Upcoming trials and inquests

LYRA McKEE (NEW IRA) MURDER TRIAL

Trial under way in Northern Ireland

In April 2019 blogger and journalist Lyra McKee was shot dead by the New IRA as she sheltered behind a police vehicle during rioting on the Creggan estate in Derry.

Paul McIntyre was charged with McKee’s murder and related offences in February 2020 and is currently out on bail, awaiting trial.

In 2021 Peter Cavanagh, 33, and Jordan Devine, 21, were charged with her murder.

CROSS CHANNEL PEOPLE TRAFFICKING (PLEASURE BOAT) TRIAL

Trial at Plymouth Crown Court on 22 July 2024.

Tony Williams, 58, from Lydford in Devon, has been charged with conspiracy to facilitate illegal immigration and assisting illegal immigration. He is alleged to have used a pleasure craft to transport at least ten migrants from Normandy in June 2022. A number of people were seen running to waiting cars after leaving a boat as it moored at Slapton Sands in Devon. National Crime Agency investigation.

PRISON OFFICER ACCUSED OF HAVING SEX ON VIDEO IN HMP WANDSWORTH

Trial pending at Isleworth Crown Court. First appearance on 29 July 2024.

In June 2024 a video showing a prison officer having sex with an inmate while being filmed on a smartphone, went viral.

Linda De Sousa Abreu, 30, is charged with misconduct in public office. The charge states that De Sousa Abreu “wilfully and without reasonable excuse or justification misconducted yourself in a way which amounted to an abuse of the public’s trust in the office holder by engaging in a sexual act with a prisoner in a prison cell”.

De Sousa, who holds a Portuguese passport, was granted conditional bail.

CORONATION DAY SHOOTING INCIDENT

Inquest in Kent pending (was delayed from Oct 2023)

Mother-of-two Hayley Burke, 36, was fatally injured in a shooting during the coronation weekend and later died in hospital. Jacob Cloke, 29, is believed to have held her at gunpoint and pulled the trigger during a stand-off with police. Cloke later died of self-inflicted injuries. It later emerged that Cloke was facing several charges of violence against Burke and was on bail at the time of the attack. Court records show he had been charged with two counts of assault and one of causing actual bodily harm in three separate incidents between February 2022 and April 2023. At a hearing on 26 April – less than two weeks before the fatal shooting – he pleaded not guilty to the charges at Medway magistrates court and was subsequently released on conditional bail with an order not to contact Burke or to enter Dartford, where she lived. Prosecutors also requested that he be fitted with a GPS-enabled electronic tag to allow police to monitor his whereabouts and keep him from entering the exclusion area. IOPC investigating.

GANG MURDER TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey pending

Reiss Sealy, 29, from Stevenage, Kyle Joseph-Peters, 31, of Salisbury Road, N22, Sahid Kpaka, 27, from Wood Green, Courtney Forrester, 25, from Luton, Kadeem Hibbert, 29, and Andre Watson-Browne, 36,  charged with murder of Givani Espuet in Sudbury on October 30, 2022.

MURDER TRIAL 

Sentencing at Woolwich Crown Court on 2 Aug 2024

Tony Curant has admitted murdering his girlfriend, Leila Young, in south east London. Bill Emlyn-Jones KC prosecuting. Louise Oakley junior.

MURDER OF LAS VEGAS CRIME REPORTER TRIAL

Trial in Las Vegas on Aug 5, 2024.

Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles is accused of stabbing to death Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German, 69, outside his home in the city. German had written articles which led to Telles losing his re-election bid in the Democratic primaries.

SECURITY GUARDS ACCUSED OVER HANDCUFFING SHOPLIFTING SUSPECT

Trial at Portsmouth Crown Court on 19 Aug 2024

Two security guards deny false imprisonment after a 15-year-old boy was handcuffed at a Superdrug store in Chichester, face down on the ground, in March 2023. Jake De-Geus, 29, and Edwin Hirst, 39, are accused of jointly pinning down the teenager in the shop and detaining him there. They both face charges of false imprisonment and assault by beating following the incident. As part of the alleged false imprisonment, the pair were said to have acted ‘unlawfully and injuriously’. At the time of the incident the boy’s mother went on social media and claimed her son had done nothing wrong and was being racially profiled.

FOLK MUSICIANS FACE TRIAL OVER ALLEGEDLY WHITE SUPREMACIST LYRICS

Retrial at Woolwich Crown Court on 27 August 2024. 6 weeks

Robert Talland, 53, his daughter Rosie Talland, 31, and son Stephen Talland, 33, are accused of stirring up racial hatred and encouraging terrorism. Their first trial in 2023 ended in a hung jury.

TRIO ACCUSED OF MURDERING SARA SHARIF

Trial pending at Old Bailey on 2 Sep 2024. Plea hearing on 1 Dec 2023.

The father of 10-year-old Sara Sharif and two other relatives face trial over her death.

Urfan Sharif, Sara’s stepmother Beinash Batool and uncle Faisal Malik are jointly charged with murdering Sara and causing or allowing the death of a child. They returned to the UK from Pakistan in September 2023.

CHILDREN’S DEATHS IN FIRE TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 2 Sep 2024

Deveca Rose, 29, denies four charges of manslaughter. They stem from a fire at Collingwood Road, Sutton, in 2021 in which her two sets of twins died. She is also accused of child abandonment contrary to the Children and Young Persons Act 1933. Her four children, Leyton and Logan Hoath, three, and Kyson and Bryson Hoath, four, died after a fire at a property in Collingwood Road, Sutton, at about 7pm on December 16 2021.

88 SUICIDE INQUESTS

Inquest pending in Brighton. Next hearing on 4 Sep 2024.

An inquest into a woman’s death could take years to conclude, as an investigation into 88 deaths continues, in relation to the supply of unlawful substances in assisting suicide.

Imogen Nunn, 25, took a chemical and died in Brighton, East Sussex, on January 1, 2023.

It has been reported the deaf young woman used her TikTok platform to raise awareness of hearing and mental health issues to her 780,000 followers.

Canadian Kenneth 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.

POLICE OFFICER WHO SHOT CHRIS KABA – MURDER TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 9 September 2024

A Metropolitan Police firearms officer, named only as NX121, is accused of murdering Chris Kaba.

Kaba, 24, died when he was shot through the windscreen of a car in Streatham Hill, south-east London, on September 6, 2022.

MOTHER ACCUSED OF KILLING FOUR CHILDREN IN FIRE

Trial at Old Bailey on 9 September 2024.

Deveca Rose, 29, is charged with the manslaughter of Leyton and Logan Hoath, aged three, and Kyson and Bryson Hoath, four.

The brothers, who were two sets of twins, died after the fire in Collingwood Road, Sutton, at about 7pm on 16 December 2021.

Ms Rose, of Wallington, south London, also denies four counts of cruelty to a child under the age of 16.

PRISON MANAGER ACCUSED OF ILLEGALLY ACCESSING INFORMATION

Trial at Southwark Crown Court on 9 Sep 2024

A prison manager and his wife are accusing of enabling illegal access to prisoner information. Pete and Jessica Nichols have been charged with causing a computer to perform a function with intent to secure unauthorised access to data contrary to the Computer Misuse Act 1990. The charges relate to alleged computer checks carried out on prison systems between November and December 2021. Mr Nichols, 48, a corruption prevention manager at Wormwood Scrubs jail in Hammersmith, west London, denies 10 counts. His wife, a governor at young offender institution HMP Feltham, is yet to be arraigned over one charge. They were charged in an anti-corruption investigation alongside Gareth Casella, 42, from Egham, Surrey.

COCONUT TRIAL (RACIALLY AGGRAVATED HARASSMENT)

Trial (two days) at Westminster Magistrates Court on 12-13 September 2024

Marieha Hussain, 37, a teacher from High Wycombe, faces trial for racially aggravated public order offences. During a Palestinian protest in central London she raised a placard depicting the faces of then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, alongside coconuts under a tree on a beach. In an interview before she was charged, Al Jazeera reported Hussain commenting: “I had no idea that our word, ‘coconut’, would be hijacked by a demographic that doesn’t use these words and then used against me to criminalise me. During a hearing in June 2024 five other people were charged after coconuts were brought to a demonstration outside Westminster magistrates court.

TRIZZY (RAPPER) MURDERED OUTSIDE MUSIC STUDIO

Sentencing at Old Bailey on 20 September 2024.

Tyler McDermott aka Trizzy – from the N15 gang – was killed with a machete outside a music studio in Tottenham, north London, on 13 April 2023.

Tyrese Barnett, 20, Leo Reid, 20, Rhys Antwi, 20, and Kalam Bagge, 19, were convicted by a jury, after over 70 hours of deliberation, following an Old Bailey trial.

Barnett was further found guilty of attempted murder.

Alfred Coker, 21, and Damaris McBeth, 20, were charged with murder but acquitted by the jury on Wednesday.

Prosecutor John Price KC told the trial that “tension and hostility” had been brewing between two groups of young people who were all present in the music studio that morning in April.

In Oct 2022 Kane Moses, another N15 rapper called T1, was killed.

ALBANIANS ACCUSED OF ATTEMPTED MURDER

Trial at Old Bailey on 23 September 2024.

Luis Binoku, Royalty Hasaj, Agrim Gjorka and 6 others due to go on trial for attempted murder at Old Bailey. 6 week trial.

Binoku’s first trial collapsed due to legal reasons.

MURDER OF DIRTZ (A TEAM) TRIAL

Retrial at Old Bailey on 30 Sep 2024.

Melvis Mariano awaits a retrial charged with the murder of Kamal “Dirtz” Nuur, who was stabbed to death on the Cally (Caledonian Road) estate in Islington, north London. Abby Lowne is accused of assisting an offender. Michael Lebbie was acquitted in 2023.

ENCROCHAT TRIAL FOR CONSPIRACY TO MURDER AND DRUGS

Trial at Old Bailey on Sep 30. T2022-7163. 

James Harding, 31, is charged with conspiracy to murder and drugs offences. He was arrested in May 2022 after flying into Heathrow from Dubai. He is accused of conspiracy to murder unknown persons between May 15, 2020 and June 13, 2020. Another man, QQ, was also extradited, from Turkey.

US AIRMAN ACCUSED OF RAPE AT RAF BASE

Trial at Northampton Crown Court on 30 Sep 2024

Keiran Lee Bogstad, an American airman, has pleaded not guilty to raping a UK citizen three times between November 2020 and February 2021 at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire.

NOAH DONOHOE INQUEST

Inquest pending in Sep 2024. Pre-hearing on 30 Nov 2023.

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.

HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER ACCUSED OF FRAUD OVER IRAQ WAR

Trial pending at Southwark Crown Court in September 2024.

Former human rights lawyer Phil Shiner, 65, is accused of fraud in relation to torture and murder allegations made against British troops during the Iraq war.

Shiner, who was struck off by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in 2017, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of fraud which were brought following a five-year National Crime Agency investigation.

Shiner, from Birmingham, is alleged to have committed fraud by false representation in April 2015 in response to a question from the SRA, which he “knew was untrue and misleading”, so he could continue to practise as a solicitor, according to court papers.

He is also said to have “been engaged in the cold calling of clients in Iraq in relation to alleged killings of Iraqi civilians by British Army personnel at the battle of ‘Danny Boy’.”

The 2004 battle gave rise to claims against British soldiers after an order to remove the bodies of the Iraqi dead from the battlefield and take them back to a nearby camp along with nine prisoners of war.

SOLDIER CHARGED WITH TERROR OFFENCES AND PRISON ESCAPE

Trial pending at Woolwich Crown Court on Oct 7, 2024 (8 weeks).

Daniel Khalife, 21, is accused of escaping from Wandsworth Prison while awaiting trial. He is also accused of planting a fake bomb at an RAF base in Staffordshire and gathering information that might be useful to terrorists or enemies of the UK, believed to be Iran. He denies all the charges.

DOUBLE MURDER TRIAL IN BRISTOL

Trial at Bristol Crown Court on October 7, 2024.

Mason Rist, 15, and Max Dixon, 16, were stabbed to death in the Knowle West area of Bristol on January 27, 2024.

Nine people face trial for murder. Four youths – two boys aged 15 and two boys aged 16 and 17, who cannot be named for legal reasons – are charged along with Anthony Snook, 44, of Hartcliffe, Bristol, with murdering Mason and Max.

Jamie Ogbourne, 26, Bailey Westcott, 22, Jillian Tolliver, 49, and Kristian Hooper, 46, each face two charges of assisting an offender.

CHINA SPIES TRIAL

Trial pending at Old Bailey Woolwich or Kingston CC in spring or summer 2025. Next up at Old Bailey on Oct 4, 2024.

Christopher Cash, 29, a researcher, and Christopher Berry, 32, have been charged under the Official Secrets Act. They are accused of giving “articles, notes, documents or information” to a foreign state, namely China. China has called the allegations “malicious slander”.

Mr Berry, from Witney in Oxfordshire, and Mr Cash, of Whitechapel, London, were arrested in March 2023 in connection with the investigation.

It was previously reported that Mr Cash was a parliamentary researcher involved with the China Research Group, and who is understood to have had access to several Conservative MPs.

BODY IN THE ATTIC MURDER (AND RAPE) TRIAL

Trial on 14 October at Old Bailey

Shane Simmonds, 38, of Parbury Road, Honor Oak, south east London is charged with the murder of his wife 32-year-old  Tia Simmonds. He has also been charged with two counts of rape in relation to a teenage girl, who cannot be identified.

DAGENHAM GANG MURDER TRIAL SENTENCING

Sentencing at Old Bailey on 14/15 October.

Wazabakana Elenda Jordan Kukabu, 18, known as Jordan, was stabbed to death near Dagenham Heathway Tube station. Michael Tommy-Mgagba and three others were convicted of murder in June 2024. Two day sentencing. Anthony Orchard KC prosecuting.

LONDON FIELDS GANG MURDER (LAUGHING STOCK) TRIAL

Sentencing at Old Bailey in late 2024 (after retrial of Mr Brightly-Barnes)

Kacey Boothe was shot dead in Forest Rise, Walthamstow, north east London shortly before 9.30pm and taken to hospital by car, where he died. Kammar Henry-Richards, 24, a drill artist known as Kay-O, Ka-Amni Brightly-Donaldson, 22, Jeffrey Gyimah, 20, and Joao Pateco-Te, 26, were convicted of murder and conspiracy to murder. The victim was allegedly from the London Fields gang and attackers were allegedly from the 98s gang in Homerton. The killers made a drill track, Laughing Stock, which contained clues to the killing. Anthony Orchard QC, prosecuting.

BULGARIANS ALLEGED TO HAVE SPIED FOR RUSSIA

Trial on 28 Oct 2024. (4 months)

Five Bulgarians are accused of breaking the Official Secrets Act and spying for Russia.

They are Orlin Roussev, 45, of Princes Road, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk; Bizer Dzhambazov, 42, and Katrin Ivanova, 31, both of High Road, Harrow, north-west London; Ivan Stoyanov, 31, from Bannister Close, Greenford, west London; and Vanya Gaberova, 29, from Churchfield Road, Acton, north-west London.

ISLE OF SKYE SHOOTINGS TRIAL

Trial pending at Glasgow High Court in November 2024. IN22002721

Finlay MacDonald is charged with murder and three attempted murders stemming from an incident in August 2022 when a gun was fired on the Isle of Skye and nearby Dornie. John MacKinnon was killed.

Donald Findlay KC is defending him.

RAPPER ON TRIAL OVER DRUG IMPORTS

Trial at Kingston Crown Court on 18 November 2024

Courtney Freckleton aka Nines is due to go on trial for conspiracy to import cannabis.

NOVICHOK INQUIRY (DEATH OF DAWN STURGESS)

Public inquiry due to be held at 10.30am in autumn 2024 at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.

Dawn Sturgess was pronounced dead at Salisbury District Hospital on 8 July 2018. The post mortem indicated the cause of her death was Novichok poisoning. The Russian government is believed to have targeted Sergei Skripal at his home in Salisbury. Skripal and his daughter survived.

On 18 November 2021 the Home Secretary announced the government’s decision to establish an inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005 to investigate the death of Dawn Sturgess.

Baroness Hallett is the presiding judge overseeing the inquiry.

ELIANNE ANDAM (CROYDON) MURDER TRIAL

Trial on 25 Nov 2024 at Old Bailey. 

A boy aged 17 is due to go on trial accused of the murder of Elianne Andam, 15, who was stabbed to death in Croydon on her way to school in September 2023. Judge Richard Marks KC set to preside.

The teenager has admitted manslaughter but denies murder. He also denies possessing an offensive weapon.

EAST LONDON MURDER RETRIAL

Trial on 25 Nov 2024.

Shaquiel Samuels faces a retrial for the murder of Otas Sarkus in east London. His first trial ended in a hung jury. Two other men, Dean Adams and Deon Brisport, have already been jailed for life for murder.

BRADFORD MOTHER PUSHING PRAM MURDER TRIAL

Trial at Bradford Crown Court on 2 Dec 2024.

Habibur Masum, 25, is charged with murdering Kulsuma Akter, 27, who was attacked as she pushed her young son in a pram in Bradford on April 6, 2024.

Masum, a YouTuber who was originally from Bangladesh, was arrested in Aylesbury a few days after the incident.

MURDER RETRIAL AFTER ACCIDENTAL ACQUITTAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 2 Dec 2024. 6 weeks.

Adrian Keise, 32, was stabbed to death in a fight in Lower Marsh, near Waterloo station in central London. Paul Yusuff, 21, and Matthew Yusuff, 23, were charged with murder. Their friend Moussa Traore, 24, was charged with manslaughter. All three went on trial in 2023 but in Jan 2024 the trial ended in farce when they were “mistakenly” acquitted after a mistake by the jury foreman. The original trial heard Mr Keise had spent the evening drinking with friends at the Thirsty Bear pub in nearby Stamford Street but he got into an altercation with the three men near the Cubana Bar in Lower Marsh at 2am.

TEENAGE GIRL KILLED IN 2018 GANG SHOOTING

Trial pending at Old Bailey probably in 2025.

In April 2018 Tanesha Melbourne-Blake, 17, was shot dead in Northumberland Park, Tottenham, north London, on Easter Sunday night. Detectives believe she was hit when shots were fired from a car into a group of people. The shooting was part of a feud between N17 (Tottenham) and N22 (Wood Green) postcode gangs. In July 2024 Marcus La-Croix, 36, from Hackney, and Michael Clarke, 34, from Luton, were charged with murder. They await trial. 

ATTEMPTED MURDER OF DETECTIVE JOHN CALDWELL BY LOYALIST/NEW IRA GANG

Trial in N Ireland, probably not before December 2024.

Jonathan McGinty, 28, of St Julians Downs, Omagh; Brian Carron, 38, of Claremount Drive, Coalisland; Gavin Coyle, 45, of Killybrack Mews, Omagh; Matthew McLean, 33, Glenpark Road, Omagh; Robert McLean, 29, Deverney Park, Omagh; James Ivor McLean, 72, of Deverney Park, Omagh; and Alan McFarland, 47, of Deverney Park, Omagh, all deny attempted murder of Detective Inspector John Caldwell.

Carron and Coyle stand further accused of belonging to a proscribed organisation, namely the IRA. McGinty, McFarland and Matthew McLean are also charged with preparation of terrorist acts.

NORTHOLT-RAYNERS LANE GANG MURDER REVENGE TRIAL

Trial pending at Stafford Crown Court on 2 Jan 2025.

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 Teewhiz, 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 Teewhiz.

TRANSGENDER GIRL STABBING TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 6 Jan 2025

Summer Betts-Ramsey, 19, is accused of the attempted murder of an 18-year-old girl allegedly stabbed 14 times on her way to a rollerskating party.

Betts-Ramsey is charged alongside Shiloh Hinds, 18, a 16-year-old girl and a boy aged 17, who all face charges of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

FOUR VIETNAMESE DIED IN FIRE AT CANNABIS FARM IN DISUSED MILL INQUEST

Inquest pending. GMP still investigating.

The bodies of Cuong Van Chu, Uoc Van Nguyen, Duong Van Nguyen and Nam Thanh Lee were found in July 2022 when work began on demolishing Bismark House Mill in Bower Street, Oldham, which had burnt down in May 2022. Their bodies were repatriated to Vietnam in Aug 2023. Nam arrived in the UK in January 2022 – he last contacted his family on Wednesday 4 May 2022, at which time he said he was residing in “a derelict house” in “Dam”, believed to be Oldham, while looking for work. Four people were arrested by police investigating the fire and a cannabis factory at the site.

DRILL RAPPER RETRIAL

Retrial at Old Bailey in Jan or Feb 2025. Reporting restrictions.

A drill rapper faces a retrial for conspiracy to murder. The case cannot be reported due to reporting restrictions.

‘TRANSPHOBIC’ ATTACK TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey in January 2025.

Four people have been charged in connection with an allegedly transphobic attack  on a transgender woman.

Summer Betts-Ramsey, 19, is charged with attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon. A girl, 16, and two 17-year-old boys, were charged with GBH with intent in relation to the incident in Masons Avenue, Harrow on 10 February 2024.  The victim was treated for stab wounds in hospital and has been discharged. The 16-year-old girl was also charged with robbery and cannabis possession, and one of the boys with disclosing sexual images and threatening the victim with a knife.

During a bail hearing one of the boys was given a bail condition not to use Snapchat.

ALLEGED SATANIST TERRORIST ON TRIAL

Trial at Winchester Crown Court on Jan 13, 2025 (4 weeks)

Cameron Finnigan, 18, of Denne Park, Horsham, West Sussex, has been charged with one count of preparation of terrorist acts, one count of possessing a terrorist document, and one count of possessing indecent images of a child.

It is claimed Finnigan was “preparing for an attack against a single homeless individual” who was living in a tent. He is alleged to have been involved in a pseudo-satanist online group called 764.

EASTER BANK HOLIDAY SHOOTING TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey in Feb 2025.

On Easter Bank Holiday 2024 Janayo Lucima, 21, was shot dead at a house in Comeragh Road in West Kensington, west London at 10pm. Khuedr Al-Kurdi, 21, Muktar Said, 22, Issa Siteri, 18, Yusuf Muhudin Abdi, 18, two 17-year-old men and a 16-year-old boy have all been charged with murder and face trial in February 2025. Siteri and Abdi voluntarily returned from Morocco in June 2024 while the 16-year-old boy was extradited from Spain in June 2024. Lucima had been convicted of perverting the course of justice in 2021 after helping in the clean-up operation after William “Blaise” Algar was murdered in Dec 2019 in the so-called Monster Line murder.

https://totalcrime.substack.com/p/why-easter-shooting-has-echo-of-the

HAINAULT SAMURAI SWORD MURDER TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 3 Feb 2025. Plea hearing on 23 July 2024.

Daniel Anjorin, 14, was approached from behind and stabbed to death with a samurai sword as he walked to school in Hainault, north east London. Marcus Arduini Monzo, 36, has been charged with murder. Four other people – including two police officers – were seriously injured in separate attacks, all within 20 minutes around 7am. Mr Monzo, a dual Spanish-Brazilian national living in Newham, east London, awaits trial.

HONG KONG STUDENTS INTIMIDATION TRIAL

Trial at Kingston Crown Court (venue may change) on 10 Feb 2025. Hearing at Old Bailey on 25 Oct 2024.

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.

CONSPIRACY TO MURDER OF CAGEFIGHTER, SECURITAS ROBBER TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 10 Feb 2025 (6 weeks). PCMH on 28 Aug 2024.

Two men have denied conspiring to murder cagefighter Paul Allen, who was famously convicted of his role in the Securitas heist. Stewart Ahearne, 45, was charged over the shooting on July 11, 2019, after he was extradited from Switzerland. Daniel Kelly, 45, from Islington, also denies the charge. Allen, 45, was left with serious, life-changing injuries as a result of the incident in Malvern Drive, Woodford Green. During a pre-trial hearing, Ahearne said he “one billion per cent” pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to murder, which Kelly also denied. The charge alleges that between June 26 and July 12 2019 they conspired together with others to murder Allen.

BODY CUT UP WITH POWER TOOLS MURDER TRIAL

Trial pending at Old Bailey on 17 February 2025.

Gemma Watts, 48, and Steven Sansom, 44, have ben charged with the murder of Sarah Mayhew, 38, whose remains were found on Rowdown Fields in Croydon in spring 2024. She was last seen alive on March 8, 2024.

Cause of death is unascertained but a post-mortem examination of her body found two small vertebrae were broken in her voicebox and bruising to the skull. Her head had been shaved.

BRIXTON ACADEMY CRUSH INQUEST

Inquest pending. Criminal investigation still ongoing.

Rebecca Ikumelo, 33, and Gaby Hutchinson, 23, were killed when they were crushed at a gig by Nigerian Afrobeats singer Asake at the Brixton Academy in south London. The police said thousands of ticketless fans tried to storm the entrance to the building. Hutchinson worked in security while Ikumelo is believed to have been an Asake fan.

FIRE BRIGADE CHIEF SUICIDE INQUEST

Inquest in Birmingham on March 10, 2025.

West Midlands Fire Service’s Chief Fire Officer Wayne Brown, 54, was found dead at his home in January 2024. An article in The Sun a few days earlier claimed he had lied about having a Masters Degree in order to get the £180,000 a year job. Senior Coroner Louise Hunt heard a brief submission from the partner of Mr Brown, who said she had spoken to him throughout January 23 and messaged him, and he had seemed “very, very low”. It came only weeks after the Chief Constable of Northamptonshire was suspended over false claims about his naval career.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/25464552/fire-chief-lied-masters-degree/

ENCROCHAT DRUGS TRIAL (OPERATION DIREEN)

Trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court in March 2025

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.

DRILL RAP VIDEO MURDERS TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 17 March 2025

Abel Chunda, 27, Eden Clark, 29, Jason Furtado, 26, and Xavier Poponne are charged with the murder of 15-year-old Leonardo Reid and Shekaj Klevi, 23, on June 29 in Islington, north London during a drill rap music video shoot. They face two counts of murder, attempted murder, and possession of an offensive weapon. Trial originally due to take place in May 2024 but then Poponne was charged and it was put back. Another suspect has been detained in Kosovo.

ENCROCHAT DRUGS TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey on 28 April 2025

Jayes Kharouti is accused of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to import Class A drugs.

HARROW ROAD BOYS (FREDO v DIGGA D) TRIAL 

Retrial at Kingston Crown Court on 6 May 2025. 

Jayvon Tison (aka Lil Dotz), Mustafa Abdalla, Romello Briggs-Leon, Yasin Abdulla, Herman Yikalo, Kylann Grannum, Harry Crump and Abraham Safo Frimpong. Also named on the indictment was Bailey McKenzie aka Fredo, who is living in Dubai. The charges relate to attempts to buy a gun, allegedly to use against rival gangs and rapper Digga D aka Rhys Herbert.

RUSSIAN AGENTS ARSON TRIAL

Trial at the Old Bailey on 2 or 4 June 2025.

Dylan Earl, 20, has been charged under the National Security Act 2023 – the first case to involve alleged offences under the new spy laws – with acting on behalf of Russia against Ukrainian businesses in London.

He is accused of being in contact with a handler in the Wagner Group before carrying out reconnaissance of targets “in relation to activity intended to benefit Russia.”

Earl is accused of recruiting and paying others to carry out an arson attack at an industrial unit in Leyton, east London connected with Ukrainian-linked businesses owned by “Oddisey” and “Meest UK”.

On March 20, 20254 around 60 firefighters fought to bring it under control. The alleged target of the fire is labelled as “Mr X” in the charges.

Jake Reeves, 22, is accused of accepting cash, knowing it was from a foreign intelligence service. Dmitrijus Paulauska, 22, is charged with failing to disclose information to police about terrorist acts.

Two other defendants, Paul English, 60, and Nii Mensah, 21, have also been charged with aggravated arson.

NINE O’CLOCK SERVICE EVANGELICAL RAVE PREACHER SEX CRIMES TRIAL

Trial at Old Bailey OR Inner London Crown Court on 30 June 2025. 10 weeks.

The Reverend Christopher Brain, who led the Nine O’Clock Service, an evangelical movement which was linked to the rave scene, in Sheffield between 1986 and 1995, has pleaded not guilty to 34 charges in relation to 11 women.

Mr Brain, 66, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, denies one count of rape and 33 counts of indecent assault, alleged to have been committed between 1981 and 1995.

The charges relate to allegations of sexual offences committed against women who had joined the movement.

The Nine O’Clock Service was initially held at St Thomas’s Church, in the Crookes area of Sheffield, before moving to Ponds Forge sport complex in the city centre.

The 33 indecent assault charges include some which cover multiple different alleged incidents, including a number involving allegations of assault during massages.

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.

TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS CORRUPTION TRIAL 

Trial still going in Providenciales, TCI.

Michael Misick, who was chief minister of Turks and Caicos Islands from 2003-2006 and premier from 2006-2009, faces trial for corruption. In 2009 Britain imposed direct rule over the colony and Misick resigned. Accused of corruption, he sought political asylum in Brazil. He was extradited back to the islands in 2014, receiving a hero’s welcome. Misick went on trial in 2016 along with eight politicians and lawyers. But the trial dragged on for years until finally collapsing when the elderly Jamaican judge presiding over it, Paul Harrison, died, aged 85, in 2021. But the SIPT appointed a new judge, Mabel Agyemang, from Ghana, and in 2022 she ordered a new trial.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3606425/I-trying-make-Turks-Caicos-Islands-sexy.html

HOLLYWOOD PRODUCER INDECENT ASSAULT TRIAL

Trial at Southwark Crown Court (?) in 2024

Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, 70, has been charged with two counts of indecent assault against one woman in August 1996.

Indecent assault (count 1) on a woman who is now in her 50s between 31st July and 31st August 1996 in  London
Indecent assault (count 2) on a woman who is now in her 50s between 31st July and 31st August 1996 in  London

ARUBA MURDER MYSTERY EXTORTION TRIAL

Trial pending in Birmingham, Alabama in 2024

Joran Van Der Sloot, a Dutch national, was jailed in 2012 for killing a Peruvian woman, Stephany Flores, in Lima in 2010. After serving half of his sentence Van der Sloot, by then 35, was extradited to the US in June 2023. He faces trial for extortion. He is accused of extorting money from the parents of Natalee Holloway, 18, from Alabama, who vanished in Aruba in 2005. Natalee was last seen leaving a nightclub and getting into a car with Van der Sloot, who was 17 at the time, and two teenage brothers from Suriname, Deepak and Saltish Kalpoe. Van der Sloot and the Kalpoe brothers were arrested shortly after Natalee Holloway’s disappearance, but were released again because of a lack of evidence. Natalee Holloway’s body was never found. Prosecutors allege that in 2010 Van der Sloot said he would reveal the location of Natalee Holloway’s body if her mother paid him $25,000 (£20,000) up front and another $225,000 once the remains were identified. Once he had been paid the initial $25,000, he gave Ms Holloway’s lawyer a location where he said her daughter’s remains were hidden and then absconded to Peru. Nothing was found at the location he had given.

 

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.

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.