Teenagers jailed for killing 15-year-old boy in 'brutal' London attack

Tashaun Aird was chased down and stabbed to death after being falsely accused of gang membership

Tashaun Aird was stabbed to death in Somerford Grove in Hackney on Wednesday evening (PA)

Three teenagers have been jailed for killing a 15-year-old boy who was chased down and stabbed to death in a “brutal” public attack.

Aspiring music producer Tashaûn Aird was attacked while with his friends in a London park on 1 May.

Tashaûn was knifed several times but managed to run away and collapsed outside a nearby house, where he was caught by his attackers and stabbed again.

Police found the teenager lying in the road and bleeding heavily, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. He had been stabbed nine times in the chest, neck and back.

Judge Angela Rafferty QC said Tashaûn’s murderer “showed no mercy” during the planned and targeted attack, carried out with weapons including a Samurai sword and zombie knife.

She said Tashaûn was "posing no threat whatsoever" when he was attacked in the park.

Judge Rafferty said Tashaûn had a “passion for music” and his family only learned he had been accepted by a music college after his death, adding: “It may be that his music was somehow connected to this attack but it is unlikely we will ever truly know.”

One of Tashaûn’s friends, a 16-year-old boy, was also stabbed in the park but survived.

Neither victim was connected with the targeted gang, said the judge, adding: “This was a terrible waste of a young life.”

On Monday, Romaine Williams-Reid, 18, and two 16-year-old boys who cannot be named for because of their age were jailed.

One of the boys, who was found guilty of murdering Tashaûn and stabbing his friend with intent, was jailed for life with a minimum of 17 years.

The second 16-year-old defendant was jailed for 12 years for manslaughter and four for causing grievous bodily harm (GBH).

Williams-Reid, of Erith Crescent in Romford, was handed 12 years for manslaughter and two-and-a-half years for GBH. The terms will be served concurrently.

A fourth defendant, 16-year-old Caden Stewart, became unwell in custody and died in hospital in June, days after being charged with murder.

The court heard that the three defendants, who were affiliated with a gang, had a history of violence and hostility towards Tashaûn in the months before he was murdered.

They accused the teenager of being in a rival gang shortly before the attack, and Tashaûn had attempted to tell Williams-Reid he was mistaken in a phone conversation.

Flats near to where 15-year-old Tashaun Aird was stabbed to death (REUTERS)

During the trial, prosecutor Julian Evans had told how Tashaûn, who had been attacked before, was socialising with friends in Somerford Gardens in Hackney on the night he died.

Earlier that day, he had told Williams-Reid that he was not part of the Red Pitch gang, jurors heard.

Williams-Reid then spoke to Stewart, who set off in an Uber taxi with the other defendants, the court heard.

Mr Evans said Williams-Reid had been keeping watch on Tashaûn and his friends before the others arrived “intent on violence”.

As the targeted group scattered, the two youths, both armed with blades, ran after Tashaûn and one of them repeatedly “lunged” at him.

Meanwhile Stewart, who was said to have had a sword, chased after his 16-year-old friend and stabbed him in the back.

Tashaûn managed to get out of the park but was stabbed again by the same youth, who was convicted of murder.

The killers made off in the Uber and Williams-Reid cycled away on the injured boy's bike, before dumping his clothes and changing his appearance, jurors were told.

The Metropolitan Police described the attack as “brutal” and unprovoked.

Detective Chief Inspector Helen Rance, who led the investigation, said “Tashaûn was so young and had a long life ahead of him, this has been cruelly taken away.”

In a statement, his family described the teenager as “beautiful and talented”, adding: “No words could ever describe the pain, numbness and sheer anguish that we as a family have felt since he was taken away from us so suddenly,

“No family should be put through what we have experienced these past months, you hear about knife crime and never expect it to be one of your own.”

The family said they were “damaged beyond repair”, adding: “Life will never be the same again for us and no sentence for taking our prince’s life could ever be enough.”

Additional reporting by PA