Three men have been convicted of the murder of Taylor Cox in Islington after an investigation by the Met.
[A] Jaden McGibbon, 22 (19.06.01), of Warltersville Road, N19, [B] Robel Michael, 22 (07.06.01), of no fixed address, and [C] Sichem Mangituka-Mpelo, 22 (09.07.01), of Holloway, were found guilty at the Old Bailey on Friday, 20 October.
They were remanded in custody and will be sentenced at the same court on Friday, 15 December.
A fourth person, Dunia Oukili, 22 (28.05.02), of Harrington Square, Camden, was convicted of perverting the course of justice.
Detective Chief Inspector Linda Bradley, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “This was a targeted attack on a young man who should have had the rest of his life ahead of him.
“It saddens me to see so many young lives cut short by violence on the streets of our capital and I hope these convictions, and the loss of freedom the defendants are about to face, serve as a warning to any others who think that conflict of any kind can be resolved with weapons and violence.
“My thoughts are with Taylor’s family. While nothing can bring him back, I hope that today’s guilty verdicts bring them a degree of satisfaction.”
Police were called at 16:24hrs on 8 June 2021 to reports of a shooting in Hornsey Rise Gardens, N19. Officers attended along with London Ambulance Service and London’s Air Ambulance.
They found 19-year-old Taylor, who was from Barnet, suffering gunshot injuries. He was taken to hospital where we later died.
A post-mortem examination 11 June 2021 found he died as a result of gunshot wound to the head.
After shooting Taylor, the suspects fled the scene. McGibbon’s girlfriend, Oukili, booked a hotel room and bought a mobile phone in an attempt to help him evade arrest.
Officers would later find spent ammunition cartridge cases in Oukili’s handbag that was of the same calibre to those used in the shooting.
During the investigation detectives trawled through hours of CCTV footage and found images of McGibbon riding a bicycle shortly before the report of shots fired was made to police, just before the murder he covered his face with a balaclava.
Despite his efforts to avoid capture, McGibbon was arrested on 12 June 2021 and was charged with murder the following day.
Michael was arrested on 4 August 2021 and was subsequently charged with murder.
Mangituka-Mpelo was arrested on 23 August 2021 and was subsequently charged with murder.
Taylor’s father, David Campbell, said: “The whole family are grateful that we come to this conclusion and are thankful for the efforts of the police in all the work they did to convict the defendants. Despite the guilty verdict, it still doesn’t help the pain that knowing we won’t see Taylor again causes us”.
Do you know about someone who is involved in violent crime? If you have information that could help keep your community safe, but don’t want to speak to police, please contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. They do not ask your name and cannot trace your call or I.P address.
Any young people who have information about violence or knife crime, can visit www.fearless.org where they can pass on information anonymously – your I.P address will not be traced. Fearless is part of the Crimestoppers charity, and is also independent of the police.
