Why am I not surprised at the crime?
Why am I not surprised at the previous bail about yet another murder?
Why am I not surprised by this picture?
Why wouldn't it surprise me if all his accomplices looked similar?
A member of the robbery gang that killed a shop manager was on police bail for a previous fatal stabbing, it can be reported today.
Anthony Maina, 20, took part in the deadly raid at a Matalan store five months after knifing a teenager during a mobile phone robbery.
Jamie Simpson, a popular shop manager, 33, was stabbed in the neck with a 10in kitchen knife during the botched Matalan raid in March 2008.
Today it emerged that Maina had been arrested shortly after the murder of a teenager, Rizwan Darbar, in October 2007, but was given police bail due to lack of evidence.
He was at large for 15 months, during which time he took part in the killing of Mr Simpson as well as being caught with a knife, cannabis, crack cocaine and heroin. It was only after months of painstaking mobile phone analysis that police were able to charge Maina, in January last year, over Mr Darbar's murder.
At his Old Bailey trial last year the jury was told how Maina, then just 17, had been hiding in bushes as an accomplice robbed Mr Darbar before urging Maina to “poke” his victim. With a “speedy” jab Maina plunged the knife into Mr Darbar’s stomach, severing an artery. He was jailed for life and must spend a minimum of 14 years behind bars. His name could not be reported as by then he was facing a second trial over the death of Mr Simpson.
Detectives were forced to undertake another painstaking investigation to trace Mr Simpson’s killers, who were not charged until March 2009.
The gang who carried out the Matalan raid wore hooded tops and could not be identified by witnesses or CCTV. When police found the getaway car, it had already been crushed.
But they tracked down another vehicle which had been used to steal it in a carjacking and found the fingerprints of Maina and another member of the robbery gang, Duane Owusu, in it.
Mobile phone analysis led police to the rest of the gang. When they arrested gang member Kobina Essel officers found a sports bag containing a white hooded top with Mr Simpson’s blood on it.
Yesterday the Matalan gang were convicted: Kobina Essel — known as "Aggro", 19, of East London, was found guilty of murder while Maina, of Canning Town, East London, and Randy Osei-Owusu, 17, of Poplar, East London, as well as Simeon Jumah, 25, were found guilty of manslaughter.
They had planned to steal between £20,000 and £30,000 in weekend takings from the store but fled empty-handed after the killing.
Jamie Simpson was stabbed three times, once in the back of the shoulder, once in the back and fatally to the left of the neck, the knife severing his carotid artery and jugular vein.
Colleagues tried to stem the flow with clothes and towels in the store but he was declared dead after ambulance staff arrived at the scene. Mr Simpson's mother described the killing of her son as a “sickening betrayal”.
Recalling the moment she was given the news, said: “It was like my world came to an end.”
She added: “He was my friend as well as my son. I couldn’t have asked for a better son. From when he was little he’s been my little buddy.”
Claire Simpson, 22, the victim’s sister, said in a statement that her brother's death was like losing a “vital organ”.
Jurors had been unable to agree on a murder charge against Maina, Jumah, and Osei-Owusu. It was only today, after prosecutors decided not to press for a retrial on that count, that the full extent of Maina’s violent past could be revealed.
The four killers and three others convicted of conspiracy to rob have been remanded in custody and are all due to be sentenced next month.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article7037396.ece
Does any of this surprise ANYone?
Morg
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