Prime Minster Keir Starmer and Mayor of London Sadiq Khan have failed to tackle London’s knife crime epidemic, the mother of a murdered 15-year-old boy said as her son’s killers were locked up.
Daejaun Campbell was stabbed to death with a machete in Woolwich last September, in a bout of violence stemming from a gang feud and drug dealing rivalry.
The teenager who inflicted the fatal wounds, Imri Doue, had a string of past convictions for carrying knives prior to the murder, resulting in court orders but no time in custody. He also openly told the court that he routinely armed himself with a machete.
At the Old Bailey on Monday, Doue was jailed for life with a minimum term of 21 years, while his friend, Mario Balaz, who encouraged the attack was jailed for 11 years.
Outside court, Daejaun’s devastated mother Jodie Taylor slammed politicians for failing to act to tackle the scourge of youth violence and knife crime.
She named directly the Prime Minister, the Mayor of London, and Justice Secretary David Lammy, accusing political leaders of doing nothing while children are sent to an early grave.
“Our children no longer have the luxury of sacred lives. As parents, we live and die in fear - fear that our child might be the next, fear that justice will once again look the other way”, she said.
“We’re told to stay calm, trust the system, wait for change. But how many more children must be buried before this country finally admits it has failed them?
“How many more mothers must scream into pillows because the streets have become open graves?
“The system is not broken, it is functioning exactly as it was built. To protect itself, to preserve appearances, and to silence the truth.
“Every time another child dies, we get the same rehearsed apologies, the same reports, the same empty phrase - ‘lessons will be learned’. But no lessons ever are, because no one in power pays the price.
“Daejaun wasn’t the first, and heartbreakingly he will not be the last.
“They will sit in their offices, write new talking points, and wait for our pain to fade from the headlines. It never does, it just moves house, from one grieving mother to another.
“And to those who lead this country - Keir Starmer, Sadiq Khan, David Lammy - you speak of reform while our children die. You talk about unity while your inaction tears families apart. You issue condolences, then return to comfort. We live with the aftermath, your words build nothing, your silence buries everything.”
The court heard Doue had received three convictions and one police caution for carrying knives between October 2020 and October 2023. Balaz also has two convictions for carrying knives in public, as well as convictions for drug offences.
In her statement, Mrs Taylor continued: “The authorities knew who these boys were - they always do. They had chances to act and didn’t. The system keeps giving second chances to those who destroy lives, and no chances to the lives they destroy.
“So no, the system hasn’t failed us. It has abandoned us. And until it learns to protect the innocent before it comforts the guilty, more mothers will stand where I stand, and more names like Daejaun’s will be carved into stone long before their time.
“Those who choose violence are given chances. Those who choose love are given graves.”
In court, Mrs Taylor tearfully addressed the killers directly, branding them “pathetic cowards” and liars.
“I keep asking myself when will the knife crime epidemic end. Enough young lives have been lost already”, she said.
“The justice system does not seem to deter acts like yours.
“The reality is actions like yours tear families and communities apart.”
Passing sentence on Doue and Balaz, Judge Sarah Munro KC accepted the sentences she was passing would not bring an end to knife violence.
She said the killers, as well as Daejaun, had all been “sucked into” a life of gang culture and drug dealing “where carrying a knife was the norm”.
Daejaun, himself armed with a knife, was ambushed on September 22 last year when he walked past the house where Doue and Balaz were.
The two killers, then aged 17 and 18, had donned masks and went to the area of Woolwich intend on attacking a gang rival.
Daejaun was quickly disarmed in the ambush before being pursued along a path by Doue, carrying a machete, and Balaz, who was not himself armed.
Daejaun was ultimately stabbed in the head and leg, and cried out “I’m 15, don’t let me die” as he was cradled by a member of the public. However his life could not be saved.
His murder came just four months before a close friend, 14-year-old Kelyan Bokassa, was also stabbed to death himself on board a bus in Woolwich.
Mrs Taylor told the court Daejaun had vowed to turn his back on gang associations, and was planning a return to school when he was murdered.
Kelyan Bokassa was fatally stabbed by two 16-year-old boys with machetes on a bus in Woolwich on January 7 this year.
Before his death, Keylan had appeared in a music video entitled Gotta Eat, in which he was seen crouching beside a floral tribute to Daejaun.
The teenagers behind his murder were sentenced to life, with an order that they must serve at least 15 years and ten months in custody.
Kelyan’s mother Marie Bokassa made an appeal for authorities to do more to stop the violence, saying: “Our streets are bleeding.”
The court heard Daejaun had been exploited as a child and groomed by older youths into a gang culture.
It was said he was targeted for a “gang check” when he was spotted walking along the path in Eglington Road in the minutes before the stabbing.
Doue was caught on camera dropping his machete and leaning down to pick it up after the stabbing.
Daejaun fell to his knees in the street having suffered two stab wounds and six superficial cuts.
The exact motive for the stabbing was not determined, but prosecutor Mukul Chawla KC told the court Daejaun had been carrying money and drugs.
“He may therefore have been a person exploited, by reason of his age if for no other reason, to be used as carrier and supplier of drugs by organisations that will use younger people and other vulnerable people for those purposes”, he said.
“That may be or may have been the reason why he was attacked.”
Doue pleaded guilty before his trial to possession of an offensive weapon in a public place.
He was given a police caution on 28 October 2020 after fleeing from officers and eventually being caught with a kitchen knife in his pocket. Just three days later, Doue was carrying a knife again - on Halloween – and was caught by police in a stop and search operation. That incident led to a referral order from a court.
On June 16, 2021, Doue pulled out a knife when he and friends had been rammed by two males on an e-scooter. He was given a youth rehabilitation order, which included supervision sessions and a four-month curfew on an electronic tag.
On October 2, 2023, Doue was convicted again of possessing a knife as well as affray, after he was “one of the main aggressors” in a street fight in which a male was stabbed.
After a guilty plea, he was given another youth rehabilitation order with another curfew and further supervision.
Balaz was convicted in April 2023 after he was caught riding around on an e-bike while wearing a balaclava and carrying a folded lock knife.
He claimed he had been carrying a knife to fix his bike when he was caught out once again by police in September 2023.
Balaz - who the judge determined has learning difficulties and a low IQ - was still serving a youth rehabilitation order for that crime when the stabbing of Daejaun happened.
Doue, of Brumwell Avenue, Woolwich, was convicted at trial of murder and admitted knife possession.
Balaz, of Sewell Road, Abbey Wood, was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter.
