Six men who lured a teenager to his death in a Bromley park have been convicted after CCTV and forensics linked them to the crime.
Despite charges against all six men being dropped in 2018, detectives never gave up working on the case in order to ensure justice for 17-year-old Michael Jonas and his family.
They were all found guilty of murder following a trial at Southwark Crown Court and will be sentenced on Monday, 20 November:
Nyron Jean Baptiste, 22 (27.07.01) of Queen Adelaide Road, Penge
Divon Henry-Campbell, 23 (14.07.00) of Fayland Avenue, Streatham
Jason Smith, 20 (17.05.03) of Bow Avenue Lane, Dartford
Jamie Marshall, 22 (13.07.01) of Burham Close, Penge
Ryan Girense Brown, 21 (05.08.02) of Sydenham Road, Croydon
Sarraviho Smith, 23 (09.11.99) of Grove Hill Road, Camberwell
Detective Chief Inspector Matt Webb, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “Michael was just 17 when he was fatally stabbed in a violent, pre-planned attack. His family remain devastated by his loss and will never come to terms with what happened that night.
“This has been a long and complex investigation but we were determined to keep fighting for justice and we are pleased these men will now be off the streets of London and unable to cause further harm.”
On 2 November 2017, police were called to a report of a man injured in Betts Park, Bromley.
Officers attended alongside the London Ambulance Service and found Michael with multiple stab injuries. Despite their efforts, he died at the scene.
A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as stab wounds to the chest.
Detectives immediately began an investigation which including gathering a significant amount of CCTV from the park and surrounding areas.
This revealed that at around 19:00hrs, Michael had been approached by five of the group as he walked down nearby Anerley Road, before all walking into the park together.
At 19:12hrs, John-Baptiste was captured arriving at the scene – phone analysis later showed he had been called to come to the area by Henry-Campbell.
Just three minutes later, by 19:15hrs, all of the defendants were seen fleeing the park on bicycles. The fatal attack had taken no more than 120 seconds.
DNA from bloodstains at the scene was also found to be one billion times more likely to be from Jean-Baptiste than from an unknown and unrelated individual.
None of the group ever admitted responsibility or provided any reason for their actions however the court heard that they had believed Michael was a ‘snitch’ and so carried out their fatal attack.
By early December 2017, all six defendants had been arrested and charged.
The case was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) early the following year, but officers were determined to get justice for Michael and continued to gather further evidence.
In October 2022, CPS agreed to reinstate the original charges and the men were remanded until trial.
