In a chilling twist of justice, six men who stabbed a teenager to death in a Bromley park in 2017 have finally been convicted.
A relentless pursuit of the truth – backed by CCTV footage and forensic evidence – sealed the fate of these individuals.
Despite charges being dropped in 2017, determined detectives from the Met Police refused to abandon their quest for justice on behalf of 17-year-old Michael Jonas and his bereaved family.
Charged
These men were all found guilty of murder following a trial at Southwark Crown Court and will be sentenced on November 20: Nyron Jean Baptiste (22) of Queen Adelaide Road, Penge; Divon Henry-Campbell (23) of Fayland Avenue, Streatham; Jason Smith (20)of Bow Avenue Lane, Dartford; Jamie Marshall (22) of Burham Close, Penge; Ryan Girense Brown (21) of Sydenham Road, Croydon and Sarraviho Smith (23) 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.”
How it happened
On November 2, 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 7pm, Michael had been approached by five of the group as he walked down nearby Anerley Road, before all walking into the park together.
At 7.12pm, John-Baptiste was captured arriving at the scene – phone analysis later showed he had been called to come to the area by Henry-Campbell.
120-second attack
Just three minutes later, 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.
