Teenager cleared of killing jazz trumpeter but convicted of murdering drug dealer days later

Nineteen-year-old admits perverting the course of justice by assisting in dispotal of William Algar’s body

Drug dealer Ebrima Cham was killed in a frenzied attack at a flat in Hounslow, west London (File photo) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

A teenager has been cleared of killing a jazz trumpeter but found guilty of murdering a drug dealer days later.

Musician William Algar, 53, known as Blaise, was killed and dismembered in late 2019 at his home in Barnes, southwest London, jurors heard.

Days later, drug dealer Ebrima Cham, 35, nicknamed the “Brim Reaper,” was also killed at a flat in Hounslow, west London.

Following a trial at the Old Bailey, a 19-year-old man who cannot be identified for legal reasons was found not guilty of Algar’s murder and manslaughter, but guilty of Cham’s murder.

He had previously admitted perverting the course of justice by assisting in the disposal of Algar’s body.

The jury, which deliberated for more than 34 hours, had heard the teenager blamed co-defendant Simon Emmons for the killing despite appearing to confess to another man.

Fellow drug dealers Emmons, 40, of no fixed address, and Zimele Dube, 33, of Hounslow, were convicted of Cham‘s murder by a majority of 10 jurors to two.

Emmons and street dealer Janayo Lucima, 19, of Kensington, were also convicted of perverting the course of justice, along with Marc Harding, 45, of Hounslow, who admitted the charge.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said the attack on Algar was “of extraordinary viciousness beyond anger”. He told jurors it was “frenzied” and a “work of borderline psychopathic proportions”.

Algar was described in court as a “good guy” who had a lot of interests and “did not have a harmful bone in his body”. He suffered from mental health problems and had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

His life spiralled down after he began using and dealing class A drugs and his home was taken over by other dealers in what is known as a “cuckoo” situation.

Jurors heard that before his death around 1 December 2019, he had fallen out with the 19-year-old unnamed defendant over money.

It was alleged that the defendant, described as a drug-dealing gangster, had bullied Algar and threatened to kill his cat, which was never found.

Following Algar’s death, the defendant held a meeting on 16 December with Emmons and Lucima to decide what to do about the body, the court heard.

Early the next day, Emmons’ phone was allegedly used to research dissolving a body in acid, similar to a plot line from the Breaking Bad television series.

Lucima bought cleaning products at Tesco, and over the next couple of days Algar was dismembered and his limbs were dumped on Hounslow Heath.

The clean-up operation was interrupted by the impromptu decision to attack Cham, who was reputed to rob other dealers of cash and drugs, jurors heard.

Emmons, Dube and the unidentified 19-year-old travelled to Cham‘s home where he was stabbed 11 times in a “ferocious and frenzied attack”, Mr Aylett said.

On 3 January 2020, Algar’s head and torso were discovered by police at his home. The victim’s elderly mother had raised the alarm after he failed to keep in touch with her over Christmas.

Mr Aylett said: “All of the events that take place in this case both in relation to Mr Algar and in respect of Mr Cham take place in the context of the lucrative and lawless world of class A drug dealing.

“The drug-dealing world is one of rivalries, robberies and turf wars. And when drug dealers fall out, they do not take their problems to the police.

“Instead, they take things into their own hands, usually with violence and often ending in either death or serious injury.”

The 19-year-old unnamed defendant denied the murders and claimed he saw Emmons removing Algar’s legs with a Rambo-style knife.

He admitted going to the house to clean up, but denied plotting to use a Breaking Bad-inspired acid bath to dispose of the body. He dismissed any alleged confessions as merely boastful talk.

In his evidence, Emmons dismissed the 19-year-old’s claim he confessed to the killings and said the allegation he was involved in the clean-up was “fantasy talk”.

The defendants were remanded into custody and will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on 23 July.

Additional reporting by PA