kilburn with relatives and friends, and stayed the night at a relative's house. When police searched this house, they found a pair of trainers that forensic tests showed had a drop of Mr ap Rhys Pryce's blood on one toe.

DNA from several people, including Brown, were found on the trainers. Officers also found a top with traces of Brown's DNA and fibres found on Mr ap Rhys Pryce's overcoat were microscopically indistinguishable from the material of that top.

Brown also said he had been in Kilburn the night of the murder and initially claimed that he had nothing to do with either the robbery of the other man or the robbery and murder of Mr ap Rhys Pryce.

When the other victim's mobile was discovered at his home, he claimed he had bought it from two men.

But when remanded in custody the next day he said he had robbed Mr ap Rhys Pryce but claimed it was Carty who killed him.

Carty and Brown will be sentenced tomorrow.

    Teenagers guilty of murdering lawyer, G, 27.11.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1958314,00.html

Man jailed

for Britain's first "web-rage"

attack

Fri Nov 17, 2006
10:26 AM ET
Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) - A British man convicted of what has been described as the country's first "web-rage" attack, was jailed for 2-1/2 years on Friday for assaulting a man he had exchanged insults with over the Internet.

Paul Gibbons, 47, from south London, admitted he had attacked John Jones in December 2005 after months of exchanging abuse with him via an Internet chatroom dedicated to discussing Islam.

The Old Bailey heard that Gibbons had "taken exception" to Jones, 43, after he had made the claim that Gibbons had been "interfering with children".

After several more verbal and written exchanges -- with Jones threatening to track him down and give him a severe beating -- Gibbons and a friend went to his victim's house in Essex, armed with a pickaxe and machete.

Jones himself was armed with a knife but Gibbons took it off him, held it to his throat and "scratched" him across the neck.

Gibbons, who the court heard had previous convictions for violence, admitted unlawful wounding on the first day of his trial last month.

Other charges of attempted murder and issuing online threats to kill four other chatroom users were not pursued but could be reactivated in future if he reoffends.

Media reports said it was the country's first case of "web-rage" and Judge Richard Hawkins described the circumstances as "unusual".

"This case highlights the dangers of Internet chat rooms, particularly with regards to giving personal details that will allow other users to discover home addresses," said Detective Sergeant Jean-Marc Bazzoni of Essex Police.

    Man jailed for Britain's first "web-rage" attack, R, 17.11.2006,
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyID=2006-11-17T152625Z_01_L17720855_RTRUKOC_0_US-BRITAIN-WEBRAGE.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C5-technologyNews-3

I fired shot that killed PC

Beshenivsky, says accused

Thursday November 16, 2006
Guardian
Helen Carter

One of the five men accused of the murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky during a bungled armed robbery at a travel agency admitted yesterday he had fired the fatal shot but said he did not intend to do it.

The 38-year-old policewoman was killed and PC Teresa Milburn was seriously injured when they were shot outside a Universal Express travel agency in Bradford on November 18 last year.

Yusuf Abdillh Jamma, 20, from Birmingham, denies murder. He told the jury at Newcastle crown court that everything happened in a "split second" following the robbery. He blamed his drinking vodka or the "adrenalin rush" he had felt that day on the fact that he had thought everything "was a blur". He told the jury he did not know he had shot the two officers but admitted he "must have" pulled the trigger three times. He admitted robbery and two firearms offences.

Yesterday Muzzaker Imtiaz Shah, 25, of no fixed address, was cleared of attempting to murder PC Milburn, who managed to stagger down the road before collapsing and issuing a code zero alert to summon help. Shah has already pleaded guilty to the murder of Beshenivsky.

The trial judge, Mr Justice Andrew Smith, told the jury that Shah had no case to answer over the attempted murder of PC Milburn, and directed them to return a not guilty verdict on this charge.

He said: "As you know, last week I considered a number of matters. One of them was whether the case against Shah on the attempted murder of PC Milburn should continue in the light of evidence presented by the prosecution. Mr Shah had pleaded guilty to all the other charges, including the murder charge.

"The decision that I reached was that the count of the attempted murder charge can not properly be allowed to continue. Therefore, I'm going to direct you to return a not guilty verdict on that count."

Giving evidence later in the day Jamma admitted the gun that killed Beshenivsky was discharged while in his possession. Peter Griffiths, defending Jamma, asked if he accepted that when the gun was discharged, fatally injuring the officer, it had been in his possession. He replied: "Yes."

Jamma told the court that the three robbers inside the travel agents' shop were his brother Mustaf, who is still on the run, Shah, and himself. He said they all began to panic when two community wardens, whom they thought were police officers, approached the locked door of the premises.

"I just remember hearing me pulling the trigger, sort of thing," he said. "It wasn't a loud bang. It wasn't as loud as the bang we heard inside. It was sort of muzzled."

Mr Griffiths asked if he had intentionally discharged the gun. "No, I didn't," he replied. Asked if he knew if the gun was real and loaded, he replied: "No, I didn't."

He said: "I recall nothing at all from that point on. I carried on running away." He said he did not recall a second or third discharge of the gun.

Earlier in the trial PC Milburn wept in the witness box as she recalled her colleague's head flopping to the side before Beshenivsky collapsed in a heap in front of her. She told the court she recalled seeing an Asian man and a black man in the doorway of the premises, with the Asian man pointing a gun towards them. She said: "I could see his forearm and his arm from his elbow and his hand extended to 90 degrees pointing to where Sharon was stood. I saw in his hand he had a gun. It was the Asian male that had the gun."

The three other defendants, Raza ul-Haq Aslam, 25, from Kentish Town, north London, Faisal Razzaq, 25, and his 26-year-old brother Hassan, from Forest Gate, east London, all deny murder.

The trial continues.

    I fired shot that killed PC Beshenivsky, says accused, G, 16.11.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1948911,00.html

4.45pm update

BNP leader cleared

of race hate charges

Friday November 10, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Staff and agencies

Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National party, was today found not guilty of race hate charges relating to a speech he made two years ago.

Jurors at Leeds crown court cleared Mr Griffin of using words or behaviour intended to stir up racial hatred.

He was charged after making a speech to BNP supporters at a pub in Keighley, West Yorkshire, in January 2004. In it, he described Islam as a "wicked, vicious faith" and said Muslims were turning Britain into a "multiracial hellhole".

The BNP's head of publicity, Mark Collett, was cleared of similar charges. He had referred to asylum seekers as "cockroaches", telling the Keighley gathering: "Let's show these ethnics the door in 2004".

Mr Griffin smiled and nodded as the verdict was announced. In the public gallery, his wife burst into tears.

As he left the courtroom, dozens of his supporters outside waved union jack and St George flags, chanting "freedom" and "free speech".

Dozens more gathered to demonstrate against the far-right party, waving banners reading: "Stop fascist BNP".

In an interview with Sky News, Mr Griffin called them "silly, leftwing students".

The BNP leader told his supporters the verdict showed the "huge gulf between ordinary, real people and the multicultural fantasy world of our masters". He praised the "ordinary, decent, common sense" jury for their verdict.

Mr Collett said it was "BNP two, BBC nil". He added: "The BBC ... are a politically correct, politically-biased organisation who has wasted licence-payers' money in a legal action against [us] for speaking nothing more than the truth."

Anti-racist campaigners called the verdict a "travesty of justice", and said it revealed the level of Islamophobia in British society.

The jury returned their verdict after five hours of deliberation, with the charges relating to speeches made at Keighley's Reservoir Tavern in January 2004, which were filmed by an undercover BBC reporter.

Mr Griffin was accused of using words or behaviour intended to stir up racial hatred, and faced two alternative counts of using words or behaviour likely to stir up racial hatred. He denied the charges.

He told the jury his speech was not an attack on Asians in general, but on Muslims.

Mr Collett said the speeches had only been intended to motivate BNP members to take part in "legal and democratic" campaigning.

Detectives from West Yorkshire police launched an investigation into the two men after excerpts from their speeches were screened in the BBC documentary The Secret Policeman.

Speaking after the verdict, a spokesman for the Islamic Human Rights Commission told Sky News: "I am very disappointed. I think this judgement is going to have very grave consequences indeed.

"It gives a very wrong message to the whole of society, both to the victims of his words and to those who are supporters of his racist and Islamophobic views and the promotion of them."

Sabby Dhalu, of Unite Against Fascism, described the verdict as "a travesty of justice".

"We believe that the BNP does incite racial hatred," she said. "In areas where the BNP targets around the country, racist attacks increase. For example, in Barking and Dagenham, where the BNP has 12 councillors, racist attacks have increased by 30% since 2004."

She said Unite Against Fascism would continue to campaign against the far-right party "and alert the decent majority of people in Britain of the dangers of the fascist and racist BNP".

    BNP leader cleared of race hate charges, G, 10.11.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/race/story/0,,1944928,00.html

Jail for gang

who smuggled in

sex slaves for brothels

November 04, 2006
The Times
By Michael Horsnell

A RUTHLESS gang of Malaysian and Vietnamese traffickers who lured hundreds of women to Britain to work as sex slaves in a £2 million-a-year vice racket were jailed yesterday.

The victims were trapped into slavery for up to two years before the international network was smashed. Their passports and return tickets had been confiscated at Heathrow by members of the gang.

The man behind the operation, Thanh Hue Thi, 44, a cook from Golders Green, northwest London, recruited women aged 18 to 24 and smuggled them in, posing as tourists, to work in brothels in Bayswater, West London, and Edgbaston, Birmingham. He admitted trafficking women for prostitution and was jailed for five years.

Southwark Crown Court in southeast London was told that at least one woman was tricked into leaving her family after being offered a sightseeing trip with all expenses paid. In Britain she joined other women servicing up to 50 men a week in luxuriously furnished brothels.

Brendan Kelly, for the prosecution, said that with clients being charged a minimum £70 for 30 minutes, the operation was a huge money spinner. Officers who studied “worksheets” from the two premises calculated that the gang had grossed more than £2 million in 17 months.

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin, QC, told Thanh that while there was evidence of coercion in only a few cases, all the women that worked for the gang were clearly under “very strict instructions” and rigidly schooled in the way they should behave towards clients. “All of this resulted in their serious exploitation.” Thanh had undoubtedly engineered “ruthless control over what was going on”.

The judge said that urgent inquiries should be made into the brothel boss’s status in this country, and that, if he were here illegally, he should be deported upon release. Also in the dock was Kenny Low, 50, a chef, of Mayfair, Central London. He, too, admitted trafficking conspiracy and controlling prostitution and was jailed for 3½ years.

Leng Loh, 25, from Hay Park, Birmingham, Choon Fong Loh, 64, of Mayfair, and Kwok Leong Hoh, 25, of Berkhampsted, Hertfordshire, were all jailed for 15 months for controlling prostitution. Godfrey Wong, 21, of Rowley Regis, West Midlands, was jailed for 12 months.

The Metropolitan Police clubs and vice unit smashed the network in Operation Pentameter after one woman tipped them off. The unit kept surveillance for five months and rescued 21 women.

Detective Chief Superintendent Ian Dyson said after the case: “The women that we were able to rescue were only the tip of the iceberg. This criminal gang trafficked hundreds of Malaysian women into the UK, many of whom will have believed they were going to work in legitimate professions.”

The gang would often move the women between the two brothels. None was allowed to set foot outside except with one of the gang. They worked 12-hour days, from 6pm.

In Bayswater there could be up to 20 girls living on the premises at any one time. Some would sleep on the floor and all were expected to sleep in the bed in which they worked.

    Jail for gang who smuggled in sex slaves for brothels, Ts, 4.11.2006,
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2436798,00.html

Retrial begins of BNP leaders

accused of stirring racial hatred

· Pair caught on BBC film attacking Islam,
court told
· Modern Britain 'described as multiracial hell'

Saturday November 4, 2006
Guardian
Martin Wainwright

Two British National Party leaders stoked up racial hatred in an area of troubled community relations with speeches against Islam, ethnic minorities and asylum seekers, a court heard yesterday.

Islam was derided by the far-right party's chairman, Nick Griffin, as "a wicked, vicious faith" while one of his deputies, Mark Collett, called asylum seekers "cockroaches" and urged cheering supporters to "show ethnics the door in 2004". Both told closed party meetings they would face trouble from the media or the law if they denounced the Qur'an publicly or an alleged plan to destroy the white community. But they did not know that a BBC journalist, Jason Gwynne, who was posing as a BNP enthusiast, was covertly filming the speeches at a pub in Keighley, West Yorkshire.

Mr Griffin, 47, of Llanerfyl, Powys and Mr Collett, 25, of Rothley, Leicestershire deny charges of using words or behaviour intended or likely to stir up racial hatred. Mr Griffin faces one count and Mr Collett four with the maximum penalty of seven years on conviction.

A small group of BNP supporters stood under flags and placards outside Leeds crown court but there were none of the scuffles that took place during a bigger demonstration and counter-protest when the jury was sworn in this week.

Rodney Jameson QC, prosecuting in a retrial after a previous jury failed to agree on the charges, quoted extracts from the speeches which were shown to the jury.

Mr Griffin urged activists at the Reservoir Tavern in January 2004 to work at the local and European elections to persuade local voters of "the evil these people have done to our country". Denouncing modern Britain as a "multi-racial hell," he made repeated allegations about paedophile drug rapes in Keighley and linked them to Islamic teachings.

He said: "This wicked, vicious faith has expanded from a handful of cranky lunatics about 1,300 years ago and it's now sweeping country after country before it, all over the world. And if you read that book (the Qur'an), you'll find that that's what they want. If you doubt it, go and buy a copy and you will find verse after verse and you can take any woman you want as long as it's not Muslim women."

The court also heard Mr Collett's speech, made to the same meeting, which Mr Jameson described as "little more than a crude racist rant".

The Leeds University graduate, who was heckled earlier in the week by local students outside the court, repeated Mr Griffin's clams about attacks in Keighley.

He was recorded by the BBC's hidden camera saying: "When these Asians go out looking for a victim, they don't go looking for Asian victims. They don't go mugging Asian grandmas, they don't go stabbing each other, they don't go trying to solicit sex off little Pritesh or little Sanjita.

"They go straight to the whites because they are trying to destroy us and they are the racists. If you want these people out and to stop asylum seekers coming in, then vote for the BNP."

In a second speech two months later at the Crossroads pub in Keighley, Mr Collett turned on asylum seekers. Again recorded by Mr Gwynne, for a BBC2 programme called Secret Agent, he said: "I honestly don't hate asylum seekers - these people are cockroaches and they're doing what cockroaches do because cockroaches can't help what they do, they just do it, like cats miaow and dogs bark. The people I hate are the white politicians who have sold us down the line."

Mr Jameson said there were occasions when the line between "robust and legitimate debate" and stirring up race hatred could be a fine one, but such cases were unlikely to come to court.

The language and behaviour used by Mr Griffin and Mr Collett went beyond robust comment and their intention to stir up hatred was clear.

Mr Griffin was acquitted on two similar counts and Mr Collett on four at the original trial in February before the jury deadlocked on the remaining charges.

Retrial begins of BNP leaders accused of stirring racial hatred, G, 4.11.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/farright/story/0,,1939348,00.html

Teenagers see Asbos

as badge of honour

Study finds that almost half of orders
are routinely breached by under-18s

Thursday November 2, 2006
Guardian
Alan Travis, home affairs editor

Antisocial behaviour orders are widely seen as "badges of honour" by offending teenagers, their parents and even some criminal justice professionals, and fail in nearly half of all cases, according to an officially commissioned study published today.

The research for the government's Youth Justice Board says many of those involved in tackling youth offending, including magistrates, have serious reservations about their effectiveness and question how much they change the behaviour of teenage tearaways.

More than 7,300 individual Asbos have been issued since they were introduced in 1999 as a flagship part of Tony Blair's drive against antisocial behaviour and disorder but the new study says that 49% of under-18s had been returned to court for failing to comply with their order, with the majority "breaching" it on more than one occasion.

The study, which is the first independent evaluation of Asbos since their introduction, concludes that those working in local youth offending teams and some magistrates regard the high level of non-compliance as a key indicator that the orders are not only ineffective, but that they also increase the long-term risk of the teenager being jailed.

Asbos are imposed for a term of between two and five years and most commonly include bans on causing harassment, alarm or distress, exclusion zones from particular places or parts of town, and bans on mixing with other named individuals.

The research, which was carried out by the Policy Research Bureau and Nacro, the crime reduction charity, looked in detail at 137 cases and found that many young people had no clear understanding of the detailed restrictions in their orders and it was not uncommon for them to openly flout those which placed the greatest curbs on their lifestyles.

Parents and some professionals, including magistrates, commonly argued that Asbos functioned as a "badge of honour", and referred to them as a "diploma" rather than addressing the causes of bad behaviour.

One mother of three children issued with orders told the researchers: "Some of the friends are left out now because they're not on an Asbo. I think they all want one. I know a boy that's hellbent on getting an Asbo because he feels left out."

A magistrate is quoted as saying that the orders were "being used as 'badge of honour' ... and they are going to carry that label with them for a long time".

Some of the teenagers were frank about what they had been up to. Joel, 13, described his antisocial behaviour as "terrorising people and running them out of our area". It also involved "hanging about on street corners, being normal teenagers, which is a stupid charge. Being cheeky to people as they walk past. Throwing water bombs, answering back, swearing, all that kind of thing. It's harassment".

One police officer said that the geographical exclusion zones were often unworkable: "You are inviting little Johnnie Smith to ... run over the imaginary line then run away from the police. You've actually invented a game for the kids to play."

Some judges were concerned that Asbos were being overused because a lower level of evidence than a full criminal court order was needed for their introduction. Further concerns have also been raised that too many youngsters who breached Asbos are being jailed, but the study shows that of the 18 young people sentenced for breaching orders only one was sent to prison solely for non-compliance. The others were imprisoned for separate crimes.

The study, however, did confirm that Asbos were being used disproportionately against ethnic minority groups. More than 20% of those given an Asbo were black or Asian - two and half times more than their representation in the general population.

Professor Rod Morgan, the chairman of the Youth Justice Board, said the study showed that Asbos had to be used correctly and only as a last resort: "Asbos can, and do, work incredibly well but they need to be used correctly and that means exhausting every preventative measure in the community first, and ensuring that youth offending teams are not excluded from the process."

Paul Cavadino of Nacro said that in too many areas Asbos were being used as an early option before other approaches were tried and all too often unrealistic conditions were imposed on young people that were bound to be broken.

Teenagers see Asbos as badge of honour,
G, 2.11.2006,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,1937030,00.html