Upcoming trials and inquests

WELSH VALLEYS COUNTY LINES DRUGS MURDER TRIAL

Trial began at Cardiff Crown Court on 22 October 2025. 9 weeks.

On March 9, 2025 Joanne Penney, 40, died after being shot at a block of flats in Green Park, Talbot Green, Rhondda Cynon Taf, south Wales. Marcus Huntley, 20, from St Mellons, Cardiff, changed his plea to guilty of murder on Day 2 of the trial (and participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group. Five other people are on trial for murder. They are Kristina Ginova, 21, from Oadby, Leicestershire, charged with murder and participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group. Joshua Gordon, 27, from Oadby, charged with murder and participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group, appeared from HMP Bristol. Jordan Mills-Smith, 33, from Pentwyn, Cardiff, charged with murder and participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group. Tony Porter, 68, from Braunstone Town, Leicestershire, charged with murder and participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group. Molly Cooper, 33, from Leicester, charged with participating in the activities of an organised crime group and having in her possession/purchasing or acquiring ammunition for a firearm without a certificate. Melissa Quailey-Dashper, 39, from Leicester, appeared before Cardiff Crown Court on Friday morning charged with murder and participating in the activities of an organised crime group.

LADBROKE GROVE ATTEMPTED MURDER TRIAL

COLD CASE MURDER – 1984 TUBE STATION – TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 5 (or 12) Jan 2026

Anthony Littler, 45, was found with head injuries in an alleyway known as The Causeway, near East Finchley Tube station on May 1, 1984. Investigators believe the Customs and Excise officer, who was single and lived a short distance from the station, was murdered in a random attack.

In March 2025 two brothers – Michael Stewart, 55, of Station Road, New Barnet, north London, and Anthony Stewart, 59, of Old Farm Road, Finchley, north London – who had been arrested a year earlier, were charged with Mr Littler’s murder.

Another three men who were previously arrested on suspicion of murder remain under investigation.

CHURCH ROAD FUNERAL MURDER TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 12 Jan 2026. PCMH on 2 April 2025.

Michelle Sadio, 44, died after shots were fired in Harlesden at about 9pm on 14 December 2024. She was standing with mourners outside the River of Life pentecostal church after a funeral wake. Two men were also injured in the incident. Kenneth Amoah, 39, sustained a gunshot wound to the back and Kadeem Francis, 30, was shot in the foot. The shooting is believed to be gang-related.

Perry Allen-Thomas, 26, Amir Salem, 18, Shaquille Sutherland, 24, all from Wembley, and Tahjin Sommersal, 18, from Feltham, have each been charged with murder and two counts of attempted murder.

Retrial at Loughborough Crown Court on 13 Jan 2026.

In October 2020 Tamba Momodou, 20, a drug dealer originally from Rayners Lane in north west London, was shot dead in the car park of the Bridges Business Park in Horsehay, Telford, Shropshire. Momodou, whose street name was Teerose, had been acquitted of murdering Abdullahi Tarabi, aka TeeWizz, in Northolt in 2017. His murder is thought to have been in revenge for that murder. In May 2024 Deria Hassan, 32, and Mahamud Tarabi, 32, were charged with murder. Tarabi is the brother of Teewizz. The first trial collapsed on 10 March 2025.

NORTH SEA SHIP COLLISION MANSLAUGHTER TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 12 Jan 2026

Vladimir Motin, 59, captain of the MV Solong, a Portuguese-flagged container ship which collided with a US oil tanker in the North Sea (near the mouth of the Humber) is accused of gross negligence manslaughter.

The Solong collided with the Stena Immaculate on March 10, 2025.

All 23 people on the tanker were rescued along with 13 crew from the Solong, but Mark Angelo ernia – a 38-year-old Filipino – died.

NOAH DONOHOE INQUEST

Inquest to begin on 19 Jan 2026. 10 weeks.

Schoolboy Noah Donohoe went missing in Belfast in June 2020. The 14-year-old was found dead in a storm drain six days after he cycled off to meet friends.

His mother Fiona Donohoe is hoping to secure answers to some of the questions surrounding the death of her son through the inquest process. Her supporters are known as Noah’s Army and some of their conspiracy theories are quite outlandish.

Noah was from the Catholic community and some of the conspiracy theories surround loyalist gangs.

The inquest was originally scheduled to take place in 2022 but was delayed after a ruling from coroner Joe McCrisken that it should proceed with a jury, following an application from Noah’s mother.

The original coroner, Joe McCrisken, has since recused himself from the case. The inquest will now be heard by Mr Justice Rooney.

MAN WHO SOLD SUICIDE TRIAL

Trial in Ontario, Canada in Jan 2026. Eight week trial.

Kenneth Law is set to stand trial on 14 counts each of first-degree murder and aiding suicide.

Law, 57, was arrested in Ontario and later charged with second degree murder and aiding suicide, after allegedly selling lethal substances to people across the world. The families of 18-year-old Jeshennia Bedoya Lopez, 19-year-old Ashtyn Prosser, and Stephen Mitchell Jr., 21, have all identified their loved ones as alleged victims in the case.

In the UK alone 88 suicides are linked to Law. An inquest in March 2025 heard Imogen Nunn, 25, took a chemical and died in Brighton, East Sussex, on January 1, 2023. The deaf young woman used her TikTok platform to raise awareness of hearing and mental health issues to her 780,000 followers.

SECOND WELSH VALLEYS TRIAL

Trial pending at Cardiff Crown Court in 2026.

Sai Raj Manne, 25, of no fixed abode appeared, via video link from HMP Hewell charged with participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group and having in his. possession/purchasing or acquiring a firearm. Callum Kelleher, 37, from Liverpool has been charged with participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group, perverting the course of justice and assault.  Laura John, 22, of Rhiwbina, Cardiff and 50-year-old Donna James, of Llanishen, Cardiff, have been charged with assisting an offender.

DERBY GANG MURDER TRIAL

Trial pending at Nottingham Crown Court some time in 2026

Dale “DJ” Martin, 21, died in hospital after being attacked in Stenson Road, Derby about 11.45pm. He had been travelling in a grey Renault Megane, which had been heading “in the direction of the Allenton triangle, Osmaston Road and towards the Foresters Business Park”. Ten people have been charged in connection with this murder. They include Jayden Manion-Roberts, 25, of Tennyson Street, Derby, Keenan Hamblet, 26, of Osmaston Park Road, Derby, Ki Grant-Finlayson, 22, of Langley Road, Derby, Kayin Holmes, 24, of Nightingale Road, Derby, Kelci Thompson, 18, of Osmaston Road, Derby, Shaylon McCalla, 26, of Copes Way, Derby, and a 17-year-old boy. Bridget Hamblett, 57, and Asha Waddilove, 20, have been charged with assisting an offender. At the time of the killing police appealed for help in finding a moped, two electric motorbikes, and a BMW which were believed to be travelling in convoy.

COLD CASE MURDER TRIAL

Trial provisionally set for 2 Feb 2026 at Old Bailey.

Steve Wright, 66, is charged with the kidnap and murder of 17-year-old Victoria Hall, who disappeared on her way home from a nightclub in Suffolk in 1999.

Judge Martyn Levett

ETHICAL FORESTRY (COSTA RICA) FRAUD TRIAL

Trial pending at Southwark Crown Court on 2 Feb 2026. Plea management hearing 8 Jan 2024.

SFO charged Stephen Greenaway, Paul Laver and Matthew Pickard with two counts each of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and one count each of fraudulent trading. They were directors of Ethical Forestry Limited, a Bournemouth company which collapsed in 2015, owing millions to British investors. Between 2007 and 2008 Ethical Forestry Limited operated hardwood tree plantations in Costa Rica. Investors were asked to put in a minimum of £12,000 and were told the fast-growing saplings would be grown, logged and sold, giving them a substantial return on their investment.

SILENT DISCO MURDER TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 9 Feb 2026

Leroy Mitchell, 35, was killed in a car park in Birdhurst Road, Croydon, south London, just before 5am on October 2 2021. He had been at a headphones party at a house in Birdhurst Road before his death.

Cimarron Dume-Gooden, 32, and Alpacino Veii, 29, both deny murdering Mr Mitchell and perverting the course of justice. It is alleged they attempted to pervert the course of justice by setting a BMW alight and destroying the clothing inside it and also by hiding at addresses in Walsall and Somerset.

WOLVERHAMPTON GANG MURDER TRIAL

Trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court on 16 Feb 2026.

In March 2025, Neo Graham, 24, was shot dead in Eastfield Grove, Wolverhampton. Fabio Bandarrinha, 20, and Deric Da Silva, 19; have been charged with murder, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, possession of ammunition for a firearm without a certificate, possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply, and acquiring, using or possessing criminal property. Aaron Osei, 22 and Elie Mey, 24, are charged with conspiracy to murder, possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, possession of ammunition for a firearm without a certificate, possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply, possession of a controlled Class B drug, and acquiring, using or possessing criminal property. Koketso Ximba, 22, is charged with murder.

HONG KONG STUDENTS INTIMIDATION TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 2 March 2026. In for mention on 19 June

Chi (Peter) Leung Wai, 38, from Staines, Surrey; and Chung Biu Yuen, 63, from Hackney, east London, were charged with offences under the National Security Act.

A third defendant, former Royal Marine, Matthew Trickett, 37, an immigration enforcement officer and private investigator from Maidenhead, Berkshire, was found dead in a park in Maidenhead in May 2024. At their first appearance the prosecution had asked for Mr Trickett to be remanded in custody for his own welfare ahead of his next hearing at the Old Bailey. But he was granted bail and on May 19, Mr Trickett was found dead in Grenfell Park, Maidenhead.

GUNS FOUND IN VEHICLE HIDE, TRIAL

Sentencing at Canterbury CC (or Maidstone) on 5 March 2026

On 24 Feb 2025 Border Force officers seized 13 firearms and 300 rounds of ammunition from a SUV which arrived on ferry from France at Dover.  Inside a custom-built hide in the vehicle’s footwell they discovered 13 firearms, including Skorpions, a submachine gun and pistols.

They also found 300 rounds of ammunition and five kilos of heroin.

Kasha Sanderson, 39, of Wick, Bristol, appeared at Maidstone Magistrates’ Court on 25 Feb 2025 charged with importation of firearms, ammunition and Class A drugs.

BRIGHTON BEACH RAPE TRIAL

Trial at Brighton Law Courts in March 2026

Iranian national Abdulla Ahmadi, 25, of Crewe, Cheshire, along with Egyptian nationals Karin Al-Danasurt, 20, and Ibrahim Alshafe, 25 – both of Horsham, West Sussex – face trial each charged with two counts of rape. All three are asylum-seekers. Sussex Police was called to the incident on the Lower Esplanade at about 5am on 4 October.

HISTORICAL CRIME (CHILD MANSLAUGHTER) TRIAL

Trial at Isleworth Crown Court on 20 April 2026.

Janice Nix, 66, of Rodenhurst Road, south London, is accused of killing five-year-old Andrea Bernard by scalding her in a hot bath in 1978. Nix has also been charged with child cruelty in relation to offences towards Andrea’s brother Desmond Bernard, between 1October 1975 and 6 June 1978, when Mr Bernard was eight. He is expected to be the prosecution’s star witness. The Metropolitan Police said the force launched an investigation into Andrea’s death in September 2022.

Jocelyn Ledward KC, prosecuting.

Reporting restrictions in place. See background file.

Trial at Merthyr Crown Court on 20 April 2026. 4 weeks.

Paria Veisi, 37, vanished after leaving her workplace in Canton, Cardiff. Her body was later found in the garden of a house in Penylan, Cardiff. Her estranged husband Alireza Askari, 41, has been charged with murder and preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body, and assaulting a person occasioning them actual bodily harm. Maryam Delavary, 48, of Australia Road, White City Estate, west London, has been charged with preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body and conspiring to pervert the course of justice. (The pair originally faced trial before Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, the Recorder of Cardiff.)

KEIR STARMER HOUSE AND CAR ARSON TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 27 April 2026. Plea hearing on 17 Oct 2025.

Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, 21, Romanian national Stanislav Carpiuc, 26, and Ukrainian national Petro Pochynok, 34, are accused of arson offences linked to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Two of the fires took place in Kentish Town, north London – one in the early hours of May 12, 2025 at the home where Sir Keir lived before he became Prime Minister and moved into Downing Street.

A car was set alight in the same street four days earlier on May 8, 2025. The other fire was on May 11 at the front door of a house converted into flats in Islington.

Lavrynovych has been charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life on May 8, May 11 and May 12.

Sarah Przybylska prosecuting

James Scobie KC defending Lavrynovych.

WAKEFIELD MURDER TRIAL I (IAN WATKINS)

Trial at Leeds Crown Court on 5 May 2026. 2-3 weeks

Rashid Gedel, 25, also known as Rico Gedel, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, are charged with murder after paedophile rock star Ian Watkins, 48, was killed in a cell at HMP Wakefield. He was serving a 29-year sentence for child sex offences. Judge Guy Kearl, the Recorder of Leeds, is expected to be the trial judge.

HACKNEY TURKS SHOOTING TRIAL

Trial pending at Old Bailey on 11 May 2026. PCMH on 17 Oct 2025.

Beytullah Gunduz, 39 (24.06.1986) of Hackney was charged with attempted murder after a 37-year-old man was shot and seriously outside the Umit 2000 Turkish restaurant in Crossway, Dalston. Shooting took place at 10.50pm.

https://www.tiktok.com/@mr_hamlets/video/7518345759255809302

WOUNDING OF IRANIAN JOURNALIST TRIAL

Trial pending at Old Bailey on 11 May 2026. 

Two Romanian men are accused of attacking Iranian journalist in Wimbledon. Nandito Badea, 20, and George Stana, 24, from Romania, are accused of stabbing Iran International journalist Pouria Zeraati in Wimbledon on 29 March 2024. They are charged with wounding him with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and wounding.

Iran International channel has been branded a terrorist organisation by the regime in Tehran after it covered massive protests in several Iranian cities in September 2022 following the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, who was detained by the morality police for not wearing a veil.

MUSIC VIDEO MURDER TRIAL

Trial pending at Old Bailey on 18 May 2026. 4 weeks. Case number – 42MR1624720.

In June 2020 Stephen Morrison, 30, was stabbed in Epping Road, Epping, Essex, at about 8pm during the filming of a music video. He died later in hospital. In July 2025 Yonas Girma, 28, from Hounslow Road, Hanworth, was charged with murder and awaits trial in 2026. Also charged is Ellis Heather aka rapper Rack5.  The victim was stabbed and collapsed after staggering into a petrol station following a clash between two groups near the Wakes Arms roundabout in Epping, Essex. The victim’s brother, Joey Morrison, is an ex boyfriend of TOWIE star Lauren Goodger. Another brother is a rapper. Fourteen people were arrested.

News of the attack led news bulletins on Nov 25, 2024.

ENFIELD GANG-RELATED MURDER TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 18 May 2026. 8 weeks

The 17-year-old youth is accused of the murder of 18-year-old Keanu Harker in Enfield, north London, on June 26, 2025. The victim was shot dead as he rode a bicycle on Great Cambridge Road shortly after he left his home at 8.30pm.

A second youth, also 17, has been charged with murder. A third defendant, Eliezer Mbike, 25, from Tottenham, north London, was charged with perverting the course of justice.

The first teenager fled to Paris and survived on Uber Eats deliveries after allegedly carrying out a gang-related fatal shooting on an electric bike. Prosecutor Louise Oakley.

HMP WAKEFIELD MURDER TRIAL II (KYLE BEVAN)

Trial at Leeds Crown Court on 2 June 2026.

Kyle Bevan, 33, was killed at HMP Wakefield on 5 Nov 2025. He was serving a minimum sentence of 28 years for murdering his partner’s two-year-old daughter, Lola James, in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, in 2020. Mark Fellows, 45, Lee Newell, aged 56, and David Taylor, aged 63, are accused of his murder, the second in the prison in the space of three weeks.

NORWEGIAN TEENAGER ACCUSED OF CONSPIRACY TO MURDER IN UK

Trial at Old Bailey on 2 June 2026. PCMH on 18 July 2025.

A Norwegian teenager was allegedly being caught with two guns in a hotel room in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Johannes Kongsnes Natland, 18, was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder and having a firearm and ammunition on March 19, 2025, two days after arriving in the UK from Norway. He was allegedly in possession of a black Luger 9mm semi-automatic pistol and a revolver. Natland was charged with possession of two prohibited firearms and having ammunition without a firearm certificate.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb was told he would be indicted on a charge of conspiracy to murder but victim not identified. Case is under Counter Terrorism Policing.

SCATTERED SPIDER TRIAL

Trial at Southwark Crown Court on 8 June 2026

Thalha Jubair, 19, from east London, and Owen Flowers, 18, from Walsall in the West Midlands, have been charged with conspiring to commit unauthorised acts under the Computer Misuse Act. They allegedly committed a cyber attack caused three months of disruption to TfL in 2024 and affected live Tube information, online journey history, and payments on the Oyster app. The teenagers were arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and City of London Police on 16 September 2025. The NCA said it believed the hack, which began on 31 August last year, was carried out by members of cyber-criminal group Scattered Spider. TfL said the hack cost £39m in damage and disruption. TfL wrote to 5,000 customers afterwards warning them their bank account numbers, email addresses and home addresses may have been compromised.

BOTCHED HANDLING OF DEATH MURDER TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 13 July 2026. Four weeks.

David Souttar, 22, is charged with the murder of Robert Hill, 81, who was found dead in his room in a multi-occupancy house in Streatham, south London. His death was originally deemed “non-suspicious” before new information came to light that he was murdered. His bed had a broken headboard with blood on the wall behind and on the pillow. Souttar, 22, was found barricaded in a room at the property in Woodbourne Avenue and he was asked to leave because he was not a resident. A routine post-mortem examination on Mr Hill’s body found congestion and swelling in his lungs and he was cremated.

HULL FUNERAL FRAUD TRIAL

Trial at Sheffield Crown Court on 5 October 2026.

Robert Bush, 47, admitted 35 offences of fraud by false representation and another of fraudulently running a business Hull-based Legacy Independent Funeral Directors.

He also denied 30 counts of preventing lawful and decent burials and one charge of stealing money from charity collection boxes.

The charges related to the period between May 2012 and March 2024, encompassing 172 victims; and one count of fraud in relation to human ashes, encompassing 50 victims dating back to 2017.

ALLEGED IRANIAN AGENTS ON TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 5 October 2026, before Judge Cheema-Grubb.

Three Iranian nationals have been charged under the National Security Act with spying offences on behalf of Iran’s foreign intelligence service. Mostafa Sepahvand, 39, Farhad Javadi Manesh, 44, and Shapoor Qalehali Khani Noori, 55, are all charged with engaging in conduct likely to assist the Iranian foreign intelligence service between August 14 2024 and February 16 2025. Sepahvand is also charged with engaging in surveillance, reconnaissance and open-source research, intending to commit acts, namely serious violence against a person in the UK. Manesh and Noori are also charged with engaging in surveillance and reconnaissance, with the intention that acts, namely serious violence against a person in the UK, would be committed by others.

WOMAN FACES TRIAL OVER GUN USED IN TALIP GUZEL MURDER

Trial at Wood Green Crown Court on 23 November 2026.

Elif Senpalit is accused of possession of a firearm. The gun, a self-loading pistol, was allegedly found on 14 August 2023 in a car parked outside a house in Larmans Road in Enfield. It had been used to shoot Talip Guzel in the Genclerbirligi social club in Tottenham on 30 July 2023.

ANTIGUA SOLAR FARM BRIBERY TRIAL

Trial pending at Southwark Crown Court in Jan 2027 (!)

Peter Virdee, 50, also known as Hardip Singh, has been charged with bribing a foreign public official. It is alleged that between January 2015 and July 2017 he bribed Asot Michael, a Member of Parliament and Government Minister of Tourism, Economic Development Investment and Energy for Antigua and Barbuda, to benefit PV Energy Ltd, the company he is a director of. PV Energy ltd was simultaneously charged with failing to prevent bribery in relation to the same offences.

ENCROCHAT DRUGS TRIAL (OPERATION DIREEN)

Trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in June 2027

Nine people awaiting trial for multiple offences, all of which stem from evidence from Encrochat.

The defendants include Jermaine Ford-Simpson, 37 (04.08.83), of Elizabeth II Avenue, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, who has been charged with four counts of conspiracy to supply Class A and two counts of conspiracy to supply Class B drugs. Micah Ford-Simpson, 30, (18.06.90) of Southwold Road, Hackney, has been charged with two counts of conspiracy to supply class B drugs. Shaun Ford-Simpson, 35 (17.05.85) of Kit Hill Crescent, Plymouth, has been charged with two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A and two counts of conspiracy to supply Class B drugs. Jamie Ford, 34 (01.06.86) of Viburnum Road, Almondsbury, Bristol, has been charged with two counts of conspiracy to supply Class A and two counts of conspiracy to supply Class B drugs.

OPERATION ARBACIA (NEW IRA) TERRORISM TRIAL

Trial pending in Northern Ireland.

Several people, accused of being members of the New IRA, are awaiting trial following an MI5 investigation, codenamed Operation Arbacia.

They include: Issam Basalat, 62, a GP, from Edinburgh, who is accused of preparation of terrorist acts in relation to his attendance at an alleged meeting of the New IRA at an address at Buninver Road in Omagh, Co Tyrone, on 19 July 2020.

David Jordan, 49, of Cappagh Road, Dungannon, Co Tyrone, who is accused of belonging to a proscribed organisation between February 8 and July 20, directing a terrorist organisation, and preparation of terrorist acts through attending the same meeting at Buninver Road in Omagh, as well as attending a meeting in Sixmilecross on February 9.

Also charged: Sharon Jordan, 45, of Cappagh Road in Dungannon, Co Tyrone, Kevin Barry Murphy, 49, of Altowen Park, Coalisland, Co Tyrone, Damien McLaughlin, 44, of Kilmascally Road, Dungannon, Amanda McCabe, 49, of Ailsbury Gardens in Lurgan, Co Armagh, Gary Hayden, 48, of Tyrconnell Street in Londonderry, and Joseph Barr, 32, of Cecilia’s Walk in Londonderry, Shea Reynolds, 26, of Belvedere Manor in Lurgan, Co Armagh, and Patrick McDaid, 50, of Magowan Park in Derry.

In August 2022 two more men were charged: Gary Gerard MacNally, 62, a decorator from Barnfield Grange in Lisburn, Co Antrim, and unemployed Joseph Donnelly, 51, from Westrock Drive in Belfast, are accused of belonging or professing to belonging to a proscribed organisation, directing a terrorist organisation and preparating terrorist acts.

A detective chief inspector said part of the evidence involves audio dating from August 2020.

The alleged offences occurred between December 31 2019 and August 24 this year and included directing the activities of the Irish Republican Army and attending meetings in the vicinity of Whiterock Leisure Centre in Belfast with the intention of committing acts of terrorism, the court was told.