Pictured here are the murderers who have been jailed this year for shocking crimes committed in south London, as well as south Londoners jailed for murders committed elsewhere in the UK.
Their victims include a 15-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy.
Teen stabbed girl, 15, to death
Hassan Sentamu, 18, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years for stabbing 15-year-old Elianne Andam to death in a row over a teddy bear.
He had a history of attacking girls and carrying knives before he killed the popular schoolgirl outside the Whitgift Centre in Croydon.
He had admitted manslaughter but was found guilty of murder and having a blade after a jury rejected his claim that autism affected his ability to exercise self-control.
In a televised sentencing, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said Elianne, an aspiring lawyer, was a “hard-working, happy girl” with a “radiant smile”.
She told the defendant: “Elianne was 15 when you murdered her. She will always remain just 15, she will never realise the potential of her life.”
The driver for his actions was his “short temper and aggressive tendencies”, which combined with his “deliberate decision to carry a knife,” she said.
As he was sent down, there were angry shouts from the public gallery rejecting his earlier apology, with one person saying: “You deserve to be spat on.”
Sentamu sat with his head in his hands in the dock and wiped away tears as he was sentenced.
Earlier, Elianne’s family described their “living nightmare” in a series of statements read to the court.
Mother Dorcas Andam said: “Elianne was my world, she was the kindest, most loving daughter I could have asked for. She was vibrant, creative and purposeful.
“She loved deeply, loved to sing, to braid hair, always practising new styles. Our home was full of her music, laughter and energy. There was always warmth and joy when Elianne was there.
“Now the music has stopped, the laughter has gone. All that is left is a deafening silence that echoes through my life.”
Addressing Sentamu, Mrs Andam said: “You brutally murdered her in the most humiliating way in broad daylight.
“Mercilessly killing her on the floor as she begged for mercy. You walked away showing no remorse as if her life meant nothing.
“You did not only kill Elianne, you killed me mentally and emotionally. Your actions were senseless and evil.”
Released murderer kills again
Shaine March, 47, of Surrey Quays, stabbed and slashed his pregnant girlfriend to death after being released from prison for murder.
March was 21 when he fatally stabbed 17-year-old Andre Drummond in the neck at a McDonald’s restaurant in Denmark Hill, Camberwell, in January 2000.
Following his release on a life licence in early 2013, he was recalled to jail later that year after he stamped on the stomach of another pregnant girlfriend in July, and was released again in February 2018.
Alana Adysseos, 32, was in the early stages of pregnancy with her third child when she was murdered at her home in Walthamstow on July 22, 2024.
Ms Odysseos knew about March’s murder conviction and safeguarding checks had been made by probation services.
But when the defendant said their relationship had ended amicably, no further checks were made.
Hours before killing Ms Odysseos, March argued with her about whether to abort their unborn child, with the victim heard to say: “I don’t want to kill my baby.”
March was jailed for life with a minimum term of 42 years for Ms Odysseos’ murder in November.
Tourist killed by thieves
A gang of laughing robbers murdered a Greek tourist in New Cross.
Antonis Antoniadis was followed to south east London by the thieves after he left 32 Portland Place nightclub, in Marylebone, a venue that came to public attention when it hosted OnlyFans personality Bonnie Blue in her attempt to sleep with more than 1,000 men in 12 hours.
Antoniadis, 26, died from multiple stab wounds in Florence Terrace after he was set upon by the gang, who were wearing balaclavas and armed with large knives.
Five young men, all from Camden, were handed life sentences with minimum terms of between 22 years and 28 years after being found guilty of murder and conspiracy to rob the victim of his Lacoste bag and other possessions.
Shian Johnson, 26, will have to serve at least 28 years before he is eligible for parole.
Sofian Alliche, 20, was handed at least 25 years; his 18-year-old brother Amin Alliche was given 22 years; Joshua McCorquodale, 21, was given 26 years; and Alfie Hipple, 18, was detained with a minimum term of 23 years.
Before they were sentenced, there was laughter in the dock when a man in the public gallery shouted out: “This is bullshit, it’s corrupt. Keep your heads up, don’t let the system break you.”
Judge Rebecca Trowler KC warned against further outbursts, telling the defendants: “I am observing the majority of you – not all – laughing and demonstrating complete failure to respect this process and indeed the damage you have caused.”
Man stabbed his wife to death
Hai Van Nguyen, 42, of Hatfield Close, Lewisham, was jailed for murdering his wife Hien Thi Vu.
The Metropolitan Police launched an investigation after the Nguyen walked into a police station and told officers he had stabbed his wife.
He was immediately arrested and charged the following day.
Hien was found in her bedroom with seven stab wounds, one of which caused fatal blood loss.
A bloodstained knife was found in a bedside drawer.
The court heard Nguyen believed she had been unfaithful and, in the hours before her death, forced her to open the TfL app to check her movements.
Nguyen was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 19 years.
Nightclub killer
Tyler Roberts-Emmanuel, 19, murdered 30-year-old Shaquille Graham outside Silks nightclub in Catford.
Shaquille was shot dead in the back of the neck in the early hours of March 10 last year.
Roberts-Emmanuel was noted by a judge to be a “confident and outgoing person” and had run his own drug-dealing business selling cannabis for two years.
She told Roberts-Emmanuel: “There was no link between you and Shaquille Graham and therefore it is likely you were acting under the direction of others.”
Natasha Barrow, the victim’s mother, described the “devastation” of losing her only son.
She said: “The heinous and cowardly way he was taken away from us adds poisonous salt to an irreparable wound.”
His father, Norman Harris, said his son was taken away in a “senseless act of violence”
“We gave him life and no one else had the right to take it and him away from us,” he said.
Roberts-Emmanuel was jailed for life with a minimum term of 28 years.
Man filmed his neighbour dying
Salah Ahmed, 22, of Laitwood Road in Balham, stabbed his friend and neighbour to death with a kitchen knife.
He killed 18-year-old Issa Ali Musa Abdularaman-Baracat, his neighbour, because of a dispute about a phone before filming as he died.
A statement from the victim’s family said: “Issa was loved by everyone that knew him and he was an immensely generous person.
“He was always smiling and joking, and he would never have a bad word to say about anyone.
“Issa had many ambitions and was determined to achieve them, he wanted to study and better his life.
“He was an amazing young man that had a future ahead of him.
“But everything was cut short for no reason, his life and dreams stolen from him by his supposed friend.”
Pair murdered former friend
Keahn Williams, 20, from Coulsdon, and Kai Nelson-Palmer, 17, from Croydon, murdered 22-year-old Lucas Sutton.
On April 26, 2023, Lucas was lured to an address in Croydon, where he was joined by his former friends Williams and Nelson-Palmer.
Whether Lucas knew the others were going to be there is not clear, but he left the flat with Williams and Nelson-Palmer to walk to a shop to buy drinks.
Unbeknownst to Lucas, they had been exchanging Snapchat messages in the days leading up to the meeting with the intention of attacking him.
As they returned from shop in Northbrook Road, Williams produced a knife and stabbed Lucas, who was caught completely unaware.
He dropped the drinks he was holding and ran, pursued by Williams and Nelson-Palmer.
Williams caught up with him as he ran along Mayo Road and stabbed him again before both the assailants fled.
Both men have been jailed for life – Williams will serve at least 23 years, and Nelson-Palmer will serve at least 16 years.
Car park murder
Earl Morin-Briton, 36, of Rosehill, Sutton, stabbed a man to death in an “unprovoked” and “senseless” attack at car park in Battersea.
The court heard that on August 24, 2023, Theo Porteous was sitting in his car in the car park of a block of flats in Thessaly Road, Nine Elms.
Morin-Briton approached the vehicle and spoke to him through the open driver’s window.
Mr Porteous got out of the car and was immediately confronted by Morin-Briton, who pulled a large knife from his shorts and stabbed him three times—in the face, neck, and back.
Witnesses to the attack rushed to Mr Porteous’s aid, and emergency services, including paramedics and officers from the Metropolitan Police, arrived promptly.
Mr Porteous died at the scene.
Morin-Briton will serve a minimum of 27 years.
Boy, 16, stabbed to death
Lavaun Witter, 22, was attacked with a knife along with a 16-year-old boy as they ran away from a group of men armed with knives and swords on February 5, 2021.
Police were called to Wisbeach Road at 8.08pm after a member of the public found Lavaun collapsed and seriously injured.
Lavaun died at the scene with a wound to his leg.
An investigation revealed that Lavaun’s flat had been broken into just before the attack by the armed men who demanded drugs and slashed through a door.
Julian Russell, 26, of Sanfield Road, Thornton Heath and Tyreece Wolfries-Parkins, 22, of Rothesay Road, South Norwood, were found guilty of murder at an Old Bailey trial in 2023.
Pasley, 29, of Paxton Grove in Coulsdon, was found guilty of manslaughter.
A re-trial took place in late 2024 and Tyreece Riggon, 24, of Armistice Gardens, Norwood, was found guilty of attempted GBH. Pasley was also found guilty of attempted GBH in relation to the attack on the 16-year-old boy.
In March, Julian Russell was sentenced to life in prison to serve a minimum of 24 years, while Tyreece Wolfries- Parkins got life imprisonment with a minimum of 20 years.
Alex Pasley was sentenced to 17 years in prison and Tyreece Riggon was sentenced to six years.
Gang feud
Christopher Wilson, 23, of Templar Drive, Thamesmead, murdered Kacem Mokrane in Walthamstow.
He was the fifth person to be convicted in relation to the murder, with four others convicted in June 2023.
18-year-old Kacem was fatally stabbed on November 16, 2017, as part of an ongoing feud between rival gangs in east London.
Police were called to Mount Pleasant Road at 11.15pm with reports of an altercation between a group of armed males.
They were alerted to the presence of knives, machetes and swords at the scene of the fight.
Kacem had been ambushed by the group and was stabbed at least twice before his attackers fled the scene.
He was taken to Royal London Hospital and underwent emergency surgery but later died following complications on November 20, 2017.
A post-mortem examination gave his cause of death as multi-organ failure caused by hypovolemic shock, and complications arising from a stab wound to the abdomen.
Kacem’s family said: “There are no words to express the unimaginable grief that we have suffered.
“The manner in which Kacem was murdered, has had a life changing impact on our family.”
In February Wilson was jailed for life with a minimum term of 16 years.
Town centre killers
David Walcott, 35, of Turle Road in Norbury, and Rammon Mali, 33, of Valley Road in Croydon, were both jailed for life with minimum terms of 27 years for the murder of Rijkaard Siafa in Croydon.
Rijkaard was found injured in Fellmongers Yard on April 12 last year after emergency services were alerted to a stabbing.
The court heard how Rijkaard had been making his way to see his partner after leaving a friend’s flat near Fellmongers Yard when he was attacked and knifed thirteen times.
Walcott and Mali fled from the scene of the incident into a pub in Katharine Street, ordering themselves three pints of beer.
During the trial, the pair admitted to being present at the scene of the crime but claimed they were not the only ones responsible for stabbing Rijkaard.
Hassanatu Bah, Rijkaard’s mother, said: “Anyone who knew Rijkaard would tell you how truly special he was. He had a soul so gentle and a heart so kind that his love and care touched everyone around him.
“His dreams were big, his zest for life unmatched. He was driven by hope and ambition, and his future was filled with endless possibilities – dreams that were cruelly stolen from him.
“But let me assure you, Rijkaard’s story doesn’t end here. I will carry his torch for as long as I live. Everything he dreamed of, everything he wanted to accomplish, I would do my best to see it through. His name will not be forgotten.”
Unarmed man stabbed to death
Shamiah McKenzie, 18, of Colvin Close, Lewisham, stabbed an unarmed man to death while he sat in his car.
Abdul Jalloh, 23, died with stab wounds to his neck after being attacked while behind the wheel at New Union Close in Tower Hamlets on August 5 last year at around 4.15pm.
McKenzie was jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years after he was found guilty of murde, whilst Codee Godfrey, 19, of Grosvenor Wharf Road in Tower Hamlets, was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment for manslaughter.
The court heard that when Abdul was attacked, he was unable to defend himself and “vulnerable”.
Police discovered that they had been circling the Isle of Dogs on bicycles for more than an hour looking for Abdul.
After the attack they threw the knife and its sheath and McKenzie’s bicycle into the Thames at Caledonian Wharf.
While paramedics were treating Abdul, the pair packed their bloody clothing and footwear they had been wearing into bags.
They were so confident in their new look that they returned to the scene, which was full of officers at the time.
Boy, 14, murdered on a bus
Two teens who murdered a 14-year-old boy have been jailed for life were jailed for life in July.
The killers were not named and pictured due to them being under the age of 18.
Kelyan Bokassa cried out “I want my mum” as two smiling teenagers stabbed him 27 times with machetes on a bus in Woolwich.
The 14-year-old aspiring rapper Bokassa was fatally stabbed as he travelled home on a route 472 bus on January 7.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said Kelyan had boarded the bus just after 2pm to attend an appointment at the Youth Justice Centre in Woolwich.
CCTV footage showed Kelyan went to sit on the back seat on the top deck, with a knife in the waistband of his trousers.
Ms Heer said the teenager looked around and out of the windows before taking his seat “giving every impression that he was concerned for his safety”.
The defendants, who cannot be named, boarded the bus 20 minutes later, each armed with identical machetes hidden in their clothes.
The pair walked towards Kelyan “with purpose” and withdrew their blades before immediately stabbing him without uttering a word to their victim.
Ms Heer said: “Since Kelyan Bokassa was seated on the back seat, he was cornered, unable to escape as the defendants repeatedly thrust their knives towards him, smiling as they did so.”
The attack lasted around 14 seconds, with the youths thrusting the machetes towards Kelyan 27 times.
Ms Heer went on: “Kelyan Bokassa had no time to reach for his own knife, which remained in his trousers, and instead tried in vain to protect himself with his school bag.
“There were several other passengers on the top deck who fled in panic when they realised what was happening. They describe hearing intense screaming from the back of the bus and the victim shouting, ‘Help. Help. I’ve been stabbed’.
“They describe both defendants making quick, forceful movements towards Kelyan Bokassa as he tried to defend himself.”
The bus driver activated his emergency alarm just before 2.27pm and the defendants fled when the vehicle stopped at Woolwich Ferry.
Kelyan stumbled down the aisle to the stairs, where another passenger went to help him.
The boy was heard to say: “Take me to my mum’s. I want my mum,” before his legs buckled, bleeding heavily from a wound to the leg.
Members of the public flagged down a passing police car and officers found Kelyan had collapsed and his body was limp.
Despite attempts to save him, Kelyan died at the scene at 3.23pm.
