Killer, 17, was on bail for knife offences at time of murder
Wednesday May 10 2023
An appointed authority has imprisoned a youngster for life for the homicide of a 14-year-old kid in London and said he showed a "absence of regret" by composing drill melody verses while on remand.
On Tuesday, Marques Walker, 17, turned into the primary adolescent to be condemned on TV in Britain and Ridges, following a fruitful legitimate test by a few news sources, which was upheld by the casualty's folks.
The Old Bailey heard Jermaine Cools was cut multiple times as he lay on the ground in West Croydon, south London, on Nov. 18, 2021.
Judge Sarah Munro, KC said the homicide was a "silly assault" which no sensible grown-up could comprehend and she expressed, "Unfortunately there have been many further killings including teens since."
She condemned Walker to be kept for at least 19 years and forced a simultaneous sentence for an assault on an individual prisoner which left him with mind harm.
Cools was the most youthful blade wrongdoing casualty in 2021 and his folks, Julius Cools and Lorraine Dudek, said they were "completely strong of the broadest conceivable detailing."
At the time of the murder, Walker, then 16, was on bail for two offenses of carrying a knife.
A third charge of possessing a knife was dropped after a decision was made in February 2022 that Walker was a "victim of modern slavery" due to his involvement in a District Lines drug gang in Welwyn Garden City.
In January, on the eve of his trial, Walker pleaded guilty to murder and possession of a knife. He also admitted grievous bodily harm with intent after attacking a fellow inmate in custody at Feltham Young Offenders' Institution in west London in July 2022.
Prosecutor Caroline Carberry, KC said Walker and his associates were involved in an argument with Cools and his older brother Delaney in West Croydon town centre.
CCTV footage showed the scuffle and Walker running towards Cools with a large knife and repeatedly stabbing him on the ground.
Carberry said Walker returned to his home in Bromley and then checked his Snapchat account, where several friends advised him to get rid of his phone, clothes and trainers and lie down.
She said police had been looking for him for almost six weeks before they finally "accidentally" arrested him at a flat in South Norwood where she had gone to arrest another man for an unrelated offence.
Walker, who was found hiding behind a bed, gave officers a false name, but eventually admitted who he was and was arrested and charged with murder.
While on remand at Feltham Young Offenders' Institution, he wrote the lyrics to a practice song that referred to him stabbing someone into the ground.
He assaulted a fellow inmate in custody
The court was also told that in July 2022, Walker and four other men attacked a fellow inmate, claiming he was a "runaway".
Carberry told the court that Walker punched the man to the floor and then all five began kicking and stomping on him.
Two prison guards pulled them off the victim, who was taken to hospital unconscious. He suffered a brain bleed and was in a "life-threatening and life-changing" condition.
The victim suffered permanent brain damage, including cognitive impairment, and will require long-term care.
But Munro said Walker was a "complex and vulnerable young man" who had suffered major trauma during his childhood, including the murder of his father and his cousin.
She told him, "Despite your youth, you pose a significant risk to the public... and it may be that you will never be safe from release."
Last week, the PA news agency, The Times of London, The Sun and the Daily Mail filed a joint application to overturn a court order banning Walker from being identified.
A separate bid was made for permission to film Walker's sentence and broadcast the footage online.
Carberry said broadcasting the sentence could act as a "very strong deterrent".
Munro lifted the legal restriction on naming Walker and agreed to go live.
Munro justified her decision by saying: “The serious nature and increasing prevalence of knife crime, knife-related murders and violent crime… the consequent need for deterrence, promoting public confidence that the criminal justice system is addressing this problem; and the proximity of the defendant's 18th birthday ... all outweigh any minimal impact on the defendant's welfare.'
Tuesday's sentencing was briefly interrupted when a commotion broke out in the public gallery and a young woman was thrown out. She began shouting at the man, believed to be Cools' brother Delaney, saying: “It's your fault. You started the fight. It's your fault!"
