Barry McElduff and Chris Hewertson secured convictions of two core members of a violent criminal gang, known as the Mile Road Gang, following an 8 week trial at St Albans Crown Court before HHJ Lithman QC.
This case was the fourth in a series of Bedford gang trials successfully prosecuted by members of 2KBW and focussed on gang warfare in June 2017 by way of a series of stabbings and a reprisal shooting.
This trial focussed to a large extent on the attack upon a 16 year old member of a rival gang, K Block, which resulted in the youth having his arm almost severed off by the 2 convicted Defendants wielding a machete.
This was a Prosecution made harder by the refusal of the victim of the above hacking to speak to the police.
As a direct consequence of that attack K Block launched a reprisal shooting 2 days later. The victim of the shooting suffered 15 shotgun pellets embedded in the back of his head and neck and a host of other shot in his back and shoulders. His brother-in-law was also shot in his action to haul the primary victim back into a house. Miraculously, neither man was killed. Two of the men responsible for that offence were convicted at an earlier trial.
The evidence in the trial established that many K Block and Mile Road Gang members were actively engaged in the supply of controlled drugs. K Block produced violent and explicit drill rap videos in which the common themes were “trapping” over “County Lines,” shankings and drive-by shootings. The above-shooting was carried out by sourcing a “burner” car which was crashed by the K Block operatives into stationary vehicles at the time of the shots.
This week those responsible for the machete attack received sentences of 15 years (with an extended licence period of 3 years) and 14 years respectively.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-47653884
Barry and Chris were instructed by Charles White, Complex Case Unit Thames Valley