Gang of killers who stabbed this man to death jailed for knife possession

Four youths cleared by a jury of stabbing a teenager to death were jailed after a judge said they went out armed knowing there ‘might be a knife fight’.

Denardo Samuels-Brook, 17, died after he was knifed in the chest in Streatham, southwest London, on June 10 last year.

Denzel Kwateng, Andre Headley, Umar Salami, all 19, Jonathan Blake, 18, were cleared of his murder by an Old Bailey jury last week.

The four denied the charge and claimed they acted in self defence.

Jurors were not told that they had all admitted possession of a bladed article before the trial began.

Judge Rebecca Trowler, QC, said: ‘Denardo Samuels-Brook was killed at the conclusion of a confrontation between you four on the one hand and Denardo Samuels-Brook and O’Cean Thompson-Stewart on the other.

‘The jury accepted that you may have acted in lawful self defence of yourself or another.

‘I must however now sentence you each for your offence of possession of a bladed article on that day.

‘I make it clear that in light of the jury’s verdict and what follows from the evidence that I disregard the events in Prentis Road and then in Ockley Road that took place during the confrontation and after Mr O’Cean Thompson-Stewart drew his knife.

‘That decision in no way indicates that the killing of Denardo Samuels-Brook was anything other than brutal and tragic, it does no more than reflect the verdict of the jury.

‘By way of background there’s evidence before the court that each of you were associated with a group called ‘The Fifth’ considered a gang.

‘On 10 June all four of you left the home of Andre Headley on Prentis Road while each of you had a very large knife concealed within your clothing.

‘I’m satisfied that as each of you went into Prentis Road carrying knives as you were, each of you did so knowing that there might well be a knife fight.

‘The fact that you went in possession of weapons to a possible knife fight, I’m satisfied, is inconsistent with carrying knives solely for personal protection.

‘Although I accept that your own protection might have been the reason for you carrying knives when you left the house that day.’

She added: ‘You were together on that day as a group.

‘The video evidence of you all in the flat before shows you looking and playing with knives and evidence that you all carried knives.

‘I’m satisfied that as part of that group you all knew that the others in that group were armed.

‘You were carrying knives in a residential area populated by members of the public during the course of the afternoon.

‘You had been drunk in the flat, I’m satisfied that you were at least somewhat intoxicated when you went out onto the street with your weapons.

‘I take into account in all your cases your young age and then inevitable lack of maturity that attaches to your young age.

‘Denzel Kwarteng, I gave you credit and took into account that you have no previous convictions [for carrying a weapon].

‘Umar Somali, I accept that you showed remorse in your interview.

‘But these offences are so serious that only custodial sentences can be justified.’

Andre Headley, 19, from Streatham, was sentenced to 24 months in a youth detention centre.

Umar Salami, 19, from Croydon, was sentenced to 22 months in a youth detention centre.

Denzel Kwateng, 19, from New Addington, was sentenced to 20 months in a youth detention centre.

Jonathan Blake, 18, from Croydon, was sentenced to 18 months in a youth detention centre.

Earlier Oliver Glasgow, QC, prosecuting, told how violence had ‘flared up’ between two groups of young men in Streatham on the afternoon of 10 June last year.

‘Violence that saw both sides produce knives that they had concealed in their clothing or bags, violence that saw both sides use their deadly weapons to inflict serious injury to those they regarded as the opposition.

‘Violence that saw the two losers chased down the street with one of them, Denardo Samuels-Brook, fatally injured and his companion, O’Cean Thompson-Stewart, having sustained minor injuries from the knives that were used against them.

‘Violence that saw the four winners escape to the address from which they had come where two of them Denzel Kwateng and Andre Headley had to tend to wounds they had sustained from the knives that had been used against them.

‘What actually lay behind that violence may never be known with any certainty — after all the victim who lost his life cannot give any explanation.

‘But what is known is what these four defendants did because the violence they used was recorded by CCTV cameras.

‘They can be seen to strike and stab the deceased and his friend with the weapons in their hands, to chase them when they tried to escape, to continue to attack the deceased despite the fact that he posed them no threat at all to them and then they can be seen to walk away as if nothing had happened.’

At least eight of the knives had recently been purchased online and shipped to Headley’s address at Prentis Road, Streatham, jurors heard.

On the day before the attack, the gang gathered at Headley’s house and took pictures and video of themselves playing with and showing off the knives.

The next afternoon, Headley and Salami spotted Denardo and his friend O’Cean Thompson-Stewart, 18, in a taxi travelling along the main street.

Both teenagers got out of the car and followed Headley and Salami, who had already alerted Blake and Kwateng what was happening, into a side street.

The two groups, with each person armed with a knife, squared off unaware they were in full view of CCTV cameras.

After a brief confrontation involving brandishing knives, Denanardo and O’cean ran off but the other four immediately gave chase, the court heard.

‘Denardo Samuels-Brook and O’Cean Thompson-Stewart ran along the street and turned into a side road, but the defendants continued to chase them and to try to attack them.

‘Denardo Samuels-Brook was all too aware of the danger behind him and he turned to face his pursuers as he tried to back away.

‘He narrowly missed being stabbed Mr Headley’s blade, and Mr Salami also swung and missed, but he was unable to avoid Mr Kwateng’s knife which was plunged into his chest,’ said Mr Glasgow.

O’Cean dragged his friend away from the attackers, but got only a few feet down the road before Denardo collapsed to the group.

The knife that Denardo had been stabbed with had gone 23cm into his chest and penetrated his lung, liver and heart.

All four defendants claimed they were acting in self-defence.

Mr Glasgow had told jurors: ‘The key question for each of them is likely to be whether or not you are sure that they were not acting in self defence when they inflicted the injuries that they did to the deceased.

‘You will want to ask yourselves why the footage shows these defendants chasing the deceased and his friend along the street when they no longer posed any danger to them.

‘You will want to ask yourselves why the footage shows these defendants carrying out a merciless attack upon the deceased who was trying to back away from them and their knives.

‘And you will want to ask yourselves why the footage shows these defendants appearing to celebrate in the harm that they had inflicted.

‘The simple answer is that the defendants were recorded doing what they did because they were the aggressors and because they wanted to cause as much harm as they could to the deceased.’

Kwateng, of New Addington, Headley, of Streatham, Salami and Blake, both of Croydon, all denied murder and were cleared of the charge.

They all admitted possession of a bladed article.