Teenagers sentenced over stabbing of Robert Robinson in Deptford
Two teenagers have been jailed for life for the "cowardly" murder of a man who police said "was outnumbered and unarmed".Ryan Wedderburn, 18, and Kirk Harris, 19, were found guilty of murdering Robert Robinson, 21, in Deptford, south-east London, on 6 June last year.Wedderburn was sentenced to a minimum term of 23 years on Thursday while Harris was handed a minimum term of 22 years and nine months. Dalziell Wedderburn was acquitted in the trial at the Old Bailey.Det Insp Neil Tovey, said: "I am pleased that we have today secured justice for the family and friends of Robert. He was stabbed to death in a brutal attack in a residential road when numerous families would have been home."
He added: "Robert was a young man who had his whole life ahead of him, it was instead taken away by Wedderburn and Harris in a senseless attack. Robert tried to run for his life, but was chased down and viciously attacked."His family listened to the details of the attack and watched the CCTV of Robert's last moments. "They also heard the evidence from Wedderburn and Harris where they attempted to justify their actions."I would like to pay tribute to the dignity that Robert's family and friends have shown throughout the trial."
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Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
The killers got the wrong man - innocent plumber John Versace. Now homicide cop reveals the twisted truth of what's going on inside murderers' heads as they remain on the run
They thought they had pleased their masters by ruthlessly gunning down a young man outside his western Sydney home... but the killer, or killers, actually got it very, very wrong. Innocent plumber John Versace, 23, was shot dead as he got out of his ute at his family's home in Dalton Avenue in Condell Park, in Sydney 's south-west, about 10.30pm on May 19. The shooter unloaded about 10 rounds of bullets, with Mr Versace suffering four gunshot wounds to his chest and stomach. He died at the scene. All evidence shows Mr Versace had done never done anything to spark such a ruthless act of retribution from the underworld. And those responsible - no doubt now aware they have made a big mistake - are still on the run almost a month later. Now a retired homicide detective with decades of experience investigating cases such as Mr Versace's sheds light on the possible motivations of the hitmen responsible and the fallout the killing would have caused in the underworld. Former Victoria Police officer Charlie Bezzina believes the 'hit' on Mr Versace was likely carried out by people on the 'lower end of the criminal sphere'. He said instead of feeling guilt over gunning down an innocent man, they would instead be playing the 'blame game' and claim that they were given flawed information. 'You're not dealing with professional people. You're dealing with low educated people and they accept what they've been told,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'These shooters would be highly strung and their angst will be so high that they shoot and ask questions later. 'They want to do the deeds for their masters and then, bang, bang. Let's go. That was him.... and then they find out later it wasn't him.' He said the shooters were unlikely to face any major repercussions for killing the wrong person, with the shooting only putting the actual target on higher alert - giving them time to flee the country and go into hiding. Mr Bezzina said those responsible for Mr Versace's death were unlikely to have done their due diligence to confirm the identity of their intended target. 'An undercover operative or a private investigator would have parameters of the law where they've got to prove the identity [of the target] but these guys don't, they're just flying by the seat of their pants,' he said. 'Have they got a photograph of them? Have they got a car number? Have they got a car? Have they got a specific address he's been put to? 'They're relying on other people to give them the right information. 'They'll say, "you gave us that information, and that's what we acted upon. So it's your fault. It's not our fault". 'So someone comes out of a particular location nearby that might look a little bit similar to the target... they thought that might be the guy coming out and that'll do.' Mr Bezzina said cases of mistaken identity were some 'of the most difficult' to solve as police rely on people to come forward with information. However, this can prove difficult when organised crime figures are subject to a code of silence and witnesses are too fearful for their own safety to talk. 'You've got to go in with your best case before you arrest people of this type. You don't want to go in half-heartedly, charge someone and then lose at trial,' he said. 'That's the thoroughness of these type of investigations, they would be doing everything within their legal power, to get the evidence, to identify these people. 'The frequencies of these incompetent criminals is a cause of concern for the police, and that's why if they've got the evidence, I can assure you, they'd be very keen to lay charges sooner than later.' Police told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday the investigation was ongoing but no further details could be provided at this time. Harrowing footage from a neighbour's CCTV camera captured Mr Versace's final moments on his parents' doorstep where he lived with his sisters. Security footage showed Mr Versace reversing his ute up the driveway and parking it very close to the garage door. As he exited the ute, a small silver hatchback, believed to be a Toyota Corolla, parked across the driveway of the home. The male gunman, dressed in black and wearing a face covering, got out of the backseat and approached the front of the house. 'Hey, hey, hey, hey, stop, stop,' a man is heard yelling before the gunman raised his right hand and opened fire with a Glock-style weapon. Police later received reports of a car, which police believe was stolen in December, about 12km away in Fairfield Heights. A handgun similar to a Glock-style pistol was found inside the vehicle after firefighters extinguished the flames. 'We believe that this has the hallmarks of a targeted execution. (It is) very brutal, very distressing,' Superintendent Rodney Hart told reporters at the time. Mr Versace's sister Deanne recently paid a heartbreaking tribute to her 'beautiful baby brother' - sharing powerful images and video of highlights of his life on social media.
Sky News
4 hours ago
- Sky News
Why did Ballymena become the latest site of anti-immigration riots?
There have now been five consecutive nights of ongoing violence and disorder on the streets of Northern Ireland, with Ballymena at the focus of the unrest following a serious sexual assault on a teenage girl in the town on 7 June. Two 14-year-old boys were arrested and charged after the incident, and police in Northern Ireland said the pair used a Romanian interpreter to plead not guilty in court. After that, calls for "peaceful protest" from the victim's father were amplified online. Those protests took on an anti-immigration angle and erupted into riots and clashes with police. Analysis of social media messaging has shown there were already rising tensions in the town before the latest incident, following a decade of rapid demographic change. Before the protests On 30 May, eight days before the 7 June incident in the Clonavon Terrace area that triggered this week's violence, police released a statement regarding a different sexual assault in Ballymena, this time of a 13-year-old girl. The offence was alleged to have taken place on a public footpath near the Ballykeel housing estates, during daylight hours on Saturday 24 May. Local media at the time reported the suspect as having "dark-coloured skin, dark brown eyes, and speaking in a foreign language". On 31 May, a far-right news aggregator on messaging platform Telegram was already sharing information related to this incident, saying "Ballymena said to be at boiling point". But the online chatter remained relatively contained until after the police announcement on the evening of Sunday 8 June, that they had arrested the two 14-year-olds charged with the Clonavon Terrace incident. Analysis of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, shows that there were 114 mentions of Ballymena per day from 3-7 June. It was mentioned 142 times on 8 June, then surged up to 10,300 on 9 June and 78,300 the following day. The majority of posts originated outside of Northern Ireland. Rapid demographic change The descriptions of the alleged perpetrators of the two incidents have contributed to the anti-immigrant sentiment of the violence. Sky News has seen Union flags and signs saying "British household" or "Locals live here" left outside homes of people keen to avoid being targeted, and has also spoken to Bulgarian nationals in Ballymena who say that they are "terrified" and "scared to get out of the house". Speaking in the House of Commons, Jim Allister, MP for North Antrim, which includes Ballymena, said he was "appalled" by the violence. "However", he said, "the government must be aware of underlying tensions produced by uncontrolled and often undocumented immigration. "None of that excuses violence, but it is a matter of concern to many." Analysis of census data shows there has been rapid demographic change in the town since 2011. No other part of Northern Ireland has seen a bigger increase in people who don't speak English/Irish as a first language. At the time of the 2021 census, three in 10 residents of central Ballymena said their first language was something other than English or Irish. One in eight listed Romanian, with a similar number listing other Eastern European languages like Bulgarian, Polish and Slovak. That figure is almost seven times higher than the average across Northern Ireland, and amounts to a trebling over the course of the decade. Almost three-quarters of the total foreign-born population of central Ballymena arrived in the country since 2011. The average is significantly lower for Northern Ireland as a whole, and England and Wales, where the rate of change has been more gradual. Of 621 primary schools in Northern Ireland where data is available, Ballymena Primary and Harryville Primary, both in central Ballymena, had the 7th and 8th highest share of "newcomer pupils". "Newcomer" is the term used by the Northern Irish Department for Education to refer to pupils who don't have satisfactory language skills to participate fully in the school curriculum. How, and when, will the violence end? Sky's Connor Gillies, who has been in Ballymena reporting on the violence and talking to locals for the past few days, said on Wednesday that " the talk here is that this unrest is only just beginning," adding that "it could go on for weeks". Meanwhile, locals have expressed that they don't like the talk from police and politicians that taking to the streets following an alleged sex attack on a teenage girl equates to them being "racist thugs". Police have responded to rioters' petrol bombs and bricks with rubber bullets and water cannon onslaughts of their own. There have been tens of arrests, as well as injuries to more than 50 police officers since Monday evening. Violence and disorder in Ballymena raged across Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, appearing to have largely abated in the town by Thursday. However, the unrest has spread to other areas including Larne, Coleraine, Portadown and Belfast. A senior police officer insisted to Sky News that he did have "a grip" on the unravelling situation when questioned by Sky News, but officers from Scotland, Wales and England have been sent to bolster the forces of their Northern Irish colleagues. Anti-migrant rhetoric From 7-12 June, 39,000 Ballymena-related posts on X mentioned "migrants", with around 95% of them deemed to be negative by social media analysis tool Talkwalker. Well-known far-right activist Tommy Robinson, who thanked X-owner Elon Musk for his support when he was released from prison four months early on 27 May, was the most influential poster. His 14 X posts about Ballymena between 7-12 June reached an average of 1.3 million accounts each.
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Moment Tube driver is caught KNITTING and watching videos on his phone while driving commuters
An easy-going tube driver was caught knitting and watching videos on his phone as he drove commuters around one of the busiest transport networks in the world. Striking footage shows the London Underground operative hard at work on a lion-themed garment as he pulls slowly out of Hendon Central Station in February 2025. The man's phone is also positioned comfortably in front of him so he can watch videos at his leisure. A witness who filmed the spectacle - which took place on a Northern Line train - commented disapprovingly, 'look at him... watching TV, pressing a couple of buttons'. He went on to reference the money the driver earns each year and claimed he can go on strike 'whenever he wants'. The witness later recalled: 'I was so surprised. 'I didn't expect to see someone meant to be at work being so casual about the job. 'Especially because at the time, there were tube strikes going on so it felt mad they were complaining about the job then relaxing on it. The man's phone is also positioned comfortably in front of him so he can watch videos at his leisure 'And, although I don't know how automatic the system is for the tubes, I remember thinking that this person has the passengers' lives in their hands. 'It felt crazy that this driver wouldn't take that more seriously.' Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed the driver in the video was sacked from his job. A spokesman said: 'This video was made earlier in the year. 'We carried out a full investigation and the person involved no longer works at TfL.' Many social media users have taken to TikTok to share their thoughts on the video. One person said: 'He's risking his career for a bit of TV.' Another added: 'The driver shouldn't be doing that, they should be focussing - that's dangerous.' But a number of people offered their support to the tube worker amid the criticism. Someone said: 'What do you want him to be doing? Steering?'
