Teenager given life sentence over murder of Shaquille Graham
A 19-year-old has been handed a life sentence for the "ruthless" murder of a man he shot at point-blank range outside a south London nightclub.Tyler Roberts-Emmanuel shot Shaquille Graham, 30, in Catford on 10 March 2024, after lying in wait for him for 20 minutes outside the venue. He was convicted following a four week trial at the Old Bailey. However, the motive for the attack remained a mystery, the court was told. At the Old Bailey on Friday, Judge Sarah Plaschkes KC sentenced Roberts-Emmanuel to a life sentence with a minimum term of 28 years.
The trial heard how he had left his grandmother's house in Linden Grove, Peckham, in the early hours of 10 March and driven on a high-powered scooter heading for Catford where he shot Mr Graham as he left the nightclub.Judge Plaschkes said the atmosphere outside the nightclub had been "happy" and the "night had been calm"."What happened next was unexpected and shocked all those present at the scene," she said."Shaquille Graham was approached from behind and shot once at point blank range with the gun angled so the bullet entered his neck and travelled into his skull."Mr Graham was killed instantly and the gunman disappeared, the court heard.The shooting was "targeted, premeditated and ruthlessly executed", Judge Plaschkes said."One of the shocking features of this case is that you were only 18 years old when you fired that gun," she added.
'Irreparable wound'
Mr Graham's mother and father read an impact statement to the court.Natasha Barrow described the "devastation" Mr Graham's death had caused to his family."The heinous and cowardly way he was taken away from us adds poisonous salt to an irreparable wound," she said."He was my only son, my everything."Norman Harris described how his son had been tragically taken away in a "senseless act of violence" and how during the trial the family had to relive in detail the events surrounding the "assassination" of their beloved son."We gave him life and no-one else had the right to take it and him away from us," he said.
During the trial, the jury heard there were key strands of evidence that tied Roberts-Emmanuel to the murder.The scooter used by the gunman to travel to and from the scene was a Kaboo Wolf Warrior 11 - a model that the defendant had been trying to buy the month before.The address the gunman used as a base was covered by CCTV - it showed that the defendant had made a "dummy run" to the Catford nightclub on his scooter earlier on the night of the murder.In mitigation James Scobie KC said that the defendant had lived in a "hopeless twilight zone" in which he had to fend for himself as a child."Tyler Roberts-Emmanuel was used by those closest to him," Mr Scobie said. "It's no comfort for anybody, but it is a fact."
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South Wales Guardian
5 days ago
- South Wales Guardian
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Leader Live
5 days ago
- Leader Live
Footballer Jay Emmanuel-Thomas jailed for four years over drug smuggling plot
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South Wales Argus
5 days ago
- South Wales Argus
Footballer Jay Emmanuel-Thomas jailed for four years over drug smuggling plot
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas was arrested after officers from the National Crime Agency seized an estimated £600,000 of cannabis as it was being brought through Stansted Airport by two women he had recruited – his girlfriend and her friend. An earlier hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court in Essex was told the women believed they were importing gold. But Border Force officers detected roughly 60kg (132lb) of the drug in two suitcases, which had arrived in the UK from Bangkok, Thailand, via Dubai. The 34-year-old striker, of Cardwell Road in Gourock, Inverclyde, was arrested in the town in September 2024. He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of cannabis between July 1 2024 and September 2 2024. Emmanuel-Thomas was sacked by Scottish Championship side Greenock Morton after his arrest last year. Jay Emmanuel-Thomas previously admitted a drug offence (Elizabeth Cook/PA) Prosecutor David Josse KC told Chelmsford Crown Court the 'interception' of the two women – Emmanuel-Thomas's girlfriend Yasmin Piotrowska and her friend Rosie Rowland – happened at the airport. He said it 'became apparent this defendant, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, had been involved in their recruitment to travel to Thailand'. He noted Emmanuel-Thomas 'had played a few games, 11 in total, for a club in Thailand'. The barrister said Emmanuel-Thomas had 'some awareness and understanding of the scale of the operation' and was acting in an 'operational management function' in the plot. He pointed out the defendant's 'relationship with Ms Piotrowska' when describing the recruitment of the two women. The footballer, whose former clubs include Ipswich, Bristol City, QPR, Livingston, Aberdeen and Thai side PTT Rayong, was sentenced on Thursday. The bearded defendant wore a grey suit jacket and black shirt, with his long hair swept back as he listened to proceedings from the secure dock. Ms Piotrowska sat in the public gallery and wept for much of the hearing. Alex Rose, for Emmanuel-Thomas, said: 'The financial gain in this case for Mr Emmanuel-Thomas was £5,000.' Mr Rose said the defendant was a father-of-two and had made a 'catastrophic error of judgment'. He said a 'period of being out of contract led to very significant financial hard times' and he 'succumbed to temptation'. 'Although he had previously experienced periods of being in between contracts or – putting it another way – being unemployed as a footballer, they had largely been on the back of fairly lucrative long-term contracts,' said Mr Rose. He said the 'situation was rather different in the background to this'. 'Having been out of contract prior to signing for Greenock Morton, he had a brief contract with Kidderminster Harriers but that was very much a short-term contract, almost to try to assist someone he had a good relationship with,' he said. Mr Rose continued: 'His football career is finished and that's something he has brought entirely on himself. 'It's a devastating blow for somebody who had such promise and such an impressive football career.' Judge Alexander Mills, jailing Emmanuel-Thomas for four years, said: 'It's through your own action that you will no longer be known for playing professional football. 'You will be known as a criminal. A professional footballer who threw it all away.' The judge said Emmanuel-Thomas had played five games for Greenock Morton and was on a £600 per week contract at the time of the incident. He said the defendant 'recruited' his girlfriend and her friend and was 'essentially turning the importation of cannabis into an all-expenses paid holiday in the Far East', arranging business class flights, hotel costs and discussing in messages how to maximise their time on the Thai island of Ko Samui. Emmanuel-Thomas looked straight ahead as the judge read out his sentence. He nodded towards the public gallery as he was led to the cells. Ms Piotrowska, 33, of Purves Road, Kensal Rise, north-west London, and Ms Rowland, 29, of Southend Road, Chelmsford, Essex, denied the charge and at an earlier hearing prosecutors offered no evidence in their case. Mr Josse said at an earlier hearing that the women 'said they thought they were importing gold not cannabis', and the judge directed that not guilty verdicts be recorded for them.
