heaven above
September 1st, 2004, 08:10 PM
'STEAMING' GANG JAILED SKY NEWS
Five members of a vicious 'steaming' gang have been jailed for a total of 25 years for a terrifying rampage of robbery.
Four of them were juveniles, but the judge - who described their "gratuitous violence" as "dreadful" and "beyond belief" - ordered them to be identified.
They and a 21-year-old, together with others in the self-styled Lords of Stratford Crew who have yet to be caught, repeatedly targeted travellers on London trains, tubes and buses, Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court heard.
Often up to 20-strong, the robbers' violence was "out of all proportion" to their usually meagre pickings - mobile phones, small change and the odd packet of cigarettes.
Even when victims offered no resistance they were invariably battered to the ground under a "maelstrom" of fists and feet.
Some were even stamped on and left "virtually senseless" by what one witness branded a "pack of wild animals".
Those before the court were variously convicted at an earlier trial of conspiracy to rob, involving 12 victims over a 14-day period last autumn.
The eldest was Michael Onward, 21, from Ilford, Essex.
In the dock with him were youth cricket team captain Dennis Barrette, 16, of Ilford; Jerry McPherson, 17, of Wood Green, north London; Michael Silcott, 17, of Stoke Newington, north London and 16-year-old Oshane Francis, of Hackney Wick, east London.
Each was sentenced to five years' custody, with the four teenagers told they would have to serve their sentences in a young offenders institution.
Last Updated: 15:47 UK, Wednesday September 01, 2004
Five members of a vicious 'steaming' gang have been jailed for a total of 25 years for a terrifying rampage of robbery.
Four of them were juveniles, but the judge - who described their "gratuitous violence" as "dreadful" and "beyond belief" - ordered them to be identified.
They and a 21-year-old, together with others in the self-styled Lords of Stratford Crew who have yet to be caught, repeatedly targeted travellers on London trains, tubes and buses, Middlesex Guildhall Crown Court heard.
Often up to 20-strong, the robbers' violence was "out of all proportion" to their usually meagre pickings - mobile phones, small change and the odd packet of cigarettes.
Even when victims offered no resistance they were invariably battered to the ground under a "maelstrom" of fists and feet.
Some were even stamped on and left "virtually senseless" by what one witness branded a "pack of wild animals".
Those before the court were variously convicted at an earlier trial of conspiracy to rob, involving 12 victims over a 14-day period last autumn.
The eldest was Michael Onward, 21, from Ilford, Essex.
In the dock with him were youth cricket team captain Dennis Barrette, 16, of Ilford; Jerry McPherson, 17, of Wood Green, north London; Michael Silcott, 17, of Stoke Newington, north London and 16-year-old Oshane Francis, of Hackney Wick, east London.
Each was sentenced to five years' custody, with the four teenagers told they would have to serve their sentences in a young offenders institution.
Last Updated: 15:47 UK, Wednesday September 01, 2004