Members of a postcode gang who stabbed to death two teenagers from a rival gang, were found guilty on Tuesday December 22, 2020, of their murders and told they faced life sentences.
The killers, all members of a gang from West Bletchley in Bucks called B3, had been tipped off that members of a rival gang known as M4 would be at a teenage girl’s birthday party at her home in Milton Keynes.
Two of the B3 members had previously suffered at the hands of their rivals.
One had been stabbed and the other had been stripped and humiliated in woodland, with the incident being filmed and posted online.
Armed with weapons, including a two foot long machete or ‘Rambo’ style knife, the gang donned frightening face masks to scale the back garden fence of the house late at night on Saturday October 19 last year.
Just before midnight, they burst in through the conservatory for what was to be a revenge attack and ended in a blood bath.
Seventeen-year-old Ben Gillham-Rice and his best friend Dom Ansah, also 17, who were both linked to the M4 gang, stood no chance in the carnage that followed.
Ben was attacked in the lounge of the house and stabbed six times, with one wound to his chest penetrating his heart.
He died almost immediately after collapsing into a chair.
His best friend, Dom managed to flee from the detached house only to be pursued by members of B3.
As he circled back towards the house in Archford Croft, a cul-de-sac on the Emerson Valley estate, he slipped and fell and was then set upon by those chasing him and repeatedly ‘sliced and stabbed’ in a frenzied attack.
He managed to get to his feet and made it to the door of the house, where he was stabbed again.
In all, he had sustained 47 injuries, including wounds to his shoulders, his left arm, left leg, his chest and abdomen, on his back, including one which had incised his lung.
Injuries to his hands were caused when he tried to raise them to protect himself and even grab the weapons being used to stab him.
Two other young men attending the party suffered knife wounds, but survived.
Dom was taken to hospital that night and his mother, Tracey Ansah rushed to his bedside She told the jury during the trial at Luton Crown Court that, as her son’s life was slipping away, she asked him who was responsible for his injuries.
The mother said her son gave her the first names of three of his attackers.
She went on “He did a B3 sign with his hand” and she said he did it by forming a circle with his thumb and first finger, with the three other fingers pointing straight up.
Shortly afterwards Dom died from his injuries.
The jury at Luton Crown Court, found Charlie Chandler, 22, and Clayton Barker, 20, along with a 17-year-old youth and a 16-year-old guilty of the murders of Ben and Dom.
Chandler, of Fitzwilliam Street, Bletchley, Barker of Surrey Road, Bletchley and the teenagers both from Milton Keynes were also found guilty of wounding with intent a 17-year-old youth and a 23-year-old man who were at the party.
At the start of the trial, 23-year-old Earl Bevans of no fixed address had pleaded guilty to the murders of Ben and Dom and two charges of wounding with intent on the other two party guests.
Mr Justice Spencer who had presided over the trial which began on November 3 told the four: “The sentence in law for murder has to be life imprisonment, although for someone under 18, it is detention during Her Majesty’s pleasure, but it comes to the same thing.”
The judge said that they will be sentenced at the end of a two day hearing starting in the new year on January 5.
He said he would then set the minimum term each will have to serve.
The judge said that for a defendant over the age of 18 for a single murder, the minimum starting point has been set at 15 years and where a defendant is convicted of two murders, that starting point is increased to 30 years.
The judge said that Bevans who, at the start of the trial, pleaded guilty to all four offences, will be brought to the court to be sentenced with the four co-defendants convicted today.
During the trial the jury heard how the defendants were all members of or associated thorough friendships with the B3 gang, which was based in West Bletchley.
Ben and Dom, along with the two young men who survived the attack, were all linked to the M4 gang based in the Westcroft area of Milton Keynes.
All the young men were heavily into Drill music, known for its violent lyrics which use urban slang terms to glorify the use of knives to inflict injuries on rivals.
Three of the defendants, Barker, Potter and Jamie Chandler had made their own music video which was posted online.
Ben and Dom had featured in another video.
There was a history of bad blood between the two gangs and on-going hostilities.
Prosecutor Charlotte Newell QC told the jury two “particular incidents had served to act as a catalyst for the events of October 19.
“In September 2017 when he was 14-years-old, Ben Potter had been assaulted, stripped and taunted in woodland near Westcroft.
The incident had been filmed and shared on social media.
The youngster had named Dom Ansah as one of those responsible but, despite his humiliation, he hadn’t gone to the police.
Gang culture decreed you didn’t “snitch” or “grass” even on your enemies, but waited instead to get even.
After his death, police found footage of the incident on Dom Ansah’s handset.
Miss Newell said six months before the murders, Jamie Chandler had been stabbed in the buttocks.
He claimed to police he didn’t know who had stabbed him and wouldn’t make a statement.
The prosecutor said the incidents provided the B3 members with a motive for the attack.
The jury was told when the defendants heard that members of the M4 gang would be at the birthday party last October, the scene was set of a vicious revenge attack.
The court was told the five travelled to the three bedroomed, detached house late at night in a taxi, taking with them masks and weapons.
Miss Newell said it was to be a surprise attack “executed in a co-ordinated and deadly fashion.
“One remained outside the front of the house, which was decorated with balloons, to block the escape route, while the others went round to the rear of the property to climb the fence into the back garden.”
Miss Newell said the defendants didn’t know what resistance they might meet, but knew by arming themselves and using the element of surprise they would have the upper hand.
From the conservatory they made their way to the lounge where music was playing and guests were dancing.
There, Ben Gillham-Rice was set upon and stabbed six times by the masked attackers.
He was left dying as the attackers moved through the house looking for more victims.
Two more young men were stabbed.
Ryan Brown, 23, suffered a single stab wound to the left side of his chest which fractured a rib, caused a laceration to his spleen and a small contusion to his left lung.
A 17-year-old male, was stabbed in his right arm and had a cut over his right hip.
Dom Ansah, who had been a ‘particular focus of the defendants’ managed to run from the house.
Moments later, when he slipped and fell, his fate was sealed when those chasing him caught up with him.
The first paramedics to arrive at the house described the downstairs of the house as being like a ‘blood bath’.
Ben was dead in a chair while Dom, who had managed to get into the house, was lying on a sofa and bleeding heavily.
The gang had fled on foot from the house.
Charlie Chandler and Barker made their way to London and Bevans and the 17-year-old went briefly to Liverpool.
Within days and weeks, all were arrested.
Only Charlie Chandler gave evidence during the trial telling the jury he thought he was going to a party with friends.
He said it was only when he got out of a taxi that he saw the others were wearing masks as they climbed a garden fence to get into the rear of the property.
He told the jury: “I had a feeling something was not right because no one climbs a fence with face coverings.”
And he said he remained by the garden gate and at no point did he enter the house that night wanting to distance himself from what was happening.
The prosecution put the case against the defendants on the basis that it had been a “joint enterprise.”
It was possible, the jury were told, that one or more of the defendants had not carried their own weapon that night or didn’t get the opportunity to stab anyone.
But that didn’t mean they weren’t criminally responsible.
Miss Newell said: “The essence of joint responsibility for a criminal offence is that each of the accused shared the intention to commit the offence and took some part in it – however great or small – so as to achieve that aim.
“Therefore, if a person joins a group attack intending that the offence is committed, they bear joint responsibility for the attack whether their ultimate role is, for instance, as a stabber, a person willing to attack should the opportunity arise or to simply provide encouragement or assistance to the others to do so.”
After the case Senior Investigating Officer Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Bosley, of Thames Valley Police’s Major Crime Unit, said: “This was an utterly horrific attack that left two young men dead and another two with serious injuries.
“It was a targeted, pre-meditated and calculated attack, which has resulted in two families losing a cherished loved one, and another two families having to deal with the effects that this shocking incident has had on them.
“Ben and Dom were attending what should have been a celebration of a birthday. They could have had no idea that they were to be targeted in such a horrific way that night.
“The injuries that they both sustained were horrendous, and the families of both of these childhood friends have had to endure many months of anguish, not only throughout the investigation, but also through the subsequent and delayed court trial due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I would like to express my thanks to the families of all of the victims for their patience and support of this harrowing prosecution.
“They will all have had to listen to evidence that led to this incident, and no family should have to go through what they have endured over the last 14 months. They have conducted themselves with dignity throughout this trial.
“I would also like to pay tribute to the witnesses who gave evidence in this case. Many of them were young and understandably nervous about giving evidence. They all showed remarkable bravery and can be satisfied they have played their part in securing justice.
“The offenders in this case are all as culpable as one another under joint enterprise.
“This was without a doubt a callous act, and as a result of their dreadful actions on 19 October, they will all receive substantial sentences.
“No amount of time behind bars will serve as solace to the families of Ben and Dom, but I do hope that in time they will be able to come to terms what has happened and take some satisfaction that justice has been served.
“To the two victims who survived this attack, I hope that they will be able to move on in their lives and put this dreadful incident behind them.
“I know that will not be easy for them to do, but again, I would like to thank them both for their patience and support while this investigation was conducted.
“Every victim who loses their life to serious violence or knife crime has a family, and that family is left without a son or daughter, a father or mother, an uncle or auntie, a nephew or niece.”
Charlie Chandler, Clayton Barker, Earl Bevans, and the two teenagers will all be sentenced on 6 January 2021 at Luton Crown Court.
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