28 years for killer of footballer’s brother

A teenager who gunned down the brother of an international footballer with a converted pistol because he would not bow to his commands has been jailed for 28 years.

Gabriel Charles, 19, shot Jesse Lloyd-Smith, 20, five times in an alleyway next to his mother’s home in Peckham, south east London, on July 10 last year.

Jesse’s sister, Lexi Lloyd-Smith, 22, plays for Bristol City in the Women’s Championship and England U23s.

A man jumped out of a stolen Ford S-Max before taking aim at Jesse.

The gun used was a 9mm automatic pistol, likely a converted Turkish Atak Arms Zoraki model 917, the Old Bailey heard.

Mr Lloyd-Smith’s mother Ty found her son lying on the ground with bullet wounds to the head.

Today she told Judge Patrick Field, KC, he was a ‘weak man’ who had ‘blood on his hands’ due to the low sentences given to Charles’ accomplices.

People including an off duty nurse rushed to help Lloyd-Smith who was later taken to hospital for emergency surgery but died the next day.

Charles, who was wearing an ankle tag at the time, denied but was convicted of murder by a jury.

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Data from his ankle tag linked Charles to the location of the S-Max in the lead-up to the killing.

The converted blank firing pistol use has never been recovered by police.

Judge Patrick Field, KC, jailed Charles for life with a minimum term of 28 years.

He said he could not be certain whether Charles was the gunman or the driver.

Judge Field said: ’On 10 July 2024 Jesse Lloyd-Smith met with a group of his friends on the coroner of East Surrey Grove in Peckham when a Ford S-Max motorcar pulled up sharply.

‘One of the two people travelling in it got out armed with a handgun with which he shot Jeese five times and having done so got back into the car which drove off returning to a parking place nearby.

‘Jesse was mortally wounded and notwithstanding prompt expert care he died the following day.

‘Following the shooting you, Gabriel Charles, fled the country.

‘Jesse’s killing was not a spontaneous act. It was an execution. A planned and premeditated murder.

‘That planning had involved obtaining a stolen vehicle, obtaining false number plates, obtaining firearms and ammunition and carrying out surveillance to identify Jesse’s whereabouts.

‘The disposal of the S-Max after the shooting was a meticulously planned and premeditated operation.

‘It is appropriate before embarking on the sentencing exercise that I should pay tribute to all of those members of Jeese’s family who have attended the trial.

‘Their fortitude and quiet dignity was remarkable and this was in marked contrast to some of the frankly appalling behaviour witnesses in the dock during the trial which was nothing short of ignorant, unfeeling and disrespectful.

‘That Jesse’s family had to be subjected to this behaviour is shameful.’

Kywan JN Pierre, 18, of Cambridgeshire, was allegedly in the Ford S-Max which drove Charles to Llyod-Smith, but was cleared of murder.

As he was jailed for three years, Mr Lloyd-Smith’s mother said ‘You’re a murderer and you will pay for murdering my son’ which led to applause in the public gallery.

JN Pierre, Enver Francis, 22, Abdoul Guene, 18, Kadjo Kadio and Ben Nguyen, both 20, and a 17-year-old, who cannot be named, all denied but were convicted of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Kadio and Nguyen were also convicted of assisting an offender.

Those charges relate to torching the S-Max after the killing and transferring cash to Charles so he could flee the country.

JN Pierre was jailed for three years, Francis for four years, Guene for two years, Nguyen for five years and the 17-year-old for two years.

Kadio was convicted in his absence and will be sentenced on a further date.

After the sentences were passed Mr Lloyd-Smith’s mother shouted: ‘You are a weak man Patrick Field and you’ve got blood on your hands for what you’ve let go on in your court.

‘You’re okay because you know they’ll be back- so you’ll get your wage. That’s why you gave them such minimum sentences.’

The judge ordered the public gallery be cleared.

Lexi Lloyd-Smith said in her impact statement read to the court: ‘My brother wasn’t the type to start conflict or escalate situations.

‘You targeted him because he wouldn’t bow to your commands. Because he wouldn’t be a sheep.

‘To all of you who played a part, I hope you never see a moment of peace, for all the love you have drained from my family. May you never rest.’

Jesse’s younger sister, 15, said: ‘I don’t feel as how a normal 15 year old should feel. I don’t feel the same anymore without my brother by my side. He was my protector and my bodyguard.

‘When they turned off that machine, my whole body dropped to the floor.’

It emerged during trial that Charles had cut off his angle tag after the killing, and tried to flee to either Paris, Jamaica, and Istanbul.

He had booked Eurostar and flight tickets but missed them all because he did not get to the departure gates on time, the court heard.

He eventually caught a Eurostar train to Paris the next day and booked a last-minute flight to Cairo, where he hid for just under two weeks.

He returned to London from Cairo on July 22 last year and was finally arrested for murder on November 27.

Prosecutor James Dawes KC earlier told the court Mr Lloyd-Smith’s friend, mentor and former football coach Jamie Burgess, was with him at the time of the shooting.

They were walking Jesse’s dogs shortly before the shooting.

Mr Dawes said: ‘Jesse’s mother was in her flat only yards away from the shooting when the shots were fired. She heard the noise of shots; she looked out of the window and saw a boy dressed in black shooting a gun towards the alleyway.

‘She saw him fire a couple of shots, she saw him back away, put something in his pocket and get into the back seat of the car before driving away.

‘Increasingly desperate attempts were made to stabilize Jesse, to stem the bleeding.’

The converted pistol used by Charles was a type of top-venting blank firer (TVBFs), which were legal to buy in the UK without a licence, but possession of the guns can now lead to a ten year jail sentence.

Similar converted guns were used in the killings of Sebastian James-Kraan, 20, in Ealing in June 2024 and in the fatal shooting of Tyler McDermott, 17, in Tottenham in April 2023.