Three teenagers convicted of killing aspiring grime MC Myron Yarde in a row over a stolen bicycle have been sentenced to a total of 37 years in jail.
Fauz Richards, 19, and 16-year-olds Junior Lukelo-Mami and Lucus Risch – who can be named after the judge lifted reporting restrictions – were handed lengthy sentences for the manslaughter of the 17-year-old on a street in New Cross, south-east London, last April.
The court heard that the incident was a case of a punishment stabbing in the legs that had fatal consequences after Lukelo-Mami dealt a fatal wound that caused Myron to bleed to death.
“No sentence that I can pass can undo the wrong that you have done or bring back Myron Yarde,” judge Nicholas Cooke told the trio as he passed sentence at the Old Bailey. “All must understand that I’m not sentencing you for murder, but for manslaughter. The jury came to the understandable conclusion that an intention to kill or cause serious injury was not proven.
“Nonetheless, this is extremely serious offending. Gang-related homicide involving the carrying of knives is a dreadful problem and it needs to be strongly deterred.”
Yarde, the court heard, had gone into a rival area armed with a machete or samurai sword in an attempt to recover his stolen bicycle, snatched as part of an ongoing feud, but had been disarmed by Risch before he was stabbed by Richards and Lukelo-Mami.
The court heard in mitigation that the three defendants had suffered from difficult circumstances that had led them into involvement in gang culture.
Valeria Swift, speaking for Lukelo-Mami, said he had had “the hardest of upbringings”, including the murder of his mother by his father while the pair were away on holiday together in Spain. He and his siblings had subsequently been taken in by an aunt before spending time in care. He was sentenced to 12 years.
Fauz Richards had denied any involvement in the attack on Myron but was found by the jury to have stabbed the victim in the legs a number of times. Nonetheless, Stephen Akinsanya, his barrister, said his client was remorseful and, despite Richards’ self-admitted cannabis dealing, pointed to his lack of previous convictions as evidence of his relatively good character. He was sentenced to 13 years.
Lucus Risch, who was also convicted of perverting the course of justice for getting two women who bought drugs from him to dispose of a weapon, was said to have also expressed deep remorse over his role in the attack.
Since being held on remand last April he had engaged with educational opportunities, said Richard Hutchings, defending.
“Like the first two defendants, he said that were the opportunity to arise in the future to engage in whatever restorative justice then he would be willing to do so,” Hutchings added. Risch was sentenced to 12 years, plus another two years for perverting the course of justice, to run concurrently.
Charlotte Edmunds, 32, and Jamie Kennedy, 31, were each jailed for two years and three months for their part in concealing the weapon, which was never found.
Outside court, Myron’s sister Chantelle Gray said the family were happy with the sentences, and said she backed comments by the judge about the scourge of knife crime on London’s streets.
“This is something that’s playing on my heart too, that it’s happening a lot in London and across the country. It needs to be stopped and there needs to be more things done to help these young teenagers to get away from this sort of crime,” she said.
“I think a lot of these teenagers realising the fact that they are young, that they can get away with it or not be named and shamed. I think [the lifting of reporting restrictions] is a good thing and just to know that something needs to be done about this.”
