Masked gang face jail for mowing and killing British taekwondo star

Masked gang faces years in jail for mowing and killing British taekwondo star, 18, in Mini hit-and-run

• Five masked men who mowed down and killed British taekwondo star face jail
• Amrou Greenidge, 18, was knocked off his bike by a stolen Mini Countryman
• Four killers jumped out of the car and chased victim down wielding large knives
• Amrou died two days later after being treated in hospital for head injuries
• Herepresented GB at the Taekwondo Junior World Championships in 2015

Five masked men who mowed down a British taekwondo star in a stolen Mini and beat him to death in a horrific hit-and-run caught on CCTV are facing years in jail today. 

Amrou Greenidge, 18, was knocked off his bike by a stolen Mini Countryman as he cycled through the Sullivan Court estate in Fulham, south-west London, on August 18, 2019.

Four of the killers jumped out of the car and chased down the victim wielding large knives before assaulting him as he lay on the ground, the Old Bailey previously heard.

Amrou, who represented Great Britain at the Taekwondo Junior World Championships in 2015, died two days later after being treated in hospital for head injuries.

They were driven off by Kai McDonald, 18, before Connor Gwynn-Bliss, 21, torched the Mini on nearby Dymock Street.

Gwynn-Bliss, and Darrell Mortimer, also 21, along with McDonald, Anas Osman, 19, and Levar Jackson-Scott, 18, were all cleared by a jury of murder, but convicted of manslaughter.

Gwynn-Bliss’ father Vincent, 58, had been accused of buying and delivering petrol to his son before driving him home but he was cleared of arson and perverting the course of justice.

Amrou Greenidge, 18, was knocked off his bike by a stolen Mini Countryman as he cycled through the Sullivan Court estate in Fulham, south-west London, on August 18, 2019 

Amrou, who represented Great Britain at the Taekwondo Junior World Championships in 2015, died two days later after being treated in hospital for head injuries

In a moving victim impact statement read to the court, Amrou’s father Edward Greenidge described ‘struggling with overwhelming grief’ since his son’s ‘violent passing’.

Mr Greenidge said: ‘I know this may seem strange to you but I haven’t reflected a great deal about Amrou’s death in that way. It is hard to think about my feelings when I am simply raw with grief and every day is a struggle.

‘I have felt throughout this process I was unable to express my feelings, I have felt mute and seen only as a family member, a watcher if you will and not somebody able to take part.’

He spoke of being on ‘autopilot’ since Amrou’s death, saying he couldn’t imagine a life without his son, adding: ‘The truth is I constantly feel like I want to die. I feel this way because if I die I will get to see Amrou again.

‘I know in our lives we all experience loss, that we are all aware that grief when we lost people is awful. But to lose a child in breach of the natural way is worse.’

Mr Greenidge described the devastation of dreaming of his son being alive and well only to wake up and be reminded of his loss.

‘Hope is awful but the worst is the nights when I dream of his attack, where I feel his fear and see him searching past his attackers and see me, his dad, his superhero making it all stop,’ he said.

Amrou’s mother Mahdjouba described her son as an ‘exceptionally talented’, ‘gifted’ and ‘caring’ young man. 

‘He had a bright future ahead of him, we were sure of that,’ she wrote. ‘Amrou was a big hearted, hardworking and sociable young man, something we have heard from people who knew him and grew to love him.’

Four of the killers jumped out of the car and chased down the victim wielding large knives before assaulting him as he lay on the ground, the Old Bailey previously heard

Mrs Greenidge wrote of the effect Amrou’s death on his whole family, with her two other struggling to cope with their day to day lives: ‘No parent wants to bury their child and the pain is as deep today as the day we lost him.

‘I can’t eat, I can’t sleep and I hear my son’s voice close enough as though he were in another room.’

Philip Evans, QC, prosecuting, earlier told the court the five killers drove to Sullivan Court in the stolen Mini looking for Amrou. They were all wearing dark clothing with hoods as well as facemasks or balaclavas.

‘The group, four on foot had got out of the car and one who in the Mini who was driving, looked for and found the deceased,’ said Mr Evans. ‘Having done so they chased him down. They were carrying various weapons which included large knives.

‘The group used the stolen Mini, which was driven by the first defendant Kai McDonald, as a weapon and it was, says the prosecution, deliberately driven into Amrou Greenidge knocking him off his bicycle.

‘As the car struck him, he impacted on the Mini’s bonnet and onto the windscreen he flew into the air and onto the ground. His bicycle flew off in a different direction. He having fallen to the ground, the rest of the group that had been chasing him ran in and proceeded to assault him.

‘Still wearing their disguises the group re-gathered and got into the Mini and sped off from the scene departing as they had arrived, in the car, all together as a group. The Mini car was abandoned shortly after in a nearby residential street called Dymock Street.

‘Having been struck by the car, Amrou Greenidge was treated in hospital but died two days later on the 20 August 2019 of the head injuries that were inflicted upon him during the course of the collision on that street in Fulham.

‘The death of Amrou Grenidge occurred as a result of a group effort. Each of the first five defendants played their own differing roles in the offence and with each of them shared the same intention as to what would happen.

‘The arson and the destruction of the car was carried out by Connor Gwynn-Bliss. Each of them doing different things aimed at achieving the same outcome.

‘They had weapons with them in the car which they drove to the scene.

‘They had those weapons on their persons after they had got out – they were each disguised, no doubt because they were aware of what they were about to do – then as a group they looked for their target around the estate – when they found him it was communicated around the group

‘Having found him they followed him and chased him as a group.

‘Those on foot chased first – as they did so they were still disguised and carrying their weapons. One of the group who was driving the car then overtook those who were running and struck Amrou Grenidge causing the fatal injuries.

‘But the driver of that car was not acting alone. They were all, as a group of five chasing the same two people. They all had the same target and they all chased him with the same intention.

‘The group running then caught up and went to the deceased who was now on the floor and assaulted him again acting as a group before the five left the scene together.

‘The obvious conclusion which can be drawn from their behaviour before, during and after this incident is that when they found Amrou Greenidge and his associate they did as a group that which they had each intended all along, namely that Amrou Greenidge, would be caught, assaulted and caused at least serious bodily harm.’

Connor Gwynn-Bliss, of Hammersmith, denied and was cleared of murder, but he was convicted of manslaughter. He admitted arson and was further convicted of perverting the course of justice.

Mortimer, of Hammersmith, McDonald, of Acton, Osman, and Jackson Scott, both of Shepherd’s Bush and Jackson-Scott, also of Shepherd’s Bush, were cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter.

The Common Serjeant of London, Judge Richard Marks, QC, is due to sentence the killers later today. 

Source: Read Full Article