The Sunday Times November 28, 2021 23
something else.” In other respects,
though, the group made childish errors.
Afterwards, the teenagers crashed their
car into a house in Wheeler Street, a road
regarded as a “border” between AR and
GMG territory.
The crash provided police golden
forensic opportunities. They found a
hunting knife in a sheath in the footwell
of the driver’s side. It had blood on it,
which was a DNA match for Keon. There
was also DNA from a 17-year-old from
Edgbaston called Michael Ugochukwu.
DNA from a mask found in the rear of
the car produced a match for a 16-year-
old — another of Keon’s murderers.
Detectives trawled through hundreds
of hours of CCTV footage to build a pic-
ture of how Keon’s killers had arranged
the murder. They eventually found the
S-Max parked near a cemetery close to
Birmingham’s Spaghetti junction.
The footage showed six teenagers
walking from a taxi towards the car on
the afternoon of the murder. It emerged
that the 14-year-old had phoned the taxi
firm using his own mobile.
He told detectives he was “at home” on
the morning of the murder, citing the fact
that he had logged on to online lessons at
his school as proof. He said the lessons
had finished between noon and 1.30pm.
But detectives found that although he
had logged in at 8.30am, he did not log
into any online lessons after 9am.Knives for sale at the click of a button
In another part of the city, a weapons-ob-
sessed 18-year-old, Kieron Donaldson,
was in mobile phone contact with the
group. Over three months, Donaldson
had bought 14 knives online from
Preppers Shop UK, a survivalist store
based in Cornwall. He bought ten hunting
knives, two survival knives and two
machetes, using his own email address.
It was one of those hunting knifes that
was found in the crashed car. Donald-
son’s fingerprints were found on the
blade. None of the other knives were
found when the police searched Donald-
son’s home in Perry Barr.
Police believe this was because theyThe car
crashed
into a
house and
they fled
The Sunday Times November 28, 2021 23
gang made up of children
4
At 3.45pm, Keon’s killers crash their stolen car into a
house in Wheeler Street, regarded as the “border”
between rival Armed Response (AR) gang and Get Money
Gang (GMG). The killers flee on foot, splitting up.5
Police recover a hunting knife from the car. It is stained in
Keon’s blood. On the knife’s sheath is DNA belonging to
Michael Ugochukwu, 17 at the time of the murder.
Fingerprints on the knife belong to Kieron Donaldson, 18,
who has been buying hunting knives online.6
Police recover CCTV showing Keon’s killers being dropped
off in a taxi just before they get into the stolen car. The
14-year-old is found to have used his mobile phone to order
the taxi. Another of the killers, Tahjgeem Breakenridge, 17
at the time of the murder, was found to have been in phone
contact with Donaldson on the morning of the murdertoo had been delivered to the gang that
killed Keon. While there was no evidence
that Donaldson was at the scene of the
murder, detectives discovered that on
that day, Donaldson had booked a taxi for
another member of the group.
“It is a very sad case,” said Donaldson’s
mother, Millicent, 48, defending her son
last week. “He was nowhere near the
murder scene. He was up in his room. He
was buying knives and selling them for
£10. He had nothing to do with it.” The
jury believed otherwise, and Donaldson
was convicted of manslaughter.
Lincoln Miles, owner of the online
prepping shop — which also sells throw-
ing knife sets, samurai swords and cross-
bows — defended his business.
“You wouldn’t flinch if somebody
bought a 12-piece kitchen knife set from
Tesco,” he said. “We sell to fishermen,
hunters, tradesmen. Knives are used by
tens of millions of people in the UK every
day. A knife is a tool and always will be. It
is the 0.00001 per cent of people who use
them for wrongdoing.”
There is no suggestion that Miles did
anything wrong in selling the knives.
Donaldson was 18 at the time of the pur-
chases, meaning he could legally buy
hunting knives online in the UK.Motiveless killing was ‘tit-for-tat’
One of the many disturbing aspects of the
case is the apparent lack of motive. The
14-year-old admitted, when he was
arrested, to knowing Keon socially, but
insisted there had been no “fallout” or
“beef ” between the pair.
The other killers, a 16-year-old,
Tahjgeem Breakenridge, and Ugo-
chukwu, made no comment to police
during interviews.
Donaldson also gave no comment, but
provided police with two prepared state-
ments, claiming he was not involved.
The former gang member said he
believed Keon would simply have had the
misfortune to have been spotted during
the “ride out”. He suspected he had been
picked as a target on the spot, simply
because he was known to be friends with
members of AR and had been sitting out-
side his house.
“Being associated with AR made him a
target for GMG,” said the former AR mem-
ber. “The 14-year-old in the car knew him.
They went on a ‘ride out’ looking for what
they could find. They saw Keon on the
street outside his house. That would be
enough. This was retaliation for some
attacks by AR on GMG members in the
months before. That’s what happens. Tit-
for-tat. It just goes on — for ever.”Gang loyalties stretch back decades
The conflict that Keon grew up in the
middle of stretches back decades. In the
1980s and early 1990s, two rival Afro-Car-
ibbean gangs — the Burger Bar Boys of
Handsworth, and the Johnson Crew in
Newtown, Lozells and Aston — fought.
Although the names of the gangs have
changed, locals say the rivalry between
the two areas has never gone away.
Tracey, 49, runs a garage near Keon’s
old home. “I have customers who won’t
go to Newtown — not ever,” he said. “I’ll
say, ‘The spare part you need to fix your
car is in Newtown’. They’ll say, ‘There’s
no way I’m going there’. No chance.
“I’ll have to use certain people who
can go into those areas just so I can pick
up the spare car part and bring it back.
That’s how mad it is.”
Children are born into families with
allegiances stretching back decades.
“There’s five main families in Hand-
sworth, where Keon used to live,” said the
former AR member. “If you’re from one
of those families, you’re seen as being
involved, whether you like it or not.”
The younger generations have created
gangs that are offshoots of the earlier
groups and are usually a gateway to hard-
core criminality.
Paul said there was little hope for a
teenager such as Keon to steer clear of
gangs. “I’ve seen people get stabbed. I’veseen people get shot. It’s not a surprise.
Even if you’re not associated with those
types of things, living in this area, you will
see it. I’ve seen people stabbed on my
doorstep. It’s very easy to fall in with the
wrong people, especially in Hand-
sworth.”Music of murder
At the centre of gang violence is drill
music — a form of rap featuring violent
lyrics — in which gangs often taunt one
another. The former gang member said
there was a direct link with acts of vio-
lence. “That’s how these kids get wound
up — getting taunted on videos on social
media,” he said. “They feel like they have
to do something. Take revenge to get
their cred back.”
One prominent drill artist known as
Lynch was identified to this newspaper as
a former member of the AR gang.
Lynch, real name Reial Phillips, was
involved in a gang turf war that led to six
people being shot in 2015. His videos
were said by a judge to have “gloried in
the shootings” and to have been designed
to “ramp up tension” between gangs.
Phillips admitted to conspiracy to pos-
sess a firearm with intent to endanger
life. He also pleaded guilty to conspiracy
to supply cocaine and heroin and was
sentenced to 27 years in 2016, later
reduced to 20 years on appeal.
Drill rap videos showed him boasting
about shooting a 16-year-old in the back,
committing crimes and making shooting
motions towards the camera.
“I knew Lynch,” said the former AR
gang member. “When I was in AR we
used to pool our money for a music video
shoot. We’d deal weed and drugs and rip
people off and do anything to get money
together to pay for a professional videog-
rapher. We’d hire proper video produc-
tion, get studio time.”Will the violence end?
Community leaders, politicians, cam-
paigners and former gang members are
divided on the reasons for the rising vio-
lence. Dea-John Reid was 14 when he was
stabbed in May in the Kingstanding area,
five miles from where Keon died. The
same month, Delarno Samuels, aged 17,
was stabbed to death in Smethwick,
while Kimani Martin was 18 when he was
shot in a taxi.
Some experts say schools must accept
a share of the blame and that head teach-
ers have been too quick to exclude troub-
lesome pupils. Others point the finger at
drill music, and question why tech giants
such as YouTube fail to take timely action
over videos which appear to glorify and
incite such serious violence.
In Birmingham, community leaders
believe a lack of youth clubs and services
is a key problem. Helsby is campaigning
to raise money to renovate Hockley’s
former Muhammad Ali Community Cen-
tre and reopen its doors to youngsters.
“Social media is a big thing — this drill
music they’re all listening to,” she said.
“They’re all representing violence,
drugs, making money.”
The Rev Popo says efforts need to be
made to create alternatives to the lure of
gangs. “People are trying to create safe
spaces for young people to go and have
fun and be safe, but it’s difficult,” he says.
The former AR gang member said that
he was trying to change his life but it was
hard. “I got myself out of the gang and
have an office job now,” he said. “But
you’re never properly out. I’ll never walk
into Newtown or Lozells because I know I
could die. I’ll spend the rest of my life
looking over my shoulder.
“I got involved at the age of 13 because I
had nothing else in my life. AR was my
people. My community. It made me feel
good when nothing else did.
“Kids need to feel hope again. They
need to feel like they’re going to get chan-
ces in life. Maybe if they had that, they
wouldn’t be shooting and stabbing each
other to get famous for YouTube videos.”
@DavidCollinsSTKeon Lincoln was
murdered by a
knife-wielding
Michael
Ugochukwu,
right, and three
other teenagers