Prisoner told fellow inmate he was involved in killing of teenager, court hears

Independent

01-04-2025

A prisoner confessed to a fellow inmate about the murder of a teenage girl who was shot dead during a gang 'ride-out', a court has heard.
Tanesha Melbourne-Blake was standing with friends on Chalgrove Road in Tottenham, north London, on the evening of Easter Monday in 2018 when a car pulled up and an occupant opened fire, jurors were told.
Two years after the shooting, police made a breakthrough in the case when a prisoner at HMP Pentonville, north London, came forward to report an alleged confession made by Marcus La Croix, 37.
La Croix had been 'boasting' and 'showing off' to fellow inmates in 2020, the Old Bailey heard.
The inmate told police La Croix admitted the killing after the two men spent time together and became close.
Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward KC said: 'Some time in 2020, Mr La Croix told this other prisoner he had been involved in the murder of a 16 or 17-year-old girl.
'Whatever that witness's reasons for making that disclosure – what he did report was both credible and, insofar as he was able to provide detail, reliable.
'So far as Mr La Croix is concerned – it starts really where I ended – he told somebody he was in prison with precisely what happened.
'If you work backwards, there is nothing inconsistent that makes what he told that prisoner impossible.
'There are details he provided that he could not have got anywhere else.
'When you come to hear that evidence, you may seek to consider: how could he have known?'
Jurors were also shown CCTV of an attack on La Croix the day before the shooting by members of a rival gang.
Referring to the incident, Ms Ledward said: 'There is the motive for the Tinseltown attack – a very personal slight on him – which the prosecution say he would not have been prepared to let lie.'
The prosecution alleges La Croix and co-defendant Michael Clarke, 35, were among a group of men who travelled from Wood Green into rival territory that night before fatal shots were fired.
Jurors were shown CCTV footage of the silver Vauxhall Meriva that the shots were fired from.
The vehicle was later traced to a man who had bought it for £500 in cash under a false name.
It was allegedly acquired with the intention of avoiding identification, the court heard.
The court also heard how the Vauxhall was set alight days later outside a housing estate in Barnet, north London.
Ms Ledward said it was 'plainly a deliberate fire designed to destroy either the vehicle or any traces of the offences'.
Forensic evidence later confirmed the bullets were fired from the same self-loading pistol – a Czech-made CZ Model 50.
La Croix and Clarke deny murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.
The trial continues.