Play@YSDC

The control room gets straight back to Kris, the PNC shows a Henry Samuels, aged fifty two. Originally from Jamaica, but seems to have been in contact with the criminal justice system from a young age. He has a long list of previous convictions going back nearly forty years, although nothing in the last decade. Drugs, robbery, assault, and a long prison sentence for joint enterprise murder in 1998, released in 2007. Connections with the 318 Crew gang.

Pulling out his notebook, Kris thanked the operator for the information, and said, ”318 Crew? Who’re they? And did Samuels have any known associates?”

The operator explains that the 318 Crew were a gang from Peckham in south London. Thought to now be defunct after a long running feud with the Lewisham Ghetto Boys left a number of both gangs dead or in prison. There's a long list of known or suspected members of the 318 Crew - most of whom would be getting on a bit now if they're still involved in gang crime. But one name that stands out to Kris is an Anton Hayman, who died in 2002.

Oops, sorry!

”Anton Hayman?” said Kris, trying to remember why the name rang a bell. Then it clicked. ”Any relationship to Louise Hayman?” he asked. “Also, what did he die of?”

'Lead poisoning. Shot dead in some gang feud. And he had a sister called Louise, fair few years younger...Date of birth checks out for your Louise Hayman.'

The name Anton Hayman was also given to you by Philip Dagenham, aka James Williams, small time drug dealer and one time associate of Johnny Zero. He said:
'He didn't say who was after him. But there were plenty of them from back in the day. Bastards. Anton, Waggers, they scared me, scared me more than Johnny.'

'Anton was one of the 318 Crew, real gangster type, crazy fucker. I think his full name was Anton Hayman, I don't know any address or nuffink...'

”Ok, thanks,” said Kris, quickly making notes.

”What have we got on the sister? Anything at all?”

You don't really have any intel on Louise Hayman. Early forties, nine year old daughter called Chantelle Hayman. Lives in Lewisham, runs a nail bar there called Get Nailed! (including the exclamation mark). She has no convictions or any other information recorded on the PNC. Doesn't own a car so no vehicle records.

Kris thought for a moment. ”Joint enterprise? Who got killed and who was Samuals working with?” he asked, his pen hovering over his notepad.

The murder was in 1994, a twenty eight year old man by the name of Kwame Boadu, associated with the Belmont Mandem gang, an offshoot of the Lewisham Ghetto Boys. The information on the PNC is pretty scanty but it seems that Samuels was considered to be high up in the 318 Crew gang. When Boadu was murdered the police and CPS managed to get Samuels convicted of joint enterprise murder by arguing that while he didn't carry out the murder directly he was involved in ordering or arranging it. His co-accused were Mark Hall, Carl Bennett, Peter Wright, and Taiwo Daramola, aged from nineteen to twenty four.

The control room dispatcher used to work for the Met Police at the time and remembers some controversy over how lenient his sentence was. According to the PNC he is still on license and there are contact details for a probation officer.

”Ok, so where are his co-accused now? What’ve they been up to?” asked Kris. ”And why was Boadu murdered? Turf war over drugs or something else?”

He tapped his pen on his notebook as he waited for a reply, still trying to work out how everything fitted together.

They're all still in prison, except Peter Wright who died in prison, murder, suspected gang-related but they never found the culprit. Seems they were all much more firmly connected with the murder itself so they all went down for much longer sentences. As to motive, documentation on the PNC is scanty but it looks like the Belmont Mandem and the wider Lewisham Ghetto Boys had encroached on the 318 Crew turf, drug dealing mainly, and the 318 Crew could see the writing on wall so they were trying a last ditch attempt to send a message to the Lewisham boys to keep off their streets. It seems it didn't work and with so many of their most influential gang members in prison the 318 Crew basically imploded.

Kris receives another call from Jocelyn.

"Two young men showed up, no doubt called by the chap in the flat," Jocelyn told Kris. "One tall and thin, the other heavier, both either black or mixed race, smoking cannabis. They stuck around for a while before they split up and moved on, not sure where they're going. The skinny one went southeast up the Marischal Road, and the other one went the way we came, northwest. What's going on on your end? Find anything out about the man in the flat? Can you and Lucy get here anytime soon?"

What’s the situation with the accident? Have the Highway Agency traffic officers turned up? Is Lucy’s car roadworthy?

”The guy in the flat is most likely Henry Samuals, former gang member of the 318 Crew. He’s got previous for drugs, robbery and assault, and did time for the joint enterprise murder of a rival gang member. He was released in 2007. One of his crew was Anton Harmon - now dead - who was the brother of Louise Harmon. She’s a member of Balfour’s church and her daughter is on the list - Chantelle Harmon, aged nine,” said Kris.

“His gang is apparently dormant and I didn’t get any known acquaintances from the PNC, but I’ve got contact details for his probation officer so I could give them a ring, if that help?” he suggested.

Kris clicked his fingers to get Lucy’s attention and pointed to her car. Holding his phone away from his mouth so he could talk, he approached the nearest uniform and said, ”We’re on a live case and we’ve had a shout. Wrap up here and I’ll complete my report when I’m done, ok?” He didn’t wait for answer. He just turned and jogged in the direction of Lucy’s car.

“Jocelyn, we’re on our way!” he said into the phone.