KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES—Eight alleged gang members have gone on trial charged with an attempt to buy guns as part of a plan to shoot a rival drill rapper.
Marvin Bailey—better known as Fredo and described in court as a “high profile well known rap star”—is named on the indictment as a co-conspirator and the jury was told that one of the people lined up as a possible target was Digga D, whose real name is Rhys Herbert.
Jayvon Tison, Kylann Grannum, Mustafa Abdalla, Romello Briggs-Leon, Harry Crump, Abraham Safo Frimpong, Yasin Abdulla and Herman Yikalo all deny conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent between July and November 2022.
The eight, who went on trial at Kingston Crown Court on Tuesday, also deny a second charge of conspiracy to contravene the Prisons Act, namely by smuggling mobile phones into jails between September 2022 and May 2023.
Mr. Crump alone denies two further charges of possession of Class A drugs with intent, in relation to 15 grams of cocaine and 5.36 milligrams of MDMA (ecstasy) which was allegedly found on him on Feb. 28, 2023.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Ian McLoughlin said it was the Crown’s case that all eight defendants were members of the Harrow Road Boys (HRB), which he said was sometimes referred to as the Pattern Gang.
He said they hailed from the W9 and W10 postcodes of central London, especially the Mozart estate.
Mr. McLoughlin told the jury the HRB was in “deep-rooted opposition” to other gangs which was, “often deadly in its ferocity.”
‘Violence Glorified in Drill rap Videos’
Mr. McLoughlin said, “The violence is glorified in drill rap videos which are broadcast through platforms such as YouTube.”“Those raps seek to brag about the actions of one gang and at the same time, belittle or taunt the opposition. This of course fuels further animosity, and so the cycle continues,” he added.
The prosecutor said in the summer of 2020 an HRB gang member, Billy McCullagh, was killed and his death was later “commemorated.”
In August 2020 Jeffrey Wegbe, a 26-year-old known as Gucci, was shot dead.
Mr. McLoughlin said his death was “glorified” in a video for a drill rap song called “Roll Up” released by Jayvon Tison, who is also known as Lil Dotz.
The prosecutor said an expert on gangs would give evidence that the lyrics of the song referred to, “taking a dead person’s ashes and making them into a roll-up (cigarette) as a sign of disrespect.”
In July 2022 Mr. Tison’s 26-year-old brother Daneche was killed, said Mr. McLoughlin.
Mr. McLoughlin said on Oct. 24, 2022 the police found, in a service cupboard next to a flat on the Mozart estate, two guns in a bag.
He said the guns were forensically linked to Mr. Tison and Mr. Grannum.
Prosecution Will Rely on Snapchat Group Evidence
Mr. McLoughlin said that in the autumn of 2022 a man called Da-Shaun Nicholas was arrested and police were able to get into a Snapchat group which they claimed contained 33 HRB members.Mr. McLoughlin said in the Snapchat group there was discussion of “gang activities” and talk about how to, “raise funds to buy guns” and how to deliver mobile phones to gang members in prison.
He said two men—Babiker Addalla and Mohammed Mohammed—had been convicted in February this year of an “almost identical” count of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent.
Mr. McLoughlin said when Addalla and Mohammed were arrested by police in November 2022 they were in a minicab with Fredo.
He said at the time of the arrests Fredo was wearing a BDK pendant, which was believed to be a reference to Mr. McCullagh, who died during a “ride-out” attack into the territory of a rival gang in Stonebridge, north west London.
Mr. McLoughlin said Fredo was, “a high-profile, well known rap star” who was “influential” in the gang.
The prosecutor said when police visited Fredo’s office in February 2023 they found a mural painted on the wall.
He showed the jury an image of the mural and said of Fredo, “The artist has given him a prominent position centre stage.”
Mr. McLoughlin pointed out a large tattoo of the word “Pattern Gang” which was on Fredo’s body.
The prosecutor said the mural also depicted Mr. McCullagh and two others with halos over their heads, signifying they were dead, but he said it also included a live Daneche Tison, who was later killed.
He said two of the defendants, Jayvon Tison and Romello Briggs-Leon, also featured in the mural.
On Wednesday Judge Sarah Plaschkes, KC, responded to a note from one of the jurors who said he did not want to be “politically correct” but thought it was a bit “odd” the jury was “almost all white” when most of the defendants were black.
She told the juror they had been picked at random, irrespective of colour, and reminded the jury they must return a verdict based only on the evidence in the case.
The trial is due to last until August.
