History > 2007 > UK > Violence (II)

4pm GMT update

Boy given two years

for sister's shooting

Wednesday October 31, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Helen Carter
and Eric Allison

A teenager who accidentally shot his 12-year-old sister dead as he played with a loaded revolver was jailed for two years today. His mother was given a three-year sentence for illegally keeping the weapon buried in their back garden.

At a previous hearing at Manchester crown court, Kasha Peniston, 17, admitted accidentally shooting his sister Kamilah in the forehead at their home in Gorton, Manchester. She died from the single gunshot wound at Pendlebury children's hospital, Manchester, the following day.

Their mother, Natasha Peniston, who was attending a funeral in London when the shooting happened on April 30, admitted three firearms offences. The court heard she had been keeping the gun for a former boyfriend, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The judge, Justice Holland, said there were exceptional circumstances to justify Natasha Peniston being given a three-year sentence instead of the five-year mandatory jail term, as she had been "prevailed upon" by her serious criminal boyfriend to look after the weapon.

However, she had told her son about the gun and had set up "a train of events" which led to Kamilah's death. The judge said: "I accept you were under pressure to look after this gun. Through your activities, you have sustained the lifelong punishment of the loss of (your) daughter."

There were gasps from the public gallery as the sentences were read out.

The judge went on: "Inevitably, given his age, Kasha retrieved the gun. Inevitably he started playing with it - it makes him feel like a man. Playfully, he threatens his sister with it, having no idea of gun safety." He said Kasha remained "horrified and truly contrite".

"At the heart of this case is the status of handguns in certain parts of our society, in this city and elsewhere. A handgun in circulation gives the holder a spurious self-confidence and a perverted self-respect, the status of the armed man."

The court was told that Peniston had left Kasha in charge of her three daughters - Kamilah, 12, and eight-year-old twins Keira and Kwamaela - for the day.

At 7.30pm she was on a coach to Manchester when at her house the 38-calibre snub-nosed revolver accidentally went off. A week before the funeral, her boyfriend had given her a loaded revolver to look after, which was wrapped in a sock. The court heard that she put it in a plastic bag and buried it in the garden.

Police who attended the house in Gorton found the teenager - who has previous convictions for robbery and possessing a knife - cradling his dying sister. He was shouting: "I've shot my sister, please get an ambulance."

He was wearing a single black glove on his right hand, which can signify gang membership, the court heard, but there was no evidence he was a member of a gang. In September he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and possessing a gun and ammunition, and his mother admitted the firearms offences.

In an interview with the Guardian before today's sentencing, Natasha Peniston said she and her son would have to live with their own "life" sentences, adding that she felt "morally responsible" for her daughter's death.

"I hate guns," she said. "Kasha never had so much as a water pistol as a toy. I used to tell friends and relatives, don't buy him guns. Now this. You ask why? I ask myself that question every second of every day. This is my fault, not my son's.

"Kasha and me will have to live with our own life sentences. Is a prison sentence going to make that better? I blame myself, not the lad. I feel responsible for this position."

Neighbours described Kamilah as a lovely girl, and the headteacher of her school said she was a model pupil. Her mother said she gave permission for Kamilah's organs to be removed and donated to five people. Kamilah had been the life of the family home - intelligent, noisy and competent - and had loved writing poems and helping her younger sisters with her homework, she said.

She said Kasha had been at college learning to be a mechanic. "He wasn't a hoodie and people would compliment us on his good manners, tell me that I'd done really well with him," she said. "All he knows now is that he never wants to look at one of those things - guns - again. God knows what he sees when he goes to sleep."

Kasha told police when interviewed: "I stood up and started messing around with the gun in my pocket. I did not take it out of my pocket because I didn't want my sisters to see it. I felt pressure on my hand and heard the noise of the gun going off. I was shocked, because I didn't believe the gun was loaded. I then saw that my sister Kamilah had been shot. It was an accident."

A forensic scientist who specialises in examining firearms said that from his examination of the entry wound, at the moment the fatal shot was fired the muzzle of the revolver was "very close to her forehead and was probably in contact - or near contact - with her skin."

In her police interview, Natasha Peniston said she had told Kasha about the gun. "I told him there's a thing in the garden and I told him where it was," she said.

"I said to him don't touch it, no matter what you do. He said: 'You know that I would never do nothing like that mum,' and that's when I told him it was at the back of the garden."

    Boy given two years for sister's shooting, G, 31.10.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,2202389,00.html

Jail for ex-soldier who urinated

on dying disabled woman

Saturday October 27, 2007
Guardian
Martin Wainwright

A drunken former soldier who urinated on a disabled neighbour as she lay dying after a fall in the street was jailed for three years yesterday and told that he and his friends had shamed a town. Anthony Anderson, 27, and a group of friends who filmed the humiliation of Christine Lakinski on a mobile phone, have been cold-shouldered in Hartlepool and turned away from shops and neighbours' homes.

They were castigated by a judge and police at a brief court hearing which was told that their "almost unbelievable" behaviour had turned the lesson of the Good Samaritan on its head. Ms Lakinski, a 50-year-old bent by a spine deformity and bullied for most of her life, had also been covered in shaving foam and kicked to "make her wake up".

During the episode in July, which lasted almost half an hour, none of the group called an ambulance to help Ms Lakinski, who had collapsed while carrying shopping home and hit her head. Only 20 minutes later, when Anderson, the phone-filmer Simon Whitehead and several others had dressed to go out to a nightclub, was a 999 call finally made. Paramedics were unable to revive Ms Lakinski, but the call enabled police to trace one of the group, Scott Clement, which led to Anderson's arrest at a local club within hours.

He admitted outraging public decency and apologised through his barrister at Teesside crown court for actions which he said he still could not explain.

The court heard that Ms Lakinski lived opposite a house in Raby Road which Anderson shared with another man, who had been smoking cannabis and drinking heavily with him all afternoon. Anderson went out in shorts with a towel round his waist when he saw Ms Lakinski slumped on the pavement.

Sue Jacobs, prosecuting, said Anderson first kicked the helpless woman and when she groaned but failed to move or open her eyes, fetched a bowl of water and threw it over her. "Apparently urged on by the fact that Scott Clement and Simon Whitehead found this amusing, you then stated that you were going to urinate on her. Simon Whitehead cleared space on his mobile and recorded Anderson urinating all over Christine's body." One of the group shouted: 'This is YouTube material.'"

Judge Peter Fox, the recorder of Middlesbrough, told Anderson he had plumbed the depths of degradation and brought shame on the people of Hartlepool. He said: "This court can do nothing to repair what you did, only pass a sentence that is right in all the circumstances - three years imprisonment."

Anderson, unemployed after brief army service, has previous convictions for illegally importing cigarettes, obstructing a police officer and driving offences.

    Jail for ex-soldier who urinated on dying disabled woman, G, 27.10.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2200320,00.html

Mother and daughter

who died in car fire

had been tormented about disability


October 26, 2007
From Times Online
Steve Bird

A mother who murdered her disabled daughter and killed herself by setting fire to their car had been tormented by youths who mocked her child’s severe learning disabilities.

The bodies of Fiona Ann Pilkington, 38, and her daughter, Francesca Hardwick, 18, were discovered in their burning vehicle outside Earl Shilton, Leicestershire, late on Tuesday night.

Yesterday Leicestershire police confirmed that Ms Pilkington had contacted police repeatedly about youngsters making her and her daughter’s life a misery.

Neighbours claimed that children would bombard Ms Pilkington’s house windows with stones, bang on her front door and shout and call them names.

The pair lived on Bardon Road, an area renowned for children behaving in an antisocial way.

A police spokeswoman said that officers and the local council had been working together to eradicate the problems in the area, and a number of measures to tackle the issue were in place.

Police said that three people had been arrested and one charged this week in connection with antisocial behaviour in the area, but emphasised that they were not connected to the investigation into the deaths of Ms Pilkington and her daughter.

She said: “While we can confirm that Fiona Pilkington had reported several incidents of antisocial behaviour to the police, we must stress that there is no connection between those arrests and Fiona or Francesca, or indeed the investigation into their deaths.”

The spokeswoman added: “Tackling antisocial behaviour is a priority for the beat which covers Bardon Road and we police the area with this very much in mind.”

Ms Pilkington and her daughter were found dead after police received a report that a car was on fire in a lay-by off the A47.

Ann Jones, a family friend, described how Ms Pilkington had dedicated her life to looking after her daughter, who was known to her family as Frankie and who suffered severe learning difficulties.

She told The Daily Telegraph: “Fiona got so much abuse from some of the kids around here. She had a lot of problems with them.

“They would throw stones at her windows, bang on the door, shout and call them names.”

“She was one of the best. She was always laughing and joking. I saw her on Tuesday night and she seemed fine. But having to look after Frankie all the time was very difficult.”

When asked if detectives were investigating if Ms Pilkington had been bullied by youngsters in the area, the police spokeswoman said: “We are investigating all lines of inquiry into their deaths.”

She added that any further comment would be inappropriate as the deaths were still being investigated.

Post-mortem examinations carried out on Wednesday confirmed detectives’ belief that no one else was involved in their deaths, Leicestershire police said.

Tony Smith, the headmaster at Dorothy Goodman Special School, where Frankie had been a day pupil for the last 14 years, said she was a respected and popular student.

“She was friendly and kind, always had a smile on her face, and she was always keen to help others. Frankie was well liked by all staff and students and she contributed a great deal to the life and work of the school.

“We are deeply saddened by what has occurred and we will miss her greatly. Our thoughts are with her family at this time. During the first week back at school after half-term we will be arranging a celebration of her life, and we will be remembering all the wonderful work that she did whilst she was with us.”

    Mother and daughter who died in car fire had been tormented about disability, TS, 26.10.2007, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2745465.ece

4.15pm update

Nine held

after fatal shooting

in south London

Monday October 22, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Fred Attewill and agencies

Nine people have been arrested after a man was shot dead and another seriously wounded in a suspected drive-by shooting in south London.

Friends of the 35-year-old victim - some of whom are believed to be among those now in custody - drove the victim to hospital in Croydon but he died shortly afterwards.

Police said a member of the public reported shots in Streatham High Road at about 5.15am. Officers were then told two men had been taken to two south London hospitals suffering gunshot wounds.

The second man, also aged in his 30s, remains in a stable condition under armed guard.

Forensic officers were spotted on television removing a silver handgun from the scene.

Police believe people at two nearby nightclubs may hold clues as to the killer's identity.

Detective Chief Inspector Steve Horsley appealed for witnesses to come forward.

He said: "There are two nightclubs in the vicinity and there could well have been people leaving them who may have seen something."

He added: "It is a main thoroughfare in south London and it's possible there may have been people in the area - pedestrians, bus passengers or driving through, on their way to or from night work."

Operation Trident, the Metropolitan police team which targets gun crime in the black community, is investigating the shooting.

The latest shooting happened near the murder scene of 16-year-old James Andre Smarrt-Ford, who was shot by a gunman in February amid a crowd of 300 onlookers at an ice rink disco.

    Nine held after fatal shooting in south London, G, 22.10.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,2196660,00.html

Psychotic man used four knives

to kill health visitor making home visit


October 22, 2007
From Times Online
Andrew Norfolk, of The Times

A young mental health worker was stabbed to death with four knives by a patient who had been freed from a psychiatric hospital after trying to murder the Queen.

Ashleigh Ewing, 22, was on a routine visit to the home of Ronald Dixon, a paranoid schizophrenic, when he started a frenzied attack that left her with 39 separate stab wounds.

Dixon, 35, thought that he was the son of Henry VIII and had been arrested at Buckingham Palace four months earlier when he told police that he wanted to see his mother — the Queen — and planned to kill her.

He was treated at a psychiatric hospital after his bungled assassination attempt in January last year but by May he had been allowed to return to his rented home in Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne.

The Metropolitan Police had taken his threats on the Queen’s life seriously enough to order checks on his whereabouts before she paid a royal visit to the North East of England in April of that year.

Ms Ewing, who was sent to his flat to deliver a letter, was six months into her first full-time job after graduating from the University of Northumbria with a 2:1 in psychology.

She was employed as a support worker by a charity, Mental Health Matters, which provides community services to clients with psychiatric problems and managed the property where Dixon was living.

Newcastle Crown Court was told that Dixon, who called himself King Ron, had been refusing to take anti-psychotic drugs, was drinking alcohol and had become stressed by a series of mounting debts.

He was showing signs of a relapse into a psychotic state. The letter that Ms Ewing took to him confirmed that he had agreed to pay compensation for a telephone that he had damaged.

Paul Sloan, QC, prosecuting, told the court that “it would seem the content of the letter played some part in triggering the frantic knife attack which the defendant launched on Ashleigh Ewing”.

He said that forensic examinations later established that the assault began in the sitting room, where Ms Ewing, from Hebburn, South Tyneside, had been sitting in an armchair.

“There was a struggle during which items were knocked over and Ashleigh lost an earring. She then made her way to the kitchen, bleeding freely from knife wounds.

“She remained upright for a period, still trying to fend off knife blows. She eventually fell to the floor in the kitchen, where the defendant continued his attack, sitting astride Ashleigh while stabbing her in the chest and inflicting a deep wound to her neck.” Mr Sloan said that Dixon had used four knives in total. As one broke, he would arm himself with a replacement. The broken blade of one knife was found in one of Ms Ewing’s chest wounds.

When he had finished, Dixon, who was given a two-year probation order after attacking his sleeping parents with a hammer in 1994, walked to a local police station and announced that a woman was lying dead in his home.

During subsequent police interviews, he responded to most questions with a one-word reply, “King”. Dixon, who was originally from Sunderland, was charged with murder but the prosecution accepted his plea of guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsiblility.

Judge David Hodson ordered that he should be detained infinitely in a secure hospital. He told Dixon that his “frenzied and sustained knife attack” had cut short the life of “an active, intelligent young woman with enormous potential”.

“She was just embarking on a life of doing good for others and you ended that. In the months leading up to your attack on Ms Ewing there were a number of indicators which we can now see with hindsight were building up inexorably to the explosion of violence that occurred on that tragic meeting.” The judge said that the circumstances of the case demanded “an independent and thorough investigation” now that the criminal prosecution had been completed.

Ms Ewing’s parents, Aileen and Jeff Ewing, said in a statement that their daughter was still in her probationary period as a support worker. Her dream had been “to make a difference in the world”. They demanded to know why she had been asked to pay an unaccompanied visit to a client “who was known to have a violent past” and why Dixon’s medical care had not been monitored more closely.

Patrick Cosgrove, QC, Dixon’s barrister, also questioned why the inexperienced Miss Ewing had been sent to see his client alone.

“If responsible persons had taken rational decisions at the crucial time, Miss Ewing would never have been put in the situation of grave risk and perhaps Mr Dixon would not have been at liberty to commit the crime,” he said.

“On May 19, when he was severely ill and when so many of his warning lights were flashing, she was allowed to go alone to his home armed with a letter demanding payments for debts owed. He didn’t have an opportunity to kill the Queen but he had an opportunity to kill Miss Ewing.”

A Health and Safety Executive investigation into Miss Ewing’s death is awaiting publication. An independent inquiry into Dixon’s healthcare and treatment has been ordered by the North East Strategic Health Authority.

    Psychotic man used four knives to kill health visitor making home visit, Ts, 22.10.2007, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2718663.ece

Eight out of ten CCTV images

offer no help in solving crimes

October 20, 2007
From The Times
Richard Ford, Home Correspondent

Eight images out of ten supplied to the police from closed-circuit television do not help to identify criminals, according to a Home Office report published yesterday.

The report also says that the majority of cameras are not placed where they can help to detect or prevent serious crimes or terrorist attacks.

Some cameras are now being positioned to catch motorists in bus lanes and record vehicle numberplates. And many cameras in public places such as shopping centres and pubs and clubs are designed to “monitor crowds, slips, trips and falls” rather than criminal behaviour.

The report said that the use of CCTV cameras to generate income by monitoring traffic could lead to their being used less for crime prevention and catching criminals.

The National CCTV Strategy report outlined failings in the use of CCTV but recommended a huge extension in surveillance by allowing police almost automatic access to cameras run by councils, shopping centres and even small retail premises.

The report by the Home Office and the Association of Chief Police Officers said: “Anecdotal evidence suggests that over 80 per cent of the CCTV footage supplied to the police is far from ideal, especially if it is being used for primary identification or [where] identities are unknown and identification is being sought.”

It added: “In some cases the cameras’ initial purpose has been changed or they are required to perform a number of additional and conflicting tasks.”

Although the report highlighted the crucial role of CCTV in investigating terrorist incidents, it said: “The majority of cameras have not been placed in positions which may be required for the prevention and detection of serious and organised crime and counter-terrorism.” The authorities should consider placing cameras to cover high-risk targets such as key economic sites, the report added.

A study in 2002 suggested that there were 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain but the report said that there was uncertainty about where cameras were, if they were covering correct areas and whether the images they produced were “fit for purpose”.

The report said that the huge proliferation of CCTV cameras was presenting the police with serious problems – in particular their capacity to recover evidence and review tapes.

Many police forces had failed to develop the capacity to retrieve digitally recorded CCTV footage, resulting in evidence being lost, the report said. And since the introduction of digitally recorded CCTV, the owners of some systems were storing the recording for only 14 days rather than 28 to 31 days.

The study also called for a new body to be set up to oversee CCTV schemes and ensure there was a balance between cameras deployed for crime-fighting and other uses. There should be a review of the location and purpose of all CCTV cameras, it said.

A Home Office spokesman said: “The strategy recognises that for CCTV to continue to be effective it must have both the support of the public and take account of rapidly changing technology.”

David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: “The countless victims of crime in this country will be stunned to hear that not only can they not get a police officer on the streets but also most of the CCTV footage that should help them get justice is useless.”

    Eight out of ten CCTV images offer no help in solving crimes, Ts, 20.10.2007, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2697976.ece

Mother of murdered teenager

mourns her 'precious light'

· Police describe arrest as 'very significant'
· Gang member says feud grew from street dispute

Saturday October 20, 2007
Guardian
Matthew Taylor

The mother of the murdered teenager Jonathan Matondo described her son as her "precious light" yesterday and told how the pair had come to England when he was a toddler in search of a better life.

Sitting on the floor in her flat a few hundred yards from the spot where the 16-year-old was shot in the head on Wednesday night, Theresa Mfuilu said she could not understand why he had been killed.

"I am so very, very sad and upset," she said, sobbing. "Jonathan is the only son I have in England and he was my light. My son is so very precious, he is my baby, he is everything for me."

Jonathan's body was discovered behind a basketball court in a Sheffield park on Wednesday. He had been with friends when a gunman opened fire, scattering the group and killing Jonathan. Earlier in the day residents said there had been a running gun battle in nearby streets, with one group barricaded inside a house while another group took potshots.

An 18-year-old was yesterday arrested on suspicion of murder after armed police carried out five raids across Sheffield. Chief Superintendent Jon House described the arrest as "very significant".

Last night, a second 18-year-old, believed to be a local man, was arrested in connection with the death.

Locals said the trouble was focused on a postcode war between rival gangs which had spilled over after three or four years of bad feeling. According to one gang member, Jay, feuding groups from the neighbouring S3 and S4 areas of Sheffield had clashed repeatedly in recent months, with shots being fired on several occasions.

"The dispute between the S3 and the S4 has got worse for months," said Jay, 20, a senior member of the S3 gang. "It started years ago - maybe three - with a street dispute between two families. I think it could have been over something as small as an argument over a computer game. People's families and stuff get involved and it just spirals and this is where we have gotten to - someone dead. To be honest now no one really knows or talks about what started it now - it's just what it is."

Sitting on the back of a bench in a park overlooking the boundary between the S3 and S4 postcodes a mile north of Sheffield city centre, Jay said the feuding gangs were based around two families and were made up of men aged between 16 and 30.

"There have been a lot of tit-for-tat things going on, from fights to throwing bottles and shootings - people just taking potshots in the street. When the shootings have been going on in last few weeks people have not taken it seriously." But he said Jonathan's death had made people think. "I am scared now. I am paranoid walking down the street because this could happen to me or one of my friends."

He said guns had slowly become more readily available in the Burngreave area, although they were still more difficult to get hold of than in other cities. "It is not really that easy to get guns, not as easy as London or Manchester, but people can if they want. I can get one - it is easier than it was.

"I think everyone is a bit shocked about what happened because he was more in the wrong place at the wrong time than anything else. He was on the edges really, he was a good kid."

Robert Smith, a community activist, said that many people had been predicting for weeks that someone would get killed or seriously hurt. "I have had parents come to me and ask me for help because they are scared about what is going to happen to their children. There is a group that has been shooting another group over the last three or four months."

Yesterday Ms Mfuilu described the last time she saw her son and repeated the call for witnesses to come forward. "We said goodbye. I was going to church and he was going to the park. That was the last time I saw him ... I just ask, if anyone knows what happened, tell me, tell the police."

    Mother of murdered teenager mourns her 'precious light', G, 20.10.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,2195500,00.html

Violence rising

as confidence falls

in fight against crime

October 19, 2007
From The Times
Richard Ford and Adam Fresco

Violent crime has risen in England and Wales despite a drop in offences overall, Home Office figures revealed yesterday.

Public confidence in the criminal justice system has fallen significantly, with 16 to 17 per cent of people reporting “high levels” of anxiety about violent crime and antisocial behaviour.

There were 56 deaths as a result of gun crime in the year to the end of June, three more than in the previous year. Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said that the rise in youth crime and the number of teenagers being murdered on the streets of the capital was “totally unacceptable”.

Generally, crime recorded by the 43 police forces in England and Wales fell by 7 per cent to 1.3 million offences between April and June compared with the same period last year.

Violence against the person — including serious assaults and sexual attacks — fell by 8 per cent to 256,000 over the same period compared with last year. Over the first six months of this year, however, violent crime rose by 8.5 per cent from 236,000 offences in the first quarter to 256,000 in the second, including an increase in serious violent offences from 4,000 to 4,400 and sexual crimes from 12,800 to 14,300.

The separate British Crime Survey, which interviews people over 16 about their experience of crime, showed a rise of 1 per cent in violent crime between July 2006 and June 2007 compared with the previous 12 months. This included a 2 per cent rise in offences causing injury. The Home Office said that the increases were not statistically significant, although Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, is planning to announce a strategy to tackle violent crime.

Vanessa Nicholls, director of crime and drugs strategy at the Home Office, told Ms Smith in July that though there had been an enormous reduction in crime, the trend had levelled out, which was cause for concern. There needed to be a robust response to serious violence and sexual offending, Ms Nicholls added.

The figures for recorded crime showed an 8 per cent fall in robberies to 23,000 in the second quarter of the year, a continuing fall in domestic burglary and vehicle crime, and a significant drop in cases of criminal damage. The fall in domestic burglary to 67,000 and offences against vehicles to 170,000 was largely due to more homes being equipped with burglar alarms and security devices being installed in cars.

Drug offences jumped by 14 per cent to 55,000, which the Home Office said was a result of the greater use by police of formal warnings for possession of cannabis.But despite the overall fall in crime, many people are still anxious about crime and have little confidence in the criminal justice system. In seven categories, including whether the system is effective in bringing offenders to justice, meeting the needs of victims, and reducing crime, public confidence has fallen.

Only 42 per cent of people believe that the system is effective in bringing criminals to justice, 40 per cent that it deals with cases promptly and efficiently and 34 per cent that it meets the needs of victims of crime.

The perception that the needs of victims are not being met will be particularly disappointing both for the Home Office and what is now the Ministry of Justice, which have spent years trying to ensure that victims are placed at the heart of the criminal justice system. Tony McNulty, the Police Minister, said: “I am encouraged that the BCS shows stability after historic falls and the police figures show that total recorded crime is down by 7 per cent. Reductions in violence against the person, domestic burglary and criminal damage all point to significant progress.”

Sir Ian said that the battle to halt the rise in youth violence in London was “extremely challenging” but he promised to put all of the force’s “considerable resources to try and stop it happening”. He added: “We need to find out why some young people feel safer in gangs than out of them. The battle is far from lost. I lived in Los Angeles 30 years ago, and what we have is a very different problem which we will get on top of.”

    Violence rising as confidence falls in fight against crime, Ts, 20.10.2007, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2686921.ece

Sheffield shooting

Boy, 16, shot dead in gang gun battle

· Residents say teenager a victim of 'postcode war'
· Police insist city is the safest in the country

Friday 19 October 2007
The Guardian
Matthew Taylor
This article was first published on guardian.co.uk at 00.10 BST on Friday 19 October 2007.
It appeared in the Guardian on Friday 19 October 2007 on p17 of the Top stories section.
It was last updated at 00.10 BST on Friday 19 October 2007.

A teenager who dreamed of becoming a preacher was shot in the head in what residents last night described as an increasingly vicious "postcode war" between rival gangs.

Jonathan Matondo's body was discovered behind a basketball court in a park in Sheffield on Wednesday night.

Yesterday his uncle, Armand Vibila, speaking hours after identifying the body, broke down as he said his nephew had been "too young to die".

"He was such a good boy, so funny, this should not happen to our community," he said.

Last night neighbours in the Burngreave area of Sheffield said there had been a running gun battle between two gangs in the hours leading up to the killing, with one group chasing the other into a nearby park, firing shots.

Resident Robert Smith, writing on the website of the Burngreave Messenger, said one group of youngsters barricaded themselves in a house in nearby Melrose Road as a rival gang opened fire. However, it appears that police were not called to the area at this stage.

"Today in Burngreave we have reached a new level in an inner city internal warfare that is seeing young people firing guns as though playing a video amusement game with life. Killing the innocent and involving those never before involved in their issues or disputes," Mr Smith wrote.

He said the death had left the community "shocked and very angry".

The Rev Jacques Kinsiona, a preacher at the Light of Christ Church, said Jonathan had been a regular churchgoer until two months ago. "Jonathan was a great person - he had been to our church and one day he asked and said, 'Reverend Jacques, I want to be a preacher', and I said yes."

Neighbours said Jonathan, known locally as MC Venemous, had been caught up in a postcode war between rival gangs. One man who lives close to the park agreed that the shooting was related a feud between two groups of youths from different areas.

"It is about gangs. It's that simple. It's S3 versus S5 versus S4. This was all about one lad from one area winding up those from another area. I've also heard that it was an argument over as little as £50."

Another resident, advice worker Douglas Johnson, said: "This is what happens when drug-dealing activity goes on. Kids get involved and start playing with guns. It's a very sad case. It's very shocking."

Sheffield's police commander, Chief Superintendent Jon House, insisted Sheffield was "safest city in the country," adding that armed officers would patrol the area in the coming days to reassure local people. He said it was the third fatal shooting in the city in the last 18 months.

Mr House said that information from the public would allow police to "make arrests shortly". But asked if the killing was linked to a gang feud, he refused to comment.

Despite the police reassurances, people in Burngreave insisted that they face a growing problem with gangs and drugs. A woman whose shop overlooks the park where the teenager was killed said she was not surprised by the latest shooting. She said that Jonathan was a "polite" boy but said she feared that some of his acquaintances were "into drugs".

The woman, who said she did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, described the area as "a ghetto". "It's got bad. You can get drugs and guns round here pretty easy now."

Another resident, Diane Johnson, who has three sons and a daughter, said the killing had "left a deep sense of shock in the community".

"Do I want to be here any more?" said Ms Johnson, who has lived in the street next to the park for nine years. "I have a nine-year-old son and I just don't know if it is safe for him round here, but I don't know what to do."

Yesterday's killing happened less than a mile from the scene of a shooting in March in which a 53-year-old taxi driver was killed.

A father of five, Younis Khan, 53, was shot as he drove along Scott Road, in the Pitsmoor area of Sheffield.

The neighbouring Burngreave, Pitsmoor and Spital Hill areas have witnessed a number of shooting incidents in recent years, although police and council leaders always insist Sheffield does not have a gun problem on anything like the scale of cities such as Manchester, Nottingham and London.

Around the country

The shooting of a 16-year-old boy in Sheffield is the latest in a worrying trend of teenagers being killed around the country.

The number of youngsters who have been shot and killed, particularly in London, has prompted concern about how to tackle the problem.

Four days ago, student Philip Poru (pictured top left), 18, was shot dead as he sat in a silver Ford Fiesta with an 18-year-old friend near Woolwich Common, Plumstead. He was the 21st teenager to die of gun or knife crime in London this year.

Two months earlier Nathan Foster, 18, was shot by an armed motorcyclist in Brixton, south London. Billy Cox and Michael Dosunmu (above right), both 15, and 16-year-old James Andre Smartt-Ford were all killed by guns within a fortnight in south London in February.

In Liverpool, Rhys Jones (top right), 11, died after he was shot while walking home from football training in Croxteth on August 22.

In Manchester, three teenagers have recently been killed by guns. In April Kasha Peniston, then aged 16, shot his sister Kamilah, 12, in the head with a handgun his mother kept in their home in Gorton. Kally Gilligan (above left), 15, was shot dead by her jilted ex-boyfriend, Josh Thompson, 18, in Salford in June last year, and last September Jessie James, 15, was shot dead as he cycled through a park in Moss Side.

Press Association

    Boy, 16, shot dead in gang gun battle, G, 19.5.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/oct/19/topstories3.ukcrime

12.15pm update

Murdered teenager

was shot in the head,

say Sheffield police

Thursday October 18, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Rosalind Ryan and agencies

A 16-year-old boy found dead in a play area in Sheffield had been shot in the head, police said today.

The victim was found after emergency services were called to the Nottingham Cliff play park in the city's Burngreave area yesterday evening.

Sheffield's police commander, Chief Superintendent Jon House, said the teenager came from a respectable local family. "Specialist officers are with the family, to whom we offer our sincere condolences," he said.

Armed officers are now patrolling the area in an attempt to reassure residents.

Police and council leaders insist that gun crime is rare in Sheffield compared with cities such as Manchester, Nottingham and London.

However, Ch Supt House said detectives were investing possible links to another shooting that happened in the city centre over the last 24 hours. No one was injured in the previous shooting.

Police have ruled out a link to a further shooing in the area six weeks ago, in which another 16-year-old was hurt. Ch Supt House said he was determined to solve the latest shooting quickly.

"The suspects are believed to be local and witnesses are asked to come forward," he said. "It is only with the help of the community, who are obviously very shocked by this crime, that we will be able to bring those responsible to justice."

A community newsletter claimed teenage gangs have plagued the area in recent months and that local residents believe the shooting may be drug related.

But when asked if there were problems with local gangs, Ch Supt House would only say that the investigation was still in its early stages.

Sheffield's last fatal shooting happened in March when taxi driver Younis Khan, a 53-year-old father of five, was shot dead while driving along Scott Road, in the Pitsmoor area.

The Burngreave, Pitsmoor and Spital Hill districts have witnessed several shootings in recent years.

    Murdered teenager was shot in the head, say Sheffield police, G, 18.10.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,2193575,00.html

11.45am

Crime figures show decline

Thursday October 18, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Alan Travis, home affairs editor

Crime recorded by the police in England and Wales fell by 7% in the 12 months to June, according to Home Office figures published today.

The unexpected drop included proportional declines in violent crime and firearm offences, but the death toll from gun crime rose from 53 in the same period a year ago to 56.

The Home Office figures also showed that despite the sharp drop in recorded crime, fear of crime levels and concerns about antisocial behaviour remained high and public confidence in the criminal justice system - the police and the courts - fell on five out of seven measures.

The latest results from the British Crime Survey, which criminologists regard as a more reliable measure of trends in crime, showed no change in crime levels, continuing the stable trend seen over the last two years.

The BCS, which is based on 40,000 interviews, found that the risk of being a victim of crime remained at 24% - the lowest level since the survey began in 1981.

The Home Office figures showed 1.29m offences recorded by the police between April and June this year, down from 1.39m over the same period in 2006.

The largest fall was in property crime - including burglary, criminal damage and car crime - which fell from just over 1m offences to 932,000, a 7% drop.

Robbery was down 9% to 23,000 cases, violence against the person down 8% to 256,000 incidents, and sexual offences also fell 9% to 14,000 crimes.

The only category to see an increase was drug offences, which were up 14%. Some 55,000 people were dealt with between April and June this year.

The rise is believed to reflect the greater targeting of class A drugs including heroin and cocaine, and an increase in warnings handed out for cannabis possession in the wake of the reclassification of its status.

Firearms offences dropped to 9,712 cases in the year to June, from 10,351 in the previous 12 months. The number of incidents involving serious injury fell from 435 to 388 over the same period, but the death toll rose slightly. The majority of incidents involved handguns.

The Home Office minister, Tony McNulty, said: "I am encouraged that the BCS shows stability after historic falls and the police figures show that total recorded crime is down by 7%.

"Reductions in violence against the person, domestic burglary and criminal damage all point to significant progress."

    Crime figures show decline, G, 18.10.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2193814,00.html

3.30pm update

Murder hunt

after teenager stabbed

in phone row

Monday October 8, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Mark Tran

Police today launched a murder inquiry into the stabbing of a 17-year-old boy after he intervened when a gang took a mobile from his friends in east London.

The teenager, named by his family as Rizwan Darbar, was attacked as he walked through West Ham Park, Newham, late yesterday afternoon. He died at Newham General hospital shortly before 7pm. No arrests have yet been made.

His brother Tausif, 19, said he was told of the stabbing after being called by Rizwan's friends.

"The first I knew about it was when I got a phone call. I came straight to the park and the ambulance was already here. Rizwan was on a stretcher," he said. "I was asking his friends and the police what had happened. I didn't think it was too major to start with.

"They had given Rizwan morphine. He was in a lot of pain. And then I went with him in the ambulance.

"I spoke to him in the ambulance. He was saying that it was nothing much, that they were having a laugh and then these boys approached them."

Mr Darbar said Rizwan was taken straight into surgery after arriving at the hospital and doctors later came out and told the family that he had suffered a cardiac arrest.

Speaking at the scene today, Detective Chief Inspector Matt Horne said the friends had been listening to music on a mobile phone when they were approached by three older youths.

He said: "They were approached by three young black lads in their mid to late teens. The boys were listening to music on the phone and that was taken from them. At the instigation of one of the youths, the third stabbed the victim."

Mr Horne said: "Rizwan and his friends were doing nothing other than listening to music on the phone. They were reasonable lads doing nothing whatsoever," the Press Association reported. The attack was "an unprovoked robbery with gratuitous violence that did not need to be there for the purpose of stealing the phones".

In August, Gordon Brown promised to pass legislation to deal with the growing problem of teenage gang culture.

The prime minister made the pledge after he and the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, held a Downing Street youth crime "summit" with the police and voluntary agencies to step up their efforts after a spate of stabbings and shootings involving young people.

Downing Street has tried to calm the growing political furore over knife crime, saying crime overall had fallen and that the punishments for carrying a knife are now much tougher.

The Home Office has disputed recent crime figures from the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, at King's College, London, which claimed that while 10% of robberies (25,500 cases) involved a knife in 2004-05, that proportion had reached 20% (64,000) by 2006-07.

Home Office officials said the figures were a crude extrapolation of British Crime Survey figures, and there was no statistically significant increase in the use of knives in violent incidents.

    Murder hunt after teenager stabbed in phone row, G, 8.10.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2186233,00.html

12.45pm

Teenager admits fatal shooting of sister

Tuesday October 2, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
James Orr and agencies


A 17-year-old boy today admitted shooting dead his 12-year-old sister with an illegal handgun kept by their mother.
Kasha Peniston, then aged 16, shot Kamilah Peniston in the head with a .38 snub-nosed revolver.

The youngster, initially charged with murder, appeared at Manchester crown court today to plead guilty to an alternative count of manslaughter. He stood in the dock wearing a T-shirt bearing a portrait of his sister and the words "RIP Kamilah 1994-2007".

Paul Reid QC, prosecuting, said it was "appropriate in the circumstances to accept the plea", which had been submitted on the basis of "gross negligence".

The court heard how the gun was being looked after by the pair's 33-year-old mother, Natasha, and had been buried in the garden of the family home in Gorton, Manchester. Kasha had been playing with the gun when it went off, killing his sister.

Mr Justice Holland described the shooting as "a terrible tragedy and terrible accident." He said the teenager had not intended to fire the powerful weapon.

The court heard how the youngster's mother was away in London to attend a funeral at the time of the shooting. She had told her son not to touch the firearm, but he had got hold of the gun and taken it inside the house.

He had the gun in his pocket while he was in the living room, and his sister was lying on the sofa when it went off. He ran from the house shouting: "Call an ambulance."

Crying and covered in her blood, he cradled the "struggling" girl on the pavement outside their home as their eight-year-old twin sisters looked on.

Shocked neighbours ran to help Kamilah, but she died in hospital on the morning after the shooting, which happened at around 7.30pm on April 30.

Ed Wylie, her headteacher at St Thomas Aquinas High School, said she was a "wonderful girl and model pupil".

The mother has already pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited firearm and ammunition. The court was not told how she had come to have the gun. The offence of possessing an illegal handgun carries a minimum jail term of five years.

Kasha has been remanded in local authority care, and his mother is on bail. Both will be sentenced at a later date.

    Teenager admits fatal shooting of sister, G, 2.10.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,2181971,00.html

Girl who ran away from home after row found dead in forest

· Body discovered three weeks after disappearance
· Police not treating death of 15-year-old as suspicious

Tuesday September 25, 2007
Guardian
Karen McVeigh

The family of the missing Hampshire schoolgirl Rosemary Edwards were told yesterday that the body of a young woman found in the New Forest was that of the missing girl. Police who had been searching for the 15-year-old, who disappeared from the family home after an argument three weeks ago, said they were not treating the death as suspicious.

Rosemary's father, David, said the family were "completely shell-shocked" by the discovery of the body.

Speaking from his home in Dibden Purlieu, which borders the New Forest, Mr Edwards, a computer programmer, told the local Daily Echo: "Rosemary touched so many people's lives. It seems impossible to believe she was so low that she felt life wasn't worth living."

On a newspaper message site that the family had used to publicise Rosemary's disappearance, her mother, Jennifer, wrote: "People look for blame and answers but sometimes there is no one to blame. Some questions can never be answered."

A keen horse rider and talented student who already had a GCSE A-grade in maths and a B in art, Rosemary had been due to return to school on the day she went missing. Her body was found by two walkers on Sunday in an area of the New Forest known as Busketts Lawn Inclosure, near Bartley, 10 miles from her home.

The discovery came just days after a £100,000 reward was offered for the teenager's safe return.

Rosemary's brother, Robert, 19, posted a tribute to his sister on the Facebook website. He said: "Rosemary had a fantastically good 15 years of life and will be missed by all, especially her friends and family. We don't know what could have happened in Rosemary's life to lead her to the circumstances that have occurred. But I know deep down that she knew that so many people loved her and cared for her."

Rosemary had not been seen since 10.30pm on Tuesday September 4, when she went to her bedroom after an argument with her parents. They had banned her from horse riding and other activities after finding out she had lied over how she lost her part-time job in a shop.

Mr Edwards, who was the last to see her when he went to her bedroom to say goodnight, has written of his regret at their last conversation together and his torment in blaming himself for her disappearance and of the events that led up to it.

Writing on an internet forum before his daughter's body was found, he said: "Rosemary told us she had left her part-time job, but we later found out that she had been sacked for a minor transgression which shocked her employer and us because it was so totally out of character.

"As parents, we didn't want this to be the start of Rosemary going off the rails, so we imposed a short ban on accessing the internet and a longer ban on horse riding."

He later realised, from texts and emails he had found, that she was going through "some kind of torment in her head ... I played the blame game for the first few days, but it is very self-destructive, on top of all the other emotions."

He said that when he last saw her he asked for a hug, but she refused. He then gave her a kiss on the cheek. He added: "I wish I'd said how much I loved her, but how many other parents do this constantly just in case it could be the last time you see your son or daughter?"

Police said a post mortem examination was being carried out yesterday.

    Girl who ran away from home after row found dead in forest, G, 25.9.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2176413,00.html

2.15pm update

Two robbers shot dead in failed bank raid

Thursday September 13, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
David Batty and agencies

Two robbers were shot dead today when police confronted an armed gang during a bank raid in Hampshire, police said.

The shooting happened at around 10.05am while police were staking out the HSBC bank on Bournemouth Road, Chandlers Ford, Eastleigh.

One man died at the scene, while a second was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead at midday, according to the Metropolitan police.

There are reports that a third man fled the scene but this has not been confirmed by the police.

The gang is believed to have been targeting a security van outside the bank.

No officers or members of the public were injured in the incident.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating the operation, which was mounted by the Metropolitan police's flying squad and specialist firearms unit in conjunction with Hampshire police.

The IPCC said the two men were shot by Metropolitan police officers.

The flying squad specialises in tackling armed robbers and sometimes lies in wait for gangs as a result of tipoffs.

Jamie Owens, 16, who lives above the bank, said he was woken by gunfire and saw two men, one of mixed race and the other white, lying in the road.

He said his neighbours told him they saw a third man escaping from the scene.

They told him they witnessed a security van pull up to the bank and the robbers put a gun to one of the guard's heads demanding money. At this point the robbers were shot by the police.

Mr Owen said: "I heard two gunshots. I thought nothing of them. I thought it was just a car backfiring, then I heard a woman screaming, heard a lot of commotion and I saw the two men lying on the floor.

"Their clothes were stripped off them with tape on their chests as they tried to resuscitate them, but one wasn't moving at all.

"There were 25 to 30 undercover police officers with 'Metropolitan Police' across their caps with big machine guns.

"They were shouting at people that they can't go home, they must leave the area. I saw a lot of police around. I saw a helicopter landing in the street.

"My friends also said that they saw a third man running from the scene and the police said that he was still on the run."

A witness, Rob Holman, 41, from Chandlers Ford, who was driving past the bank, told the Southern Daily Echo: "I heard a bang but then I heard two or three more and then immediately there were two cars filled with armed police rushing past.

"It was a long time before uniformed police arrived but there were so many armed police here they must have had a tipoff."

An employee at Mann & Co estate agents, a few yards from where the shooting happened, said: "The police must have been tipped off. One customer told us they saw police officers running out of the public toilets just near to the bank and then they heard the shots.

"A police officer came in to talk to us and suggested one of the robbers had got away. I saw the body on the floor afterwards but it had been covered.

"This is out of the ordinary for sleepy Chandlers Ford so we are all a bit shook up."

Melanie Chase, who lives above the bank, said: "I was in the bath when I heard someone shouting 'Get down, Get down' and then I heard three shots. I looked out the window and saw blood everywhere on the floor. It was horrible."

Lynn Ward, who works at the Alexander Keen estate agent next to the HSBC bank, said: "When I looked out of the window I saw a security van and two people on the floor with armed police stood over them.

"It was chaos and there was lots of shouting and screaming. It was then I realised it must have been gunshots. We immediately locked the doors and hid in the back. At the moment the whole precinct has been closed and nobody can get in or out.

"Chandlers Ford is a rural town and you certainly do not expect this kind of thing to happen. We are all very shocked but the police have come in and reassured us there is nothing to worry about now."

A spokesman for HSBC said: "We can confirm that no customers or staff have been hurt in this incident. We are obviously very grateful because this violent incident appears to have had the potential to have been much worse."

The IPCC said its investigators were attending the scene.

    Two robbers shot dead in failed bank raid, G, 13.9.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,2168317,00.html

3.15pm update

Girl, 14, locked up for knife killing of sister

Friday September 7, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Press Association

A girl aged 14 who killed her 16-year-old sister with a carving knife after a row about clothes and boyfriends was today sentenced to three and a half years' detention.

After a week-long trial, the jury of three men and nine women took just over five hours to find the girl not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter by way of provocation.

The defendant had admitted killing her sister at their home in the Ovenden area of Halifax, West Yorkshire, on the evening of March 26 after an argument escalated into a physical fight.

Sentencing the girl, Mr Justice McKinnon, said she had done a "terrible thing taking up that carving knife and using it to deadly effect". He said: "You stabbed your sister with a large carving knife in the living room of your home.

"The knife entered the deceased's body at the back just to the side of the left shoulder blade at a depth of 12cm, puncturing the lung and causing severe internal bleeding.

"As a result of remarks you made at the time about the deceased's boyfriend, the deceased attacked you, grabbing your hair and pulling it hard.

"You went into the kitchen, grabbed the nearest knife and returned to the living room with it and used it to stab your sister."

Earlier, Bradford crown court heard how the girls started arguing after the defendant borrowed her sister's white top without asking. The argument soon became physical after the girls swapped insults about their boyfriends. The defendant told her sister her boyfriend "wouldn't amount to much" by working at a supermarket.

The older girl then flew at the 14-year-old, grabbing her hair and kicking her in the head.

The mother, who is divorced from the girls' father, managed to separate her daughters.

But the defendant ran into the kitchen and grabbed a knife before returning to the living room. She told the court she had been "proper upset and angry".

The court heard the mother told her to put the knife down before looking on horrified as "blood sprayed up the wall". When the defendant dropped the knife, her sister picked it up and stabbed her in the back of the thigh.

At first the defendant and her mother did not realise how badly injured the victim was. Both girls were taken by ambulance to Calderdale Royal hospital, where the older girl died in the early hours of the morning.

The defendant had told the court: "I'm sorry and I love her and I want her back."

Outside court, Detective Superintendent Andy Brennan of West Yorkshire police read a statement on behalf of the mother and family. "We will all miss my daughter's enormous big smile and the laughter that we shared.

"We got her GCSE results this summer and she had got really good grades, all As and Bs, and we are very proud of her. "Although my heart is broken for the loss of my beautiful daughter, I feel my youngest daughter should be at home with her family.

"We feel she will live with this for the rest of her life and I think that is punishment enough as that is like a life sentence in itself."

The detective said the case had been "difficult and tragic" but had been dealt with using "the utmost sensitivity".

"The consequences of what has happened must send a clear message out to anybody who is considering carrying a knife or using a knife in any way, shape or form," he said.

    Girl, 14, locked up for knife killing of sister, G, 7.9.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2164602,00.html

3pm update

Mourners pay respects at Rhys funeral

Thursday September 6, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
James Sturcke and David Ward


More than 2,500 mourners, hundreds of them dressed in the blue and red shirts of Liverpool's premiership clubs, today filled the city's Anglican cathedral for the funeral of 11-year-old Rhys Jones.

Rhys' coffin, painted blue and adorned with the badge of his beloved Everton football club, arrived at the cathedral shortly before 2pm after a procession from his family home in Croxteth past the ground of his footballing heroes.

Accompanied by around 100 family members, the cortege was met by mourners of all ages - some in push chairs, others helped by walking frames - who had been invited by Rhys's parents to take part in a service to celebrate his life.

Rhys' parents, Melanie, 41, and Stephen, 44, asked mourners to dress in vibrant colours for the service, and the bright yellow of the Brazilian national strip as well as the green and white of Celtic were among the shirts on display.

A boys' football team wearing black armbands and senior Everton players as well as Liverpool FC representatives, were among those who filed into the gothic cathedral built in the 1930s.

Rhys was shot dead on August 22 while walking home from football practice in what police think may have been a case of mistaken identity. The coffin, carried by Rhys's father, dressed in an Everton strip, 17-year-old brother Owen and two other family members, was greeted by applause as it was carried down the aisle of the cathedral to the tune of the Everton anthem "Z Cars".

The service began with the hymn "All Things Bright and beautiful". "Melanie, Stephen and Owen, in all the heartbreaking sadness of the last two weeks you, with Rhys, have become a beacon of light for our city," the Anglican bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Rev James Jones, said.

"Your love for Rhys, your dignity and your family life have shone out and restored hope and honour to our community shamed by such a crime.

"You asked us to come in bright colours, even in football shirts, to celebrate the life and the light that sparkled out of Rhys.

"Some might be surprised that you wanted the cathedral to be filled with brightness. Some might have thought that dark colours were more suitable for the deep sorrow that has filled the heart of a nation.

"But you wanted the bright colours because they match the warmth and the fun that poured out of his young life, and from the one who always brought a smile to your face."

Wearing a suit and football scarf, Rhys's uncle Neil Jones, told the congregation that Rhys would always be remembered for his "cheeky grin" which accompanied him during his "short and happy life".

Alan Stubbs, the Everton defender, delivered a reading to the mourners, who included teachers and pupils from Rhys's former primary school, Broad Square. It is believed senior police officers, including detectives who have led the hunt for his killer, also attended.

The 40-minute service ended with applause from inside the cathedral and the estimated 800 mourners outside, as Rhys was carried out to the waiting hearse to be taken to a private burial.

Police say the strongest line of inquiry remains that Rhys was the accidental victim of a targeted attack against others. They have not ruled out a connection between the shooting and a local feud between two gangs.

So far, 17 people have been arrested in connection with the murder. Twelve have been bailed pending further inquiries, and five were released without charge and are being treated as witnesses.

    Mourners pay respects at Rhys funeral, G, 6.9.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2163508,00.html

Brown widens review of impact media violence has on children

· PM rules out censorship, but wants new controls
· New look at pre-watershed TV advertising urged

Wednesday September 5, 2007
Guardian
Patrick Wintour, political editor


The impact of media violence on children will be the focus of a wider than expected government review being launched today. It may lead to new voluntary controls over excessive violence and sex on children's television and the internet and in video games.

Gordon Brown stressed that he did not see the review leading to state censorship, but hoped it would lead to a common agreement between parents, programme makers and internet providers that new controls are necessary.

Mr Brown is entering the highly charged debate on lost childhood - an issue of being examined by the shadow higher education secretary, David Willetts. The protection of children on TV was first highlighted by Bill Clinton, and proved to be unexpectedly popular for the Democrats.

Speaking at his monthly press conference in Downing Street, Mr Brown said parents were right to expect the government to do everything in its power to protect children from harmful material in a multimedia age. The review is to be conducted by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Mr Brown said: "The sources of information for children from a very young age now are the internet, television, commercial advertising. That is a good thing in so many different ways, but where there is pornographic or violent material, any parent is going to be concerned."

In the past the sources of authority for children had been schools or parents. The aim of the review was to protect children from some of the malign influences in the media, he said. He added that he had concerns about the routine violence on children's television, saying he wanted to see a better-policed watershed hour and a review of advertising before the watershed.

He stressed: "This is not the government telling people what they should do ... this is society reaching a conclusion with all those people involved about what are the legitimate boundaries."

He added: "I think we have got to look at this as a society. I hope this is one of the areas where there can be common ground between all parties. I think you need to review this with a large number of representative groups, from parents, from the different industries itself and from other areas of public life.

"This is not an area where you can proceed in my view without trying to establish both what the boundaries are and what is the consensus you can build around these boundaries."

"I am not interested in censorship at all, but I think we do need rules governing some aspects of the internet and videos where children are involved." He said he expected the media to be fully willing to be involved in the review.

At the press conference, his second as PM, he ruled out holding a US-style general election debate, arguing that unlike the US, Britain has regular leadership debates in the Commons at prime minister's questions. The Tories accused him of "running away." Mr Brown once again failed to rule out a snap poll this autumn, but stressed he was getting on with the business of governing. "There is a time and a place to discuss elections. This is not the time", he said. He also rejected claims that there is a split between UK and US policy on Iraq, saying both are on the "same path".

British troops withdrew from Basra Palace this week but he admitted greater reconciliation was needed between the Iraqi factions. Mr Brown stressed that all British troop reductions were discussed with the US and Iraqis in advance, and it had always been expected that different provinces within Iraq be controlled by Iraqi security forces at different times.

    Brown widens review of impact media violence has on children, G, 5.9.2007, http://politics.guardian.co.uk/media/story/0,,2162630,00.html

3.45pm

Seventeenth arrest in Rhys murder hunt

Tuesday September 4, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Staff and agencies


A 16-year-old boy was arrested today on suspicion of the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones.

Rhys was shot dead on August 22 as he walked home from football practice across the car park of the Fir Tree public house in Croxteth, Liverpool.

Today's arrest brought the total number made in connection with the killing to 17. No one has yet been charged in connection with the case. Of those arrested earlier, 10 were freed on bail and six released without charge.

The senior investigating officer, Detective Superintendent Dave Kelly, said today: "We have a very clear strategy for this investigation and we are determined to leave no stone unturned.

"We are confident about the swift progress we are making, and want to thank the public for their ongoing support."

On Sunday hundreds of people attended a community vigil to pay tribute to Rhys.

His mother, Melanie, 41, his father, Stephen, 44, and his older brother, Owen, 17, lit a candle in his memory at Croxteth Park, near their home, and one of Rhys's friends gave a reading.

Today, detectives were continuing to appeal for the driver of a red car to come forward to help the investigation.

They said the motorist would have been on Fir Tree Drive North at about 7.40pm on the night of the shooting.

Police suspect that the driver may have seen a cyclist leave the scene and head for the nearby Dam Wood.

Rhys was shot by a hooded youth on a BMX in what was thought to be a case of mistaken identity.

Investigating officers said an appeal last week targeting a man who called Crimestoppers on August 24 was successful and the man had made contact again.

A second anonymous caller, who originally telephoned at 11.20pm on August 25, had also been back in touch following an appeal last week, but detectives today appealed for him to contact them again.

Mr Kelly said: "At this stage we are looking at a number of motives, but the strongest line of inquiry is that Rhys was the accidental victim of a targeted attack against others.

"We also can't rule out that this situation involved local opposing factions."

    Seventeenth arrest in Rhys murder hunt, G, 4.9.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,2162283,00.html

Girl, 3, survives gangland attack that left three dead and her mother injured

August 30, 2007
From The Times
Marcus Leroux

A three-year-old girl escaped unhurt in an attack in which three men were shot dead in what appeared to be gang-land killings.

The girl’s mother and another woman suffered serious injuries when two gunmen burst into a house in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, and fired up to ten shots in a dispute thought to be linked to drug dealing.

Keith Cowell, 52, his son Matthew, 17, and a 33-year-old man died instantly when they were shot in the head. Mr Cowell’s sister and his son’s 23-year-old girlfriend, Clare, were seriously injured in the attack on Tuesday night.

Sources said that the shootings had taken place in separate rooms, and that the same gun had probably been used. Police are hunting for two Asian men in their late teens or early twenties who sped away in a red car.

The women were reportedly injured - the elder shot in the foot and the younger stabbed in the back and hand - as they shielded the little girl, thought to be called Angel.

The family’s Staffordshire bull terrier was also shot dead in the attack.

Lynne Walford, a neighbour, said: “I heard the screech of the car, much more intense than usual when it’s just teenagers mucking about. A few minutes afterwards, the helicopters were going and I saw the police bring out a small girl. She wasn’t even crying or anything. Her legs were bare and she was probably in a nightdress. The policewoman put her in the back of the car and they drove off.”

Mrs Walford said she had heard an argument on the street on Saturday night that might have involved the Cowells. “Everybody these days expects something like this on their street,” she said. “There are always police around here.”

Dean O’Connell, 20, who lives in the close, said: “This estate is renowned for a little bit of drugs. Most of the trouble here, I imagine, is because of drugs.”

Neighbours described a stream of young visitors arriving at the semidetached council house, many driving high specification, customised cars.

One young neighbour said: “Mat-thew started hanging around a crowd that used to be my friends. I stopped seeing them when they started getting in trouble.”

The family moved to Bishop’s Stortford two years ago after the repossession of their home in the nearby town of Buntingford. Mr Cowell had worked as a taxi driver and decorator while his wife worked for a car hire company based at Stansted airport. Their son was a keen amateur footballer who wanted to work in the building trade and worked as a binman. They also have a married daughter, Charlotte, in her early twenties.

The gunmen arrived at the house at about 9.30pm, minutes after Mr Cowell’s wife, Nicole, 46, had left for work.

Her brother, Roger Spellane, 55, from Wood Green, North London, said: “My sister is in a state of shock, as you can imagine, and I haven’t really been able to talk to her properly.

“Keith was a lovely man and showed nothing but kindness to my family. They were married for 25 years and in that time I never had any problems with him. He was a lovely chap.”

Gary Sanderson, of the East of England Ambulance Service, said that the men were pronounced dead at the scene. “The women were treated rapidly and were taken to hospital. The little girl was carried out of the house and she was fine,” he said.

Chief Superintendent Al Thomas, of East Hertfordshire Police, said that it appeared to be a targeted attack.

    Girl, 3, survives gangland attack that left three dead and her mother injured, Ts, 30.8.2007, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2351423.ece

Phone caller gave key details on boy's shooting

· Police say only a matter of time before killer caught
· Gunman was on the scene for barely three minutes

Thursday August 30, 2007
Guardian
David Ward

Detectives investigating the murder of 11-year-old Rhys Jones said yesterday that a man had rung in with information that could lead them to the young Everton fan's killer. Acting Detective Superintendent Dave Kelly, who is leading the inquiry for Merseyside police, said the anonymous informant made his short call to police at 11.29pm on Saturday August 25, and asked him to make contact again.

Speaking outside the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth Park, Liverpool, where Rhys was shot dead a week ago, Mr Kelly also appealed directly to the killer to admit what he had done. "Do the honest thing and give yourself up," he said. "It's only a matter of time before we get you."

He added that the killer was on the scene for barely three minutes and had in the space of 30 seconds appeared around the corner of the pub, fired three shots and then ridden away on his BMX bike. "We do not know who the intended victim was."

He said he was grateful to the mystery caller who had provided key information. Asked if the man had named the killer, Mr Kelly replied: "I cannot say that." Nor would he confirm whether the man's call had led specialist teams to search the undergrowth and ponds of Dam Wood on the edge of Croxteth Park.

He appealed to the caller to ring again, saying: "Please get in touch. We need to speak to you. I will speak with you myself. There are special measures we can put in place to support and protect you. Please think of the family and the terrible hurt they are going through."

Mr Kelly urged other witnesses to contact detectives or ring Crimestoppers and revealed that he wants to trace at least 30 people who were in the area at the time of the shooting, according to CCTV footage.

"You have all seen the devastating impact [of the murder] on the family. However, I know there are people out there who still need to come forward.

"The night Rhys was killed was a warm summer evening. England were playing Germany. A lot of people were out here drinking, and others were by the shops. It may be that they think their information is trivial. However, I would stress that it could be the key to assistance in this investigation."

Detectives yesterday arrested a 15-year-old local boy, the 11th person to be detained since the inquiry began. The other 10 have all been released on bail, or without charge.

Mr Kelly also gave details for the first time of how the killer approached and left the scene, moving in and out of the range of CCTV cameras around the pub. He was first seen riding his bike up a path at the rear of the Fir Tree three minutes before Rhys was killed at 7.30pm. No gun could be seen on him.

The boy, described by witnesses as between 13 and 15, paused and went out of range of a camera, possibly up another path away from the pub. He returned and was filmed heading down the side of the pub towards the car park before again disappearing from view, just before the shots were heard.

"He's away for 30 seconds," said Mr Kelly. "That's how quick it was. He does not hesitate. He goes in there intent on discharging the bullets and is then quickly away down the path he came from." The moment when the gun was fired from the corner on the pub was not captured by security cameras.

As the killer approached the pub from one side, Rhys was walking towards it from the other, having finished an informal football practice with a group of friends.

When he reached a point in the car park about 50 metres from where the gunman was standing, he was shot in the neck and fell to the ground, where he later lay dying in the arms of his mother Melanie.

Yesterday the Liverpool coroner, André Rebello, opened and adjourned an inquest into Rhys's death and released his body to his family.

Long queues of cars built-up as police set-up road blocks at roads leading into and out of the Croxteth Park estate last night, asking motorists and members of the public if they had been in the area at the time of the shooting. They also handed out leaflets outside the Fir Tree pub.

    Phone caller gave key details on boy's shooting, G, 30.8.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,2158669,00.html

11.30am update

Boy arrested on suspicion of Rhys murder

Wednesday August 29, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Fred Attewill

A 15-year-old boy has been arrested today on suspicion of murdering Rhys Jones.

Rhys, an 11-year-old schoolboy, was shot in the back of the neck outside the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth Park, Liverpool, as he walked home from football practice last Wednesday evening.

"A 15-year-old from the local area was arrested on suspicion of the murder of Rhys Jones this morning," a Merseyside police spokeswoman said.

The youth - the 11th person to be arrested in connected with the murder - is being held at a Liverpool police station and will be questioned by detectives today.

Before today, a youth aged 14, two aged 15 and others aged 16,18 and 19 had been arrested and released on police bail. Youths aged 15 and 19, and two girls aged 15 and 18, were released without condition.

Today's arrest came as police continued intensive searches of woodland in the area where Rhys was murdered.

Acting on a tip-off, dozens of officers with sniffer dogs have been combing Dam Wood, less than a mile from where the shooting happened.

Officers were thought to be looking in the 10-acre site for a gun that the attacker could have thrown away as he fled on a BMX bike. Divers have been brought in to help search the area, which contains three ponds.

It flanks the west side of the Croxteth Park estate, where Rhys lived with his parents, Melanie and Stephen, and 17-year-old brother, Owen.

Following what one senior officer said was a "disappointing" response from the public in the days following the murder, the victim's parents issued a fresh appeal on Monday.

Speaking to the killer's family, his mother said: "You will know if your son is not behaving normally, or maybe has told someone. I would say to you, do the right thing. Please come forward. I know it will be hard, but my son is dead and we need to bring this to an end."

The couple said they now feel unsafe in their own home in the Croxteth Park area, and have decided to leave and start a new life elsewhere.

Police have revealed that Rhys could have been caught in the crossfire in an ongoing feud across east Liverpool involving 72 people - 31 in the Croxteth Crew and 41 in the Strand Gang. Detectives said the ages of gang members ranged from 16 to 50.

Last night, in a tribute unprecedented in a city known for its football rivalries, the Everton anthem Johnny Todd - the theme from the vintage TV police drama Z Cars - was played for the first time at Anfield as Liverpool's players left the tunnel before their Champions League home tie against Toulouse.

The crowd applauded in tribute to Rhys, and the Liverpool players wore black armbands.

    Boy arrested on suspicion of Rhys murder, G, 29.8.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,2158196,00.html

Yes, we have failed Rhys Jones, but we have also failed his killer

Kids need the chance of a decent life, but for some it's out of reach. Their fury leads them to deprive others of that chance

Monday August 27, 2007
The Guardian
Madeleine Bunting

The coverage of the murder of Rhys Jones made it plain; his parents were "hard-working, respectable" people. There were photos of the comfortable home in a comfortable, leafy suburb. The 11-year-old was returning the few hundred yards from football training to his home, passing a pleasantly refurbished pub. Every detail reflected the utter normality of secure middle England. It was the turning point in a summer of increasing anxiety about law and order.

The death of this poor boy was the point at which gun violence spilled over from being a horrible characteristic of impoverished inner-city neighbourhoods - something that middle England could watch from afar with horror - to being perceived as a threat to anyone, almost anywhere. Rhys Jones's sadly famous face has now ensured that the issue at the centre of the next election will be the state of British society.

Elections were once won or lost on economic issues, now it's social issues; the detail of parenting policies and youth work have migrated from the derided margins of political debate to the centre. David Cameron adapts Bill Clinton's catchphrase, "It's the society, stupid". That marks a fine epitaph on one of his predecessors' famous claims that "there is no such thing as society". How the chickens have come home to roost.

Within hours of Rhys Jones's death, politicians were jumping to their favourite remedies. While Cameron, whose hyperbole had already long since been exhausted on Britain's "social anarchy", urged the importance of marriage, Jacqui Smith talked of mandatory sentences for knife possession and rattled off a set of statistics about the acronym soup Labour has cooked up in the last decade - Asbos and the like. Labour has added 3,000 criminal offences to our statute book during the last 10 years and the prisons are overflowing, but faith in their strategy is running out. Although it may have brought down certain types of crime, it has had little impact on others, such as the rising incidence of random violence spilling over from gang culture or alcohol-fuelled rowdiness on the streets.

Where both parties converge is on the crucial importance of parenting and how families must instil values into their children. Both are well aware that this is a good way to win favour with the public - in a recent YouGov poll, 62% felt parents should take the blame for antisocial youngsters and 89% thought parents should be held responsible for how their children behaved.

This is the ultimate privatisation, a nasty twist on blaming the victims. You try bringing up a boy on an estate riddled with drug dealing where the local school offers nothing but boredom and failure, and the chance of a job is small. Some parents may be useless - themselves usually the product of stories of abuse and neglect - but many more struggle to bring up their children properly, defeated by a set of circumstances well beyond the capacity of an individual to overcome. And there is a particular edge to this culture of blame: it's the mothers who are usually struggling to bring up their wayward children after the fathers have abandoned them, so it's they whom the poll wants punished for their failure. In the string of killings in recent months, the one anguish we rarely hear told is that of the mothers of the offenders.

This privatisation of a crime problem is pernicious, because at the same time as parents - for which read largely mothers - are being blamed, the problem is being inflated by media and politicians for their own advantage (to grab viewers and voters) so that a huge burden of blame is thus laid on the shoulders of people already dismissed as a bunch of losers. They make an easy and emotionally satisfying target. It's akin to the reassurance offered to communities in the past by witch-hunts.

It ensures that the wider social and economic circumstances - from which most of us do quite nicely - go unscrutinised. Listen carefully to what those youth workers have to say. The crisis here is not primarily one of parenting, but of the life opportunities of working-class boys. At 14, one in five boys in this country has a reading ability of a pupil half his age - no wonder they give up, humiliated and resentful at being labelled a loser so early in life; 90,000 boys leave school every year with not a GCSE to their name. There are 1.2 million Neets - not in education, employment or training - between 16 and 24; they have nothing to do and no future. This is not a new problem. For three decades we've known that the decline of industrial manufacturing left a big gap in employment for young men, yet we still haven't worked out what to do with them. As the painful BBC Newsnight programme on Neets reported last week from the West Midlands, the kids sat in the park, and despairing, drank themselves senseless every day.

What politician has talked of inequality in the last few days in connection with gun crime? Yet it's not rocket science: the three boroughs of London most affected by gun crime are among the most deprived, and they are also ones that sit, cheek by jowl, with enclaves of gentrified prosperity. Kids growing up in poor neighbourhoods of inner-city Manchester and London know exactly where they stand in the pecking order. It's rubbed in their faces daily, and has only intensified over the last decade as a model of urban regeneration has defined shopping, eating and drinking as the core activities of a city's life - leaving behind the surrounding desert of neighbourhoods with boarded-up shops.

The alienation prompts a corrupted economy of respect among youngsters. In a society that neither offers them nor provides them with any, they use aggression to win its substitute - fear. Much of the violence stems from being "disrespected" - a glance, a tossed sweet wrapper: these are the trivialities for which lives are lost. But while the incidents may be trivial, respect and status are not. They are at the core of a sense of self, as essential to our wellbeing as meat and drink. We all need them, and without them, research has established, we all live shorter, unhappier lives. As a report for the Home Office by the University of Portsmouth commented, what the gang violence often has in common is a culture of hyper-materialism that is obsessed with high-status possessions such as cars, clothes and jewellery. This is the literal, unmediated reading of the consumer, celebrity, winner-takes-all rubbish incessantly pumped at us. None of this justifies violence, but it does explain how lovable boys become criminals so young.

Condemnation is the easy part of a politician's job. Tough talk of crackdowns and more police on the streets is the rhetoric we've had for years, while the new refrain of parenting classes is icing on the cake - sweet but peripheral. What kids need is basic, the chance of a decent life - an education, enthusiasms such as music or sport, a job and a home. For a minority, these are far out of reach and, tragically, their mindless fury leads them to deprive children like Rhys Jones of them also. This is what an increasingly fearful middle England needs to be discussing. We've failed Rhys but we've also failed his killer.

    Yes, we have failed Rhys Jones, but we have also failed his killer, G, 27.8.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2156823,00.html

Ministers 'covered up' gun crime

August 26, 2007
From The Sunday Times
David Leppard

THE government was accused yesterday of covering up the full extent of the gun crime epidemic sweeping Britain, after official figures showed that gun-related killings and injuries had risen more than fourfold since 1998.

The Home Office figures - which exclude crimes involving air weapons - show the number of deaths and injuries caused by gun attacks in England and Wales soared from 864 in 1998-99 to 3,821 in 2005-06. That means that more than 10 people are injured or killed in a gun attack every day.

This weekend the Tories said the figures challenged claims by Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, that gun crime was falling. David Davis, the shadow home secretary, tells her in a letter today that the “staggering findings” show her claims that gun crime has fallen are “inaccurate and misleading”.

The political row erupted as Merseyside police continued to question a 15-year-old boy about the murder last week of Rhys Jones in Croxteth, Liver-pool. The 11-year-old was returning from football training when he was shot by a hooded teenager on a bicycle.

Experts are examining a BMX bike abandoned in another area of the city. Six other teenagers, including two girls, from the Croxteth and Norris Green areas were in custody last night. Two others have been released on bail.

Senior officers believe Rhys died because he walked into the line of fire between the gunman and his intended target, who is thought to have been one of three teenagers 30-70 yards away.

Bernard Hogan-Howe, the chief constable of Merseyside, said yesterday: “We still need help in solving this crime. We need witnesses who are prepared to stand up in court.”

Hogan-Howe said he had invested “a huge amount of policing” into the gang-related problems in the Croxteth area and had had a great deal of success.

A minute’s applause was held yesterday at Goodison Park stadium where Everton, the team Rhys loved, were playing Black-burn Rovers. The 11-year-old’s murder has led to a public outcry against Britain’s gang and gun culture and a furious political debate about the government’s efforts to tackle the problem.

Smith last night proposed the setting up of neutral “drop-off zones” where illegal weapons could be handed in. “This means we can actually take that gun out of circulation and stop it from doing harm,” she said.

The Home Office has repeatedly denied gun crime is rising. Last week it pointed to the latest annual crime statistics, which appeared to show that overall gun crime was 13% down on the previous year.

But in his letter to Smith, released today, Davis said these claims were contradicted by figures “buried” in a Home Office statistical bulletin, published ear-lier this year. “[Here] we find the most revealing indication of the true gun-re-lated violence sweeping Britain. Gun-related killings and injuries (excluding air weapons) have increased over fourfold since 1998,” he wrote.

The Home Office said: "We remain fully committed to tackling gang culture and gun and knife crime through responsive policing, tough powers and funding prevention projects."

Rhys’s killing fell on the anniversary of the fatal shooting of Liam Smith, a senior figure in a local gang known as the Strand Gang. Several members of the rival Croxteth Crew were found guilty of his murder.

Locals had said they believed members of the Strand Gang were planning a reprisal shooting to mark the anniversary.

“We always deploy additional resources around these anniversaries,” said Chief Superintendent Chris Armitt. “But we are over half a mile here from Croxteth, and Norris Green is further away again. The additional resources [were] focused only where gangs predominantly operate.”

Extract from letter by David Davis, shadow home secretary, to Jacqui Smith, home secretary, August 24, 2007

Dear Jacqui, We are all concerned at the rising tide of violent crime that has manifested itself this week in a spate of shocking killings, including the tragic death of young Rhys Jones. You told GMTV this morning that “statistics aren’t a help but gun crime is down”. That is an extraordinary claim.

According to Home Office figures, gun crime (excluding air weapons) has almost doubled since Labour took office. The annual crime figures, released by the Home Office in July, suggest a 13% decrease on the previous year, which neglects the 18% increase in firearm homicides.

However, perhaps most telling is the massive increase in gun violence, disclosed on 25 January of this year (Homicides, Firearm Offences and Intimate Violence 2005-06, Home Office). Buried at page 36 . . . we find [that] . . . gun-related killings and injuries (excluding airguns) have increased by over fourfold since 1998.

In light of this information, your claim that gun crime is down is both inaccurate and misleading. One clear fact on gun-related violence is that if you don’t count it, you won’t be able to tackle it. Your predecessors opted for spin over substance. I hope that is a path you will avoid and would be grateful for an explanation of what action you plan.

Yours sincerely, David Davis

    Ministers 'covered up' gun crime, STs, 26.8.2007, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2328368.ece

Parents join emotional tribute at Everton as police net widens

Sunday August 26, 2007
The Observer
Amelia Hill and Jamie Doward


Police in Liverpool have revealed that they have a CCTV image of the killer of 11-year-old Rhys Jones. The revelation came following the arrests of seven more teenagers yesterday, including two girls, from the Croxteth and Norris Green areas of north Liverpool that border Croxteth Park, where Rhys was shot dead last Wednesday. The teenagers range in age from 15-19. Two other boys arrested last week have been released on police bail.

Locals are circulating the name of one teen they believe to be the killer. A police spokeswoman confirmed they were in possession of a grainy image of the killer taken from CCTV footage of the area around the Fir Tree pub where Rhys was killed.

Chief Superintendent Chris Armitt, head of criminal justice at Merseyside police, said: 'We have recovered a number of CCTV images. We need to ensure those images are in the best possible condition, so they have been sent away to be enhanced and enlarged. This will take days.'

The Observer can also reveal the key witness to Rhys's murder was just two yards away from the killer as he fired the shots. Speaking publicly for the first time, the young mother told how she looked into the eyes of the killer as he paused after firing.

'He looked over at me, right into my face, then fired two more shots,' said the woman, who was waiting for her daughter and has asked to remain anonymous.

'He was between 13 and 15 years old, white and on a black BMX, wearing a dark, hooded top. He turned at the same time and I saw his eyes. When he had fired two more shots, the boy calmly cycled away and I ran past Rhys, who was on the floor, and grabbed my daughter.'

The new arrests came hours after the shooting of two bouncers in the Penny Lane area of the city and on a day of high emotion as Rhys's father, Stephen, and his brother Owen, 17, attended the Everton versus Blackburn Rovers football match at Goodison Park. A minute's applause was held before the match and both sides wore black armbands.

Last night, the civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson criticised a culture that allows youngsters in Britain to turn to gangs and said those harbouring Rhys's killer were conspirators to murder.

Police sources familiar with the Liverpool underworld have told The Observer that the city's thriving gang culture is being orchestrated by corrupt private security firms who are using teenagers to help run their drug-dealing and protection rackets.

The firms offer companies, building sites and shopkeepers 'protection' against the gangs to whom they supply 'pollen' - cannabis containing large amounts of the hallucinogenic chemical, PCP.

Teenage gangs such as the Croxteth Crew and the Nogzy, who come from Norris Green and are blamed for much of the area's violence, work for the private security firms, according to the sources, who also said some members could earn up to £1,000 a week.

'The firms say to legitimate businesses, "We can get rid of these kids for you, if you pay us,"' said one source, who estimated there are some 500 gang members in the city and between 3,000 and 4,000 drug dealers.

Members of the teen gangs are used to regularly bring in small supplies of 'pollen' from Amsterdam through airports in the north of England, so that if they get stopped they will not receive jail sentences. Last night plans for informants to anonymously tip off the police about illegally held guns were being drawn up by the Home Office.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said the Home Office was also considering neutral 'drop-off zones' where weapons could be handed in. She said her priority was to get guns off the streets, amid mounting public alarm about the recent spate of shootings involving young children and teenagers.

It is estimated much of the 'hijack' trade in stolen lorries on Britain's motorways is carried out by criminals working for the private security firms. In recent raids on a number of security companies, 14 people were arrested and more than 1.5kg of cocaine recovered.

    Parents join emotional tribute at Everton as police net widens, O, 26.8.2007, http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2156515,00.html

The real question: why are our children prepared to kill one another?

We need to ask why so many young lives are being cut short by teenagers

Published: 25 August 2007
The Independent
By Camila Batmanghelidjh, Founder of Kids Company
 

There are two rates for renting a gun on the streets of Britain. If the weapon is returned unused, it can cost £50. If it is fired, the price is £250. That is the cost of shooting someone in the world's fourth richest country.

The harrowing and sad death of Rhys Jones brought home this week the unseen and sinister infrastructure for young people to use firearms that now exists in Britain's cities. The rage, bewilderment and hatred that have followed Rhys's murder while he walked home from playing football are understandable. Questions are being asked about whether we have a state of anarchy on our streets, whether a generation is being lost to violent lyrics, images that glorify murder and poor parenting. The eight children on the front page, all of them aged under 18, are unified by one single fact: they all had their lives cut short this year by their fellow teenagers.

But the question that needs to be asked is this: what brings a teenager to the point where he, or even she, could access the illegal gun infrastructure - either by loan, rental or direct order of a gang leader - and use it?

We are very strong in this country in showing condemnation. What we are not so good at is showing curiosity about what brings us to a situation where so many young lives have been taken with guns.

The answer is that Britain has created a society where vulnerable children are not being helped quickly enough. We have a society where it is the criminal justice system that is the first line of defence for dealing with the emotionally numbed individuals that lie behind these crimes.

This is a system every bit as psychologically flawed as the individuals it seeks to assist. We have youth recidivism rates of up to 80 per cent. Child custody does not work. We need to intervene long, long before the police, courts and prisons become involved. Kids Company has spent 11 years working in south London and we have learnt lessons about what creates the problems we face that do not appear in the textbooks.

Through the thousands of life stories of children who have passed through our doors, we have learnt what happens to make them capable of these acts.

It does not make easy reading. These are stories about very young children who suffer chronic abuse. Imagine a child who sees a bottle being broken over their mother's head within the notional safety of the home. Imagine a child who suffers verbal abuse and physical assault, whose early life is a montage of violent imagery.

They will initially react by trying to stop this abuse. But when they learn very quickly that this does not work they shut down their ability to feel. No one has stepped in to protect them and they have achieved a mindset which I describe as a kind of emotional and psychological death.

This is not what David Cameron refers to as anarchy; it is nihilism. It is an absence of values in which the notion of society, community and responsibility has been eradicated by violence. Every encounter with adults for these children has been toxic. Instead, the lives of these children and young people are about survival. They are, in their own words, "lone soldiers" who come into contact with those who will facilitate violence.

Their influence is viral. These young people gather around them imitators and hangers-on who want to copy the culture and accept the violence that goes with it in order not to be attacked. It is these imitators who are influenced by cultural factors such as music. In contrast, there are no robust structures within the community to redress the balance. There are no social facilities they can afford to use, there is no meaningful mental health provision and housing assistance for anyone over 18 consists of a list of private landlords who demand three months' rent in advance which they cannot pay. The under-16s are in bed and breakfasts and in unsupervised hostels.

Who steps into this void? Imagine three concentric circles. In the first stands the drug dealer and gangster, a remote-control businessman who leads a criminal network. In the second stand our lone children. They are recruited by the dealer, initially by riding around on their bicycles providing information. In the third circle are children who imitate the violence.

If the lone children prove trustworthy, they work as drug couriers. The gang that forms around them helps define them. They eventually get given their own drugs to sell or become someone who is told to go out and harm others. They access the infrastructure of firearms, provided by a central dealer or may be a father, older brother or cousin. If you know the right people, they are simply for hire.

We do not yet know who killed Rhys Jones or where the weapon came from. But already the debate has been polarised into one about the "demon children" who are attacking the rest of us and the need for harsher punishments and more enforcement.

There are never going to be enough surveillance cameras or police to counter the effects of profound emotional damage.

Our society is not able to solve the problems of problem children. We do not invest enough in social care and mental health. One London borough we worked with last year received 7,165 formal referrals for assistance to its social work unit and child protection teams. They were able to give help to 215 of those cases. At the same time, referrals are going down because professionals in the system do not want to run the risk of formally recognising a child as vulnerable only for that child not to receive assistance.

There is a situation developing where some professionals are becoming as hardened to the dangers faced by these children as the children themselves. Into this growing deadlock, certain figures choose to pour criticism about music, film and television. These are solutions from their own point of view.

Just because they know about these influences, they are not the driving force and solutions based around them are shallow and trite.

Concerts in support of gun amnesties are great. But they do not solve the problem. The answers are long term and require dedication and resources. These children are not born criminals and we have the opportunity to divert them from what many increasingly consider their destiny.

The answer is to strengthen the influence of the parents and, where that is not possible, provide the structure of a family home.

There are not enough foster carers to deal with these children so organisations like ourselves provide a structure for seven days a week - a place to do homework or a college assignment; somewhere to eat or do laundry; a place where there is the doctor, nurse, therapist, musician. It is not enough to have a once-a-week hip hop lesson.

We have a cohort of 925 of these so-called "feral children" at Kids Company. Of these, two are in custody for gun crime, the others are far more likely to be victims of it rather than perpetrators.

It is time to get close to this problem. The fourth richest country in the world has a child mental health and protection system it should be ashamed of.

Let us not pretend we do not know who these youths with guns are. We know at the age of three or four who they are but we do not have the resources or infrastructure in place to help them.

'These are scared little boys who need help'

Ian George Brooks

Vicar, St Cuthbert's, Croxteth

"Very young people with guns is very frightening and worries everyone. The police have been doing their best, but the youngsters are clever. They dismantle the guns better than an Army drill instructor so the guns are in pieces before the police arrive. But it's not as if gun crime is a common pattern."

David Cameron

Conservative Party leader

"We can carry on as we are until we stop even being shocked at the shooting of an 11-year-old boy... unless we choose to change, that is exactly what will happen. Or we can say: 'I have had enough of all this. I have seen enough mothers burying their sons. I will not put up with this in my community any more.'"

John Sentamu

Archbishop of York

"There is a danger that we are giving in to the politics of fear. We must resist this. In discerning a response that provides a genuine solution we must not be motivated by the politics of fear which leads to political short-termism. Fear has begun to shape our minds, it cannot be allowed to shape our decisions."

Roger McGough

Poet and children's author

"Too many young people are growing up in bad housing, with high unemployment and poor schools. If we are going to give opportunities to young people, we need them to grow up in an environment where they get a good education, the skills to gain employment and support from the community and the state."

David Blunkett

Former Home Secretary

"This is a challenge for all of us. Politicians do not have all the answers... It isn't legislation alone; the powers exist. Maybe there are more measures to be taken. But they need to be taken in the broader context as people say enough is enough and we will collaborate, as they have in some communities."

Akala

Rapper

"Being sent to prison is not going to tackle the root causes. Poverty, single parents, lack of education... led to young men hating themselves. We're not talking about Al Capone here, these are scared little boys who need help before crimes are committed, not punishment afterwards."

    The real question: why are our children prepared to kill one another?, I, 25.8.2007, http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article2893902.ece

How worried should we be about the extent of gun crime on our streets?

August 25, 2007
From The Times
Richard Ford, Home Correspondent

Sometimes, listening to politicians, police and the media, it can sound as if there is a gun-toting criminal on every street corner. The truth is far more nuanced. Serious gun crime is concentrated in particular parts of England and Wales; internationally, the country has a low death rate from guns compared with EU states such as France and Finland.

Where is gun crime prevalent?

Fifty-five per cent of firearms offences in England and Wales for 2005-06 were in three areas: London (35 per cent), Greater Manchester (11 per cent) and West Midlands (9 per cent).

In that period there were 52 firearms offences for every 100,000 population in London, 47 in Greater Manchester, 37 in the West Midlands, 35 in Merseyside and 27 in Nottinghamshire.

In Kent the figure was 9 per 100,000 population, Sussex 6, Surrey 8 and Hampshire 5.

Are all parts of the community in those areas at equal risk?

It does not seem so. In London 75 per cent of victims of murders by firearms and other shootings come from the African-Caribbean community. From the same community come 79 per cent of all suspects in gun crimes in the capital. But such crime does not affect only the black communities.

Why has the killing of Rhys Jones attracted so much publicity ?

Precisely because it so rare for a firearms murder to occur and even rarer for it to involve a child. Nor did it occur in the classic inner city deprived area or outside a nightclub but on a private housing estate.

What are the figures?

Provisional statistics show that firearms murders rose by 18 per cent, from 49 to 58, between 2005-06 and 2006-07. They represent a small proportion of the overall number of homicides in England and Wales, which was 766 in 2005-06.

Firearms murders have never gone over the 100 figure in the past eight years, although they did reach a peak of 95 in 2001-02 before starting to decline.

Men are overwhelmingly the victims of gun crime murders, with 39 killed in 2005-06 compared with 11 women. We do not know how many of the deaths were from criminals attacking other criminals.

Are there other figures to worry about?

Yes, but it is a complicated picture. The latest figures show that there was a 13 per cent fall in firearms offences, excluding air weapons, from 11,084 in 2005-06 to 9,608 in 2006-07.

The figure for last year was the lowest recorded since 2000-01. When air weapons are included the overall number of firearms offences doubles.

Put in perspective, firearms, including air weapons, were used in 1 in every 250 crimes in 2005-06. For offences excluding air weapons the ratio was 1 in 500.

Although there has been a drop in firearms offences, the overall trend in England and Wales and other industrialised societies is upward.

In 1989-99 the number of firearms offences, excluding those with air weapons, in England and Wales was about 4,500. They rose steadily to about 10,000 in 2001-02.

Injuries resulting from firearms offences more than doubled from 2,378 to 5,001 between 1998-09 and 2005-06.

But firearms offences resulting in serious injury fell by 13 per cent to 413 in 2006-07.

What kind of weapons are used ?

Not all firearms offences involve a real weapon. Imitations were used in 2,493 of the 9,608 crimes last year.

Handguns are by far the most popular weapon and were used in 4,671 offences, yet were fired in only 14 per cent of cases. However, in a third of the crimes in which they were fired the victim was killed or seriously injured.

Are there particular crimes in which weapons are used?

Robbery is a favourite of the gun-wielding offender. The highest number of firearms robberies took place on the street, followed by those in shops. Street robberies involving a firearm increased by 10 per cent to 1,439 in 2005-06 and by 17 per cent to 1,036 in shops.

One reason for these increases may be that youngsters in particular carry iPods and similar gadgets on the streets.

Criminals also choose shops as easy targets because banks and building societies have installed security measures. Bank and post office robberies have fallen by 65 per cent since 2001-02.

How many illegal weapons are there?

The Government has no estimate, although it is clear that they are easy to obtain and becoming cheaper. Guns can even be hired for an hour or an evening. Shotguns can be bought for £50 to £200 and handguns previously used in crime for about £150 to £200. An imitation firearm can cost as little as £20.

Where are they coming from?

Some come from recent conflict zones, including Northern Ireland and the Balkans. Others are coming from East European states that joined the European Union in 2004. There are suggestions that “battlefield trophies” are brought in by soldiers and that firearms may be imported with illegal drugs or through the post.

Are drugs the key link to firearms?

It certainly looks that way. Because the drugs market is illegal, those involved in it must have weapons to protect themselves, to defend their drugs territories and markets and to enforce debts.

Research on gun crime carried out for the Home Office suggested that “illegal drugs markets represent the single most important theme in relation to the use of illegal firearms”.

Any other links?

Unfortunately, yes. The research linked guns to the ascendancy of criminal role models, often regarded as untouchable in parts of the country where there is a thriving criminal economy, and to the culture of gang membership.

Why does the membership of a gang involve guns?

Often a gang is involved in long-standing rivalry based on post codes, shopping centres or particular estates. The rivalry has even spilled into nightclubs, where groups confront each other and then defend their reputations – sometimes with guns. Other disputes relate to status or showing someone “dis” – disrespect.

What are police and government doing?

A total of 3,151 people were convicted of firearms offences in 2005 – just a thousand more than in 2001. Police have held campaigns on gun crime but they need community support.

Semi-automatic weapons were banned in 1988 and handguns in 1998. A five-year mandatory minimum term for possessing an illegal firearm came into force in 2004 and in May of this year it was extended to include 18-to 20-year-olds.

Later this year the Government will ban the sale, manufacture and importation of realistic imitation firearms.

Aren’t knives a bigger issue than guns ?

They are more available and are the most common method of killing in England and Wales. You are about four times more likely to be killed with a knife than with a gun.

    How worried should we be about the extent of gun crime on our streets?, Ts, 25.8.2007, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article2324223.ece

16-year-old arrested in Rhys Jones murder case

Police frustrated by silence over killing of 11-year-old

Saturday August 25, 2007
Guardian
Martin Wainwright and Martin Hodgson


Police investigating the murder of 11-year old Rhys Jones in Liverpool last night arrested a 16-year-old boy in connection with his death. In a one-line statement, the Merseyside assistant chief constable, Patricia Gallan, said that a juvenile had been arrested on suspicion of murder, but gave no further details.

The arrest came after a 14-year-old boy and an 18-year-old man were released on bail on Thursday night after being arrested on suspicion of murder. It followed a day of mounting frustration among police officers investigating the murder, who expressed disappointment at the lack of response to repeated appeals for information about the killer, in spite of a powerful TV appeal by the murdered child's parents.

They were joined by civic leaders and the bishop of Liverpool, who urged frightened potential witnesses to drop gang or clan loyalties in favour of the wider community.

Assistant chief constable Gallan urged the suburb of Croxteth: "Be brave. I need more help to solve this crime."

In a nod to the criminal community, whose drug turf wars have helped to spawn gang culture in Croxteth and its neighbour Norris Green, she emphasised the independence of the Crimestoppers confidential line.

"It is a charity and completely independent of Merseyside police," she said. "I am also offering protection arrangements for witnesses in any trial which will guarantee your anonymity."

Meanwhile Rhys's parents added flowers to a mounting pile below the line of silver birches and sycamore that shielded the killer as he fired at his apparently randomly chosen victim from a BMX bike. Stephen and Melanie Jones laid a simple bouquet of blue roses and gerberas, carrying the message: "Goodnight and God bless son, till we meet again."

Mrs Jones, 41, cried silently as she leafed through handwritten tributes beside the sprays. Her husband, a 44-year-old retail manager at Tesco, pored over flags, team shirts and scarves from Everton FC, which was the great passion of his son's life.

Among them was a note 'to my great mate' signed Conbhoy, which said: "When the Goodison crowd roars it will be for you." Poignantly, a minute's silence in honour of Rhys will instead hush Goodison today before the start of the Premier League fixture against Blackburn Rovers.

The Everton manager, David Moyes, said: "Anybody who has any idea at all about the shooting, please come forward. This is a terrific city and everybody here is desperate to find out who did this."

The captain, Phil Neville, also backed the appeal, saying that the whole team sent condolences to the family. The dignity and courage of the Joneses, who have an older son Owen, 17, prompted a call from David Cameron for what he termed "a new social covenant". The Tory leader told an audience of RAF personnel at their Brize Norton base, which is in his Oxfordshire constituency, that the couple's appeal was "awe-inspiring" and should not be allowed to become "just another testimony of despair".

The covenant would bind major influences on society, including the media and the music industry, to consider the effects of their output on people's behaviour, he said.

Merseyside police put on a large show of strength around the murder scene, a row of shops between the Fir Tree pub and Croxteth Park health centre. Four mounted officers joined patrols and the black-capped Matrix search squad cleared shrubbery behind the pub and mounted a fingertip sweep of lawns fronting the precinct.

Ms Gallan said that the hunt for evidence was intense, but officers are still looking for the murder weapon, which is believed to be a powerful handgun. One witness has told police that the killer stopped his bike and sat astride it while aiming at Rhys and then firing two more shots from "a big handgun".

Ms Gallan said that specialist officers were watching hours of CCTV but she repeatedly emphasised the need for tip-off calls. She said: "The answers are within the community here. That is where we will find the person responsible for this crime."

    16-year-old arrested in Rhys Jones murder case, G, 25.8.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,2155966,00.html

The Nogzy, the Crocky and the bizzies - a teen 'soldier' speaks

Saturday August 25, 2007
Guardian
Audrey Gillan

The Nogzy and Crocky are rival gangs from the neighbouring Liverpool council estates of Norris Green and Croxteth where 11-year-old Rhys Jones was shot dead on Wednesday. In a trial that ended yesterday three Crocky members were convicted of the murder of Liam "Smigger" Smith, a Nogzy leader who was shot in the face at close range with a shotgun last August. One of Smigger's friends - a fellow "Nogzy soldier" - spoke to the Guardian on condition of anonymity.

"I'm a Nogadog, me. I've been one for four years and I'm 17 now. I thought it was a good thing when I was young. It was all my mates. You are just a Nogzy soldier. We are all Nogzy soldiers.

It's not a nice thing to be into, fighting and shooting and that. But that's it. It can be with fists or with knives, whatever someone prefers. Or guns. I haven't used a gun, though I have shot one off in the park once. If I was in danger and lads were after me then I would use one - there are two Crocky lads after me now. If you are fighting and you have something on you, then you are just going to use it.

I suppose my preferred tool would be a gun. I don't have one but I could get one if I wanted to. You can get a gun practically anywhere here, in a shop, in a newsagent even. It's so easy - Mach 10s, Mach 11s [submachine guns], they would probably cost up to £400. There's loads of Crocky carrying guns in their shorts. I've got a BB gun stashed in them bushes if I need it. I put it there last night cos there's so many bizzies [police officers] around.

I don't look over my shoulder every day but I look for Crocky cars. Lads are slightly hesitant when a car pulls up and they don't recognise it. They could be tooled up and they could be after you.

I've been slashed in the leg but I've never been shot. A couple of months ago, Crocky lads had me at gunpoint in the back of a car. They just grabbed me in the Broadway. One of them said: "Listen I am going to blast you." It was only a milly, a nine milly [9mm pistol]. They pointed the gun to my head. I said: 'If you are going to do it, do it now.' I shat myself. They let me go because they said I was the last one on their list.

I've got pictures of guns on my mobile and my pit bull - the bizzies took him away cos they said he was illegal but they gave me him back after two days. The wallpaper on my phone is a Glock M14. The bizzies deleted the gun pictures from my girlfriend's mobile.

There's loads of Nogzy, but we break up into smaller groups because of the bizzies and section 60 [of the Criminal Justice and Order Act 1994 which grants stop and search powers if police believe people are carrying dangerous weapons] and the Asbos some of the lads have, which says they're not to hang out with more than three boys.

The gang's not fixed, it's loosely organised. We don't all meet up and have a daft committee and decide what to do. There's a hardcore of about 14. We are good us, we never do robbing. The Crocky does robbing. We do grafting. Mostly cars, I suppose I rob about two cars a month and sell them on.

I just stay in bed till about 2pm. Then I sit around and smoke weed. Sometimes we do beak [cocaine] or garys [ecstasy or MDMA] but I don't do that on the street because your jaw swings like fuck and you would need a good kip half the time. I do it every weekend though and it's fucking great. I'm being good tonight. I'll have a Bud and a smoke.

Everyone wears black, the Nogadogs and the Crocky. It's so the bizzies don't know who you are. The bizzies are twats. I've slashed their tyres twice. It's funny. They pull us over all the time, they've got the Matrix squad [firearms team], and are always around in their CCTV wagons. They'll not get any weapons on any of us.

I suppose we're always worried about grasses. Like if I told someone "I've got a piece stashed round in my back garden" and he goes and tells someone from another firm. You need to watch your back and who you talk to if you don't know they're a true Nogzy soldier.

I've been done for possession of crack cocaine - I was selling it, not doing it - and threats to kill. I've just got out a couple of months ago, I got two years for assault on a police officer and criminal damage for smashing a police van up. I was in the Farms [Lancaster Farm young offenders institution in Lancashire] and [HMP] Altcourse.

I've had charges since I was 10 or 11, all different assaults and that. My mum and dad were not too happy. My dad doesn't like gang wars. My mum's got cancer. I have got an older brother who is 21. He was a bit of a Nogadog but not like me. I am in with everything. If they are involved in it, I'm involved in it.

I couldn't be arsed with school. I never really went. They never tried to stop us being in gangs or anything. Not that they could ever tell us what to do.

I don't know what happened with that kid [Rhys Jones]. It's really terrible. He was only 11 and had nothing to do with any of this. He's got an older brother but I don't think they were trying to get him. Maybe it was just someone shooting off a gun like I did that time and he fucked up. "

    The Nogzy, the Crocky and the bizzies - a teen 'soldier' speaks, G, 25.8.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,2156010,00.html

'Tragedy beyond words' for family as woman, 20, dies after park attack

· Goth couple 'set upon by gang' two weeks ago
· Assault charges against five youths under review

Saturday August 25, 2007
Guardian
Riazat Butt

A 20-year-old woman who was severely beaten during an alleged mob attack died from her injuries yesterday.
Sophie Lancaster was walking through the skating area of Stubbylee Park in Bacup, Lancashire, with her boyfriend

Robert Maltby, 21, when they were attacked by a gang of youths in the early hours of August 11. The couple, whose injuries were so bad that police were initially unable to determine their sexes, were taken to Rochdale Infirmary.

Mr Maltby was transferred to North Manchester general hospital, while Sophie was moved to Fairfield hospital, Bury, then onto the neurology unit of Hope hospital in Salford, Greater Manchester.

They were both unconscious and remained in a coma, but when Mr Maltby's condition improved he was transferred to Birch Hill hospital in Rochdale. He recovered from bleeding on the brain and was briefly let out of hospital on Wednesday to visit Miss Lancaster. She died yesterday morning, after attempts to treat her injuries failed.

In a statement Miss Lancaster's parents, John and Sylvia, said: "We were proud to know our daughter. She was funny, kind, loving and brave.

"She was a beautiful girl with a social conscience and values which made her a joy to know. Not being able to see her blossom into her full potential or even to see her smile again is a tragedy beyond words."

Five male youths have been charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent, but police said those charges would now be the subject of a review by detectives and the Crown Prosecution Service.

The families of Miss Lancaster and Mr Maltby have confirmed that the couple, who were goths, had encountered trouble before because of their black clothing and multiple piercings.

Mr Maltby's uncle, Nigel Lancashire, told a local paper that his nephew was "disorientated and confused" and said the hospital reunion was "heartbreaking".

Mr Lancashire said: "Rob was a real mess when we first saw him. His face was swollen and he was in a neck brace. They're both intelligent, sensitive kids. They're not the sort of people to get in trouble, but they have had problems in the past because they stand out."

Detective Inspector Dean Holden, who is leading the investigation, said: "It is tragic that this young woman has now died. Our thoughts are obviously with her family." He appealed for witnesses to come forward.

Mr Maltby, a former Bacup and Rawtenstall grammar school pupil, had been going out with Miss Lancaster for around three years and was an art student in Manchester. Miss Lancaster is thought to have been on a gap year. Both were left with heavily swollen faces and bleeding from their ears and noses and Miss Lancaster was said to have had a piece of flesh missing from her head where her attackers had pulled out her hair.

Acting Assistant Chief Constable Jerry Graham, of Lancashire police, said: "This is a tragic incident which has resulted in the senseless loss of a young and vibrant woman.

"There are, of course, young people in Lancashire and, as we have seen in recent times, all over the country who are intent on disrupting the lives of law-abiding citizens. In the very worst cases, such as this one, their actions have devastating consequences."

A 15-year-old and a 17-year-old have been remanded in custody, while two 15-year-olds and a 17-year-old have been released on bail. They are all due to appear before Burnley youth court on September 27.

    'Tragedy beyond words' for family as woman, 20, dies after park attack, G, 25.8.2007,http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2155934,00.html

9pm update

Catch my baby's killers, pleads boy's mother

· Parents appeal to public for help
· Two teenage suspects released on bail

Thursday August 23, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
David Batty, staff and agencies

The mother of 11-year-old Rhys Jones, the boy who was shot and killed in Liverpool last night, tonight begged for help to catch his killers.

Melanie Jones, 41, broke down in tears as she spoke of her son, "her baby", and asked the public for help.

Mrs Jones said: "Our son was only 11, our baby. This should not happen, this should not be going on. Please help us.

"I just want them caught. We would just like to put an appeal out. Please, someone, somewhere must know who has done this. It's got to be someone on the estate. Please come forward."

The 11-year-old died after being shot in the neck as he played football with friends outside the Fir Tree pub in Croxteth around 7.30pm.

Rhys spent his last moments cradled in his mother's arms, a family friend said today.

Tony Edge said Rhys's mother Melanie raced to the scene where she held him until the ambulance arrived. Paramedics battled to save his life but he was pronounced dead later at Alder Hey hospital.

Mr Edge, 40, a children's football coach, told how he broke the devastating news of the shooting to Rhys's mother and then drove her to the "horrific" scene of the shooting.

"She went to him, knelt down, held him and spoke to him," he said. "I don't know what she was saying to him because I walked away from it."

Mr Edge said there was an issue between two gangs in Croxteth but he claimed Rhys had absolutely nothing to do with them.

"Rhys and his friends even stayed away from local teenagers because they scared them. He has been in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said.

Witnesses said was hit in the neck after three shots were fired by a teenage boy who rode past on a BMX bike, his face obscured by a hood.

Earlier today Merseyside police arrested two teenage boys on suspicion of murdering Rhys. The two suspects, aged 14 and 18, have since been released on police bail.

The prime minister, Gordon Brown, pledged that those responsible for the murder would be tracked down. Mr Brown said the murder was a "heinous crime that shocked the whole of the country", and extended his sympathy to the boy's family.

Merseyside chief constable, Bernard Hogan-Howe, described the investigation as "protracted and complicated", adding that he expected there would be further arrests before it was completed.

Mr Hogan-Howe said Rhys and his family had been the victims of a "terrible and shocking crime".

"They are a responsible family and Rhys was a responsible lad," he said. "They were innocent people going about their business last night when their lives were destroyed by this terrible and shocking crime. It is terrible for them and terrible for the local community."

Around 100 officers have been placed on the investigation. They were working with the Merseyside police gun crime unit, Matrix, which was set up two years ago to tackle the problem of gun crime in the area.

Mr Hogan-Howe said: "This investigation is only hours old and it is too soon to speculate about motive.

"What we do know is that somebody is in possession of a gun. We must find that person, we must find the weapon and we must find the person who gave them that weapon.

"Somebody will know the information we need and they must come forward. If they are worried or fearful they should think that next time it could be their son, brother, or loved one.

"The police and criminal justice system here have an excellent record for protecting witnesses and we will ensure that they remain safe from harm. They can ring us direct or they can ring the anonymous Crimestoppers hotline."

Police this morning released a picture of Rhys wearing an Everton football shirt.

'An innocent'

A neighbour of the Jones family said he was "absolutely devastated" by Rhys's death, describing the boy as "an innocent".

Civil engineer Tony Ainscough, 31, whose son Lewis, nine, was a close friend of Rhys, said: "He was only playing football. One of the neighbours usually takes him with his little lad but his son wasn't going so Rhys had to walk home with his mates. He was an absolutely brilliant little lad, an innocent little kid.

"He was far too young to be associated with anything like gangs, he wouldn't have even known that stuff existed."

The home secretary, Jacqui Smith, sent her condolences to the boy's family. "I am shocked and saddened to hear about this tragic shooting. My thoughts are with the victim's family and friends," she said.

There was a large police presence in Croxteth last night, with riot vans and officers guarding a cordoned-off area.

One parent described hearing a loud bang. "Nobody thought anything more of it, but as we walked past the pub we noticed a young boy slumped in the corner of the car park.

"Somebody shouted out that he had been shot and a few parents tried to resuscitate him."

Another resident said he had heard that three boys were playing football when a young man cycled up on a BMX and fired three shots. "One bullet hit a car, one missed, and one hit that boy," he said.

Another neighbour, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, said: "The area does have a gang problem - for about two years at least.

"They rob sheds, kill cats and take drugs. The gangs have a grudge against each other but this is a big estate and there is nowhere for the kids to go."

A neighbour who works for Merseyside police said the estate was being ruined by antisocial behaviour, and the police were doing nothing about it.

The woman, who was too scared to be named, said: "I work in the ivory tower of police HQ and they are forever talking about what they can do - but it is ridiculous, they say there is not enough traffic for CCTV.

"The kids, who aren't from this street, break fences, damage trees - we can't sell our houses."

She added: "I can't believe it was Rhys, God bless him, I had hoped it would be one of the others who were causing the problems. The police aren't doing enough."

    Catch my baby's killers, pleads boy's mother, G, 23.8.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,2154497,00.html

Hell's Angel killed by hitman travelling at 70mph, say police

· Shooting 'was carefully planned and executed'
· Biker's friends vow to avenge motorway murder

Wednesday August 15, 2007
Guardian
Duncan Campbell

The hitman who killed a Hell's Angel biker on the M40 on Sunday was travelling at around 70mph when he fired the fatal shot, police said yesterday.

The killing was carefully planned and executed, it emerged, as biker friends of the dead man vowed to avenge his murder. Gerard Michael Tobin, 35, a Canadian mechanic who had been living in England for 10 years, was killed with a single shot from a handgun as he headed home from last weekend's Bulldog Bash at Long Marston airfield, Stratford-upon-Avon.

Mr Tobin, who worked for a Harley Davidson garage close to his home in Mottingham, south London, did not have a criminal record, according to police, and had nothing in his past to indicate why he might be targeted. Mr Tobin, with two Polish biker companions, was driving south on the motorway when a green Rover 620 pulled out of a layby just before junction 15. A gunman, one of at least three men in the car, fired two shots, one of which hit him in the back of the head just below his helmet. He fell from his Harley Davidson Softail Night Train FXSTB which travelled a further 200 yards.

"Astonishing is the best word to describe this case," said Det Supt Ken Lawrence of Warwickshire police yesterday. "It is an incredible story. This man was travelling at... about 70 mph." Six years ago a Canadian biker leaving the same festival was shot in the leg but not fatally.

Mr Lawrence said there was no obvious motive. The dead man had been in a stable relationship, was known as hard working and of good character. He added: "The key to this is what we can find in Mr Tobin's backyard. If he has been targeted then there must be a motive."

Mr Tobin's girlfriend, Rebecca Smith, 25, was too upset to speak. His colleagues closed the Harley Davidson garage where he worked yesterday. Harley Davidson UK issued a statement of condolence to his family and partner.

Police are studying hours of CCTV footage in the hope of tracking the movements of the green Rover. They have had more than 200 calls from members of the public. Police hope that Mr Tobin's distinctive bike, with death's head insignia on each side, may jog memories.

Julian Sher, a Canadian investigative journalist and author of Angels of Death, a study of biker gangs across the world, said: "When a Hell's Angel gets executed, it's one of two things: an internal cleansing or a rival gang." On the Bulldog Bash website forum, fellow-bikers expressed their anger at the murder. "To you yellow-backed murderers, hope the police find you first," said one posting.

    Hell's Angel killed by hitman travelling at 70mph, say police, G, 15.8.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2148869,00.html

3.15pm update

Family issues warning after 'tombstoning' death

Friday August 3, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
James Sturcke and agencies

The family of a boy who died after jumping into the sea from a harbour wall today warned of the dangers of "tombstoning".

The body of 16-year-old Sam Boyd was recovered early today. He had leapt into the sea in Minehead, Somerset, last night and was believed to have been dragged under by powerful currents.

In a statement, his relatives said: "We ask that other young people do not put themselves in danger and learn from this tragedy by stopping swimming in the harbour area and where currents are strong and dangerous.

"We now wish there was something that could be done to prevent another child from dying like Sam did.

"We don't want another family to have to go through this."

Sam lived in Minehead with his mother, two brothers and two sisters. A lifeboat and local boat owners began searching after he was seen going into the sea yesterday evening.

"We believe he was 'tombstoning', which is something that children don't tend to see danger in, unfortunately," a coastguard spokesman said.

"We know he jumped into the harbour off the harbour wall and that he swam for a short distance, then all of a sudden was crying for help and then apparently sank like a sack of potatoes."

He said local coastguards spoke to some of the boy's friends, who confirmed he had been jumping off the harbour wall.

Tombstoning involves jumping off high cliffs or structures into water. A long-established activity among West Country youngsters, there have been recent concerns that its attraction is spreading.

Last month, James Castleman and Kelvin Rothwell, both middle-aged, died after jumping off the pier at Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. In June, father-of-six Delwyn Jones, 46, from south Wales, died on Father's Day after leaping 10m (33ft) into the sea at low tide at Berry Head, near Torbay, Devon.

Soon after, a 14-year-old girl suffered spinal injuries when she hit rocks after jumping from a cliff in Devon, and a 29-year-old man was rescued from the base of cliffs at St Agnes, in north Cornwall, after being knocked unconscious.

Tombstoning, a term said to reflect the high fatality among participants, has been a regular summer activity for thrillseekers since at least the mid-1990s, when the Guardian reported it as a "new craze" inspired by Pepsi Max adverts.

The "live life to the full" advertisements featured grannies boasting about the daredevil antics of their grandchildren.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said that between 1997 and 2003, 1,226 people had been admitted to hospital after diving or jumping into water in England.

Over the same period, 106 people drowned as a result of jumping into water, with seven of these deaths occuring in coastal locations.

Each summer, Devon and Cornwall emergency services deal with an average of one cliff-jumping rescue a week.

    Family issues warning after 'tombstoning' death, G, 3.8.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2141098,00.html

3pm update

Girl, 15,

arrested over Tyneside stabbing

Friday August 3, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
Press Association

A 15-year-old girl was arrested today on suspicion of murdering an 18-year-old mother who was stabbed in the street.

The victim, Samantha Madgin, was caught up in a row between two gangs in a back alley in Wallsend, near Newcastle, at around midnight.

Northumbria police said a 15-year-old girl from the Newcastle area was arrested this afternoon on suspicion of murder.

A man in his 30s and a woman in her 20s were already being questioned, also on suspicion of murder, and more suspects were wanted, the force said.

Police said Ms Madgin was in one of the two groups involved in "an altercation".

Chief Superintendent Steve Storey, commander of the North Tyneside area, said: "We received a call about a disturbance in Wallsend in the back lane between Victoria Avenue and Albert Avenue around 11.50pm. "On arrival we found the victim had suffered stab wounds. She died later from her injuries."

Ch Supt Storey said that knife crime was rare in the area and police took robust action against anyone carrying a blade.

"I'd also like to remind people we do not have the same level of problems with gang culture as other parts of the country and the majority of incidents involving knives are when the victim and offender are known to each other in some way - a random attack by a stranger is rare," he said.

    Girl, 15, arrested over Tyneside stabbing, G, 3.8.2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/crime/article/0,,2140971,00.html