Here are the names and faces of the men and women judges have put behind bars in July 2024.
Seven men from Erith, Bexley and Belvedere
Top left: Enriko Spahiu Middle left: Kai Osibodu Bottom left: Jalees Selby-Gangera Middle: Bradlee Reeve Top right: Connor Brooks Middle right: Charlie Brabon Bottom right: Anthony Wallder (Image: Met Police) Seven men from Erith, Bexley and Belvedere have been jailed after 24-year-old Kai McGinley was shot dead on Pembroke Road, Erith, last February.
The jury heard that around 8.45pm, Kai and two friends were driving along Pembroke Road in a Mini Countryman when a Land Rover and Peugeot travelling in the opposite direction came into view.
The Land Rover deliberately struck the Mini and it came off the road.
The men in the Land Rover jumped out of the vehicle as it was severely damaged.
The men in the Peugeot then got out of the car and fired one or two shotguns at close range at the group in the Mini.
Kai’s mum, read her victim impact statement at their sentencing hearing, saying: “Kai was my youngest child and only son. It gives me no pleasure standing before the court to make this statement but it is my truth.
“In all honesty I thought I wouldn’t get through this pain. It has been soul destroying and immeasurable.”
She told the court: “My boy Kai was 24-years-old when he went out one day and he didn’t come home. I can’t explain how hard it was to tell my girls he had been killed, not by accident but at the hands of others.”
Addressing her son’s killers, Lena said: “There are no winners in this situation, everyone has lost something. The defendants have paid the ultimate price.”
They were later convicted and sentenced as follows:
- Bradlee Reeve, 34, of Chapman Road, Erith was convicted of murder, and section 18 GBH and was sentenced to life, with a minimum term of 33 years.
- Enriko Spahiu, 21, of Elmhurst, Belvedere was convicted of murder and section 18 GBH. He was sentenced to life, with a minimum term of 29 years.
- Kai Osibodu, 25, of Riverdale Road, Erith was convicted of murder and section 18 GBH. Osibodu was sentenced to life, with a minimum term of 30 years.
- Jalees Selby-Gangera, 19, of Woodfield Close, Erith was convicted of manslaughter. Selby-Gangera was sentenced to nine and a half years.
- Connor Brooks, 22, of Horsa Road, Erith was convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to 12 years.
- Charlie Brabon, 19, of Byron Drive, Erith was convicted of manslaughter. Brabon was sentenced to nine years.
- Anthony Wallder, 21, was convicted of murder and section 18 GBH. Wallder was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 29 years.
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Philip Baker
Philip Baker (Image: Met Police) Philip Baker, 63, of Wessex Drive in Erith, strangled a woman until she thought she was going to die.
Baker was found guilty of assaulting and strangling his partner.
On September 10 last year Baker walked up to her and repeatedly punched her arm causing her extensive bruising, a court heard.
Then on March 13 this year his partner was lying on her sofa following an argument when Baker got on top of her and put both his hands on her throat.
Judge David Miller said: “You got on top of her and you used your body weight to pin her down.
“Your knee was on her chest and you put your hands around her neck and applied pressure while she was kicking out and she thought she was going to die.”
After Baker released her the woman phoned 999 and Baker was arrested.
Baker was jailed for two years.
Read the full story – Erith thug strangled woman until she thought she was going to die
Carl Cooper
Carl Cooper (Image: Met Police) Lewisham handyman Carl Cooper, 66, has been jailed for life after he murdered two vulnerable women he had been in relationships with.
Cooper stabbed 41-year-old Naomi Hunte to death at her Woolwich flat in February 2022, after she had made four complaints to police that he had been harassing her.
He was arrested on suspicion of murder but was released under investigation and went on to murder 48-year-old Fiona Holm who went missing from Hither Green 16 months later.
Fiona’s family remain “tortured” by the fact her body has never been found – a £20,000 reward has been offered for information which leads to her remains being located.
During the trial Cooper denied killing either woman and even suggested that Fiona might have been kidnapped by Hamas.
As he jailed Cooper for life Judge Justice Johnson told Cooper he still has a chance to tell police where Fiona’s body is to “give her family the chance to give her the funeral she deserves”.
Read the full story – ‘Evil’ Lewisham handyman who murdered two women ‘likely to die behind bars’
Michael Drew
Michael Drew (Image: PA/PA Archive/PA Images) Former swimming coach Michael Drew, 78, subjected young boys to horrific sexual abuse under the pretence of improving their sporting performance.
He was an elite swimming coach who worked with boys across south London, east London and Essex for four decades.
He went on to become president of the British Swimming Coaches Association but was unmasked in 2000 when five boys came forward about abuse he’d subjected them to between 1969 and 1991.
Drew was jailed for six years in 2001, a sentence which sparked concern about the wider issue of child sexual abuse in the sport.
In 2022 a sixth historic victim approached police about abuse he had suffered at Drew’s hands in the 1970s.
He has now been jailed for a further two years and three months.
Read the full story – Bromley swimming coach sexually abused boys claiming it would help performance
Martin McDonagh and Anthony O’Donnell
Martin McDonagh (left) and Anthony O’Donnell (right) (Image: Warwickshire Police) Martin McDonagh, 35, of Burnhill Close in Beckenham, and Anthony O’Donnell, 34, of Old Maidstone Road in Sidcup, are among 23 people who have been sentenced after a gang turned a kids’ boxing tournament into a ‘warzone’.
Shocking footage shows a brawl at a sports centre near Coventry involving men from across the country including Anthony O’Donnell, 34, from Sidcup, and Martin J. McDonagh, 35, from Beckenham.
In the footage men are seeing throwing chairs while others arm themselves with pickaxe handles, axes, knives, and spades from the boots of their vehicles.
The incident took place in February 2020 at a national amateur junior boxing championship when a group of nearly 60 men arrived in a convoy of 13 vehicles.
They entered the venue and targeted a small number of men inside, kicking off 20 minutes of violent disorder.
After arming themselves with weapons some of the men attacked vehicles in the car park before heading back into the venue to attack others.
One victim was forced to the ground where he was kicked, punched, and slashed with a blade, leaving him with injuries that required stitches on his face.
Approximately 300 members of the public, mostly kids and young people competing in the championship, witnessed the horror.
James Gathercole
James Gathercole (Image: BTP) James Arthur George Gathercole, 39, masturbated in front of young women on south London trains.
He targeted women on trains in two separate incidents on Sunday May 26.
At 3.20pm he sat opposite a 27-year-old woman on a train from Motspur Park station to Wimbledon station.
Gathercole then proceeded to masturbate and expose his penis in the woman’s eyeline.
Then at 7.20pm the same evening he boarded a train at West Sutton station heading to London Blackfriars.
He sat down in the eye line of a 19-year-old woman and began masturbating and exposing his penis.
One of the victims was able to record the incident, helping police identify Gathercole.
He was subsequently located and arrested. Gathercole was later jailed for two years and eight months.
Read the full story – South London train pervert masturbated in front of terrified young women
Jurick Croes, Suvenca Martis and Raichell Felomina
Jurick Croes (left), Suvenca Martis (middle) and Raichell Felomina (right) (Image: Met Police) Jurick Croes, Suvenca Martis and Raichell Felomina were jailed after a 25-year-old man was stabbed to death over an argument about a sham marriage scam.
Jurick Croes, 38, will serve at least 30 years in prison after he murdered Riches Obi in Elephant and Castle.
Suvenca Martis, a hairdresser from Forest Hill, and Raichell Felomina, of no fixed address, were jailed for false imprisonment.
Croes had fallen out with Mr Obi and his mum, Bernadette Ortet, over a marriage scam.
Croes was paid £500 for his part in the scam but hatched a plan to rob Ms Ortet because he had been expecting £50,000.
When he and his two accomplices went to her house near Elephant and Castle in November 2020, Ms Ortet’s son Riches Obi tried to protect her and was fatally stabbed.
The three intruders had bound Ms Ortet with cable ties and a scarf in a bedroom at the property.
The court had heard that Ms Ortet was alleged to have been involved in a sham marriages scam and at the time was a case worker for a firm of solicitors specialising in immigration and nationality.
Croes was jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years for what Judge Nigel Lickley said was the “vicious and savage” murder of a defenceless man in his own home.
Read the full story – Forest Hill hairdresser and two men jailed after marriage scam killing
Chad Goodall
Chad Goodall (Image: Kent Police) Chad Goodall, 44, seriously injured two people when he crashed a stolen car during a police chase.
He was fleeing police when he veered onto the wrong side of the road on green Court Road, Crockenhill, on February 25.
He collided with a motorbike, injuring both the motorcyclist and a passenger, both fleeing on foot.
Two months earlier, on December 22, Goodall broke into a home in Sevenoaks and stole designer handbags, watches, items of jewellery and an Audi E-tron car.
When officers tracked down the stolen Audi to Wilmington on February 25 they discovered that Goodall had driven away in a second vehicle he had stolen during another burglary in Crayford ten days earlier.
A police chase then took place during which Goodall drove extremely dangerously.
After he had crashed into the motorbike and fled officers searched the stolen vehicle and found a ‘burglary kit’ of tools such as number plates, gloves, face coverings, a screwdriver, window punches and a blank car key.
Goodall was jailed for 11 years and six months.
Read the full story – Two seriously injured after Crayford burglar crashed stolen car during chase
Winston Papalaka
Winston Papalaka (Image: Cambs Police) Winston Papalaka, 28, of Harold Road in Crystal Palace, crawled through a dog flap and stole £5,000 worth of item.
He worked with 43-year-old Ben Hatto to break into a house in South Cambridgeshire in June 2021.
They ransacked rooms stealing a laptop, three watches, diamond and sapphire earrings, a Tiffany gold ring and cash.
But unfortunately for the thieves, the burglary was witnessed by a roofer working on a nearby house.
Hatto, of North Denes Road in Great Yarmouth, admitted burglary and will be sentenced in September.
Papalaka denied burglary but was found guilty by a jury and was jailed for four years and six months.
Mark Kerwick
Mark Kerwick (Image: Met Police) Mark Kerwick, 33, of Shrublands Estate in Croydon, was jailed following a police raid at a dry cleaners in Thornton Heath that uncovered a gun.
Officers searched an outbuilding in the back yard of the premises and found a converted Glock pistol capable of fully automatic fire inside a black zip-up pouch.
Mark Kerwick, of Shrublands Estate, claimed he had briefly handled the gun in 2016 or 2017.
However, police found his DNA on the trigger, working parts, and internal components of the pistol.
Further investigation revealed that Kerwick had been supplying cannabis to friends and family, based on analysis of his phone contents by specialist officers.
He was then jailed for five years.
Read the full story – Police raid at Thornton Heath dry cleaners uncovers gun
Mohammed Basheeru
Mohammed Basheeru (Image: Met Police) Mohammed Basheeru, 44, of London Road in Croydon, threatened a high street bank cashier in Sydenham with a gun during a robbery.
At around 11am two men wearing face coverings entered the Lloyds Bank branch on Sydenham High Street.
One of the men demanded the cashier open the till while his accomplice pointed a gun at her.
The men stole cash then ran away down Venner Road where they entered a car and left the area.
But enquiries led police officers to Mohammed Basheeru’s door.
He eventually pleaded guilty to robbery and was jailed for 12 years.
Read the full story – Masked robber threatened Sydenham bank cashier with gun
John Harris Bolton
John Harris Bolton (Image: Met Police) Persistent thief John Harris Bolton, 38, repeatedly stole from a BP store in Greenwich.
He targeted the shop for over six months, taking meat, alcohol, and other products.
He was first arrested on February 4 and despite his initial charge and bail, he continued to steal.
Read the full story – Persistent Greenwich shoplifter who stole £6,000 worth of goods jailed AGAIN
He was then rearrested on March 13 pleaded guilty to 31 counts of theft.
In April he was jailed for 35 weeks and was banned from entering any south east London based BP store for the next five years.
On July 8 Bolton appeared at Bromley Magistrates’ Court again where he was given an addition two weeks on his sentence after he admitted eight more thefts from the same shop.
