“Five charged with stabbing a suspected gangster, Thomas Cudjoe, to death in the garage forecourt of the Shell petrol station in Ley St, Ilford.”
On the evening of Friday
November 2nd 2012 Asher Johnson (aged 24) attended an old
neighbour’s birthday party in Ley St, Ilford.
During that evening
Asher decided to meet up with a couple of friends in the Bell pub for a couple
of drinks before his friend picked them up later in a car to go clubbing.
Asher Johnson’s younger brother, Lewis Johnson
(aged 21), arrived later at the pub on his own at 12pm and the idea was to have
a few drinks, play pool and wait for their friend to arrive later.
Once the brothers had
finished drinking and decided to leave the pub (which backs on to the forecourt
of the petrol station) there was an altercation between Asher Johnson and
Thomas Cudjoe.
Lewis Johnson stood back
during this whole ordeal and did not get involved in any way whatsoever.
Asher Johnson threw a couple
of punches at Thomas Cudjoe and quickly withdrew from the scene with his
brother Lewis Johnson, as a few other people arrived at the scene and Asher
Johnson could tell that there was going to be some kind of further trouble
which he did not want to be involved in.
After Asher and Lewis
Johnson had departed from the scene, Thomas Cudjoe was stabbed to death by
Jerome Green, the victim is said to have had 10 stab wounds to his chest and
legs and also 4 slash wounds. Whilst Jerome Green was stabbing Thomas Cudjoe,
Courtney Mitchell was holding the front passenger side door, therefore,
preventing Thomas from escaping and as all of this was occurring, Reece Garwood
was in the back of the vehicle, having a physical fight with the victim’s friend.
All 5 men were charged
with murder under joint enterprise, even though it was clear on the CCTV that
it was in fact Jerome Green who had committed the stabbing and murder.
On the CCTV it clearly
shows that Asher and Lewis Johnson both withdrew from the scene before the
weapon (knife) was produced and before any stabbing took place, and yet, they
were still charged with murder.
During the trial the
judge even mentioned that he had been watching the CCTV all weekend and that
different charges must apply to the Johnson brothers, which could have been
Violent Disorder or ABH (as manslaughter was not applicable to them) so
therefore, they would be tried separately to the other co-defendants.
There was only one
killer and this was admitted in court. On Friday July 26th 2013 they
found the first 3 co-defendants guilty of murder, Reece Garwood and Courtney
Mitchell being convicted on presence and Jerome Green for actually carrying out
the murder. That same day, later in the afternoon, the jury also convicted Asher
and Lewis Johnson of murder on a majority, rushed into a verdict in an hour as
the Judge had somewhere to be at 4pm that day. The jury had also mentioned that
they wanted to leave early as it was too hot. The judge had mentioned that if
they did not reach a verdict in that hour then there would have to be a retrial
for the Johnson Brothers.
This, the family feel,
would have been much fairer as it can be noted that the judge seems to have
pushed the jury into making a decision when they clearly had little guidance
and no knowledge of the joint enterprise guidelines which were introduced in
December 2012 to prevent mistakes such as the one made in this case whereby
people are wrongly convicted.
Does this now lead to
mean that if you argue with someone and that same person is later attacked when
you have left the scene that you are guilty of murder? That is complete and
utter madness!
The boys’ mother feels
the trial was carried out unfairly, none of Asher Johnson’s good character was
heard, and a deal was done which was all or nothing (guilty or not guilty of
murder) which the family and Johnson brothers had no knowledge of. Two jury
members were constantly asleep and one female jury member was seen crying on
one occasion.
How in the United
Kingdom can one be convicted of a crime he did not commit or did not foresee
happening? How can a person be given a conviction of a crime like murder and
then be told by their legal team that they cannot appeal, knowing the entire
trial was a shambles and that the jury had evidentially made a mistake.
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| Asher Johnson |
Asher Johnson is a
loving son and brother, he has a further two younger siblings, a sister of 5
and a brother of 13. He has always been a kind, easy going and laid back,
gentle young man. He has never been involved in any violence before. Asher
Johnson was playing football for his local boroughs team at semi-pro level and
was also working as a youth worker 3 days a week. Under no circumstances was
Asher Johnson a gang member, he doesn’t even have any previous criminal record.
 |
| Lewis Johnson with his mother and grandmother |
Lewis Johnson is also a
very kind and caring brother and son, at the time of the incident prior to
being in London for that particular weekend, Lewis Johnson was living with his
grandma in Christchurch, Dorset; working for Thames Water.
The family are devastated,
especially the mother, as they were told that the boys would receive lesser
charges, never murder.
The family are currently waiting for the boys to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday 13th September 2013. They are not accepting this miscarriage of justice and will be lodging a highly profiled appeal against this unbelievable conviction and yet to be known sentence.
The family are currently waiting for the boys to be sentenced at the Old Bailey on Friday 13th September 2013. They are not accepting this miscarriage of justice and will be lodging a highly profiled appeal against this unbelievable conviction and yet to be known sentence.
