[ad_1]
Two men in their twenties and two teenagers were found guilty of murdering two 17-year-olds in a “fierce” ambush at a birthday party.
Ben Gillham-Rice was fatally stabbed at a home in Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes, while the second victim, Dom Ansah, ran off the property and suffered a “frenzied” attack nearby.
Two other people were also attacked and left with serious but not fatal injuries in the incident on October 19 last year.
Charlie Chandler, 22, Clayton Barker, 20, 17, and 16, all denied both murders and two counts of intentionally wounding.
Dom Ansah (left) and Ben Gillham-Rice were fatally stabbed
All four were convicted by the jury at Luton Crown Court on Tuesday.
The group will be sentenced along with a fifth defendant, 23-year-old Earl Bevans, who admitted two counts of murder and both counts of intentionally wounding at the start of the trial.
At the trial, which lasted six weeks, the jury heard that the defendants were members of or associated with the B3 gang in West Bletchley, named after the MK3 zip code.
The court was told that they had planned the attack after being told that members of the rival gang M4 were at the party.
Charlotte Newell QC, the prosecutor, said the group broke into the rear of the Archford Croft property, armed and with their faces covered shortly after midnight.
She said: “The male party attendees were the target and the attack on them was immediate and fierce.
“They had little or no time to react and little or no chance to protect themselves.
“Within seconds of the arrival of the group of defendants, a young man was dead, two had been sliced with a knife or knives, causing serious but fortunately non-fatal injuries, and a fourth was running for his life.”
Mr. Gillham-Rice was stabbed six times in the living room of the home, while Mr. Ansah was subjected to a “frenzy” attack after fleeing the property, according to the prosecutor.
The court was shown images of the living room where Mr. Gillham-Rice had been stabbed and murdered and was described as a “bloodbath” and a “butcher scene”.
He had suffered a 7.9-inch (20 cm) deep wound that damaged his heart, a post-mortem examination showed.
Mr. Ansah died in hospital three hours after being hunted down and “hacked,” suffering 47 injuries, jurors said.
Dashcam footage, which was shown to the jury, showed the defendants, including a man said to be Barker holding a machete, off the property and then chasing Mr. Ansah.
The attack took place in Archford Croft
Ms. Newell suggested that an incident that occurred a few years ago when the 17-year-old defendant, then 14, was assaulted, stripped and mocked in a forest could have been a “catalyst” for the attack.
The teenager later named Mr. Ansah as one of the perpetrators of the incident which was filmed and shared on social media.
Bevans, homeless, Chandler and Barker, both from Bletchley, Milton Keynes, and the two unidentified teens will return to Luton Crown Court for sentencing on January 5 and 6.
Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Bosley said after the guilty verdicts: “This was not a random attack, it was a premeditated and calculated attack in which criminals drove several miles through Milton Keynes, armed with a variety of weapons, cover their faces and tried to use the element of surprise and numbers to get an advantage over the young, unsuspecting partygoers. “
