Three found guilty of Kinsella murder

Published on Thursday 11 June 2009 12:55

THREE youths were found guilty today of murdering Ben Kinsella, the 16-year-old brother of former EastEnders actress Brooke Kinsella.

Juress Kika, 19, Jade Braithwaite, 18, and Michael Alleyne, 20, were convicted by a jury at the Old Bailey.

Ben and his friends had been to a bar to celebrate the end of their GCSE exams when a row broke out in Islington, north London, on 29 June last year.

Although the confrontation had nothing to do with him, he was chased along the street with other youngsters – and stabbed to death when he stopped running.

Ben was stabbed 11 times in five seconds by the three youths in revenge for the "disrespect" shown to Braithwaite earlier.

After the verdicts, it emerged Kika had been on the run from police for 10 days following a robbery in which a man was knifed on 19 June.

Three other youths were arrested but despite extensive searches and inquiries, Kika was not found until he was arrested for Ben's murder at a flat in Chadwell Heath, east London, on 30 June.

The 21-year-old victim, who appeared to have been involved in a row about drugs, refused to press charges.

Alleyne was being supervised by the local youth offending team as part of an 18-month detention and training order for drug dealing.

He had been released three months earlier after serving half the sentence in a detention centre.

There were shouts of 'Yes' from members of the Kinsella family when the verdicts were announced.

Some people in the public gallery applauded.

Ben's mother Deborah started sobbing after the first guilty verdict was delivered.

The killers were remanded in custody for sentencing tomorrow.

Ben had been part of a large, happy family consisting of his mother Deborah, 46, father George, 48, Brooke, 25, and her two sisters.

He did well at school, wanted to be a graphic designer and had many friends.

Some 400 people joined the family to march against knife crime following his death.

The defendants had admitted punching Ben but each denied he was the knifeman.

Detective Chief Inspector John Macdonald said the first row in the pub had "materialised out of nothing".

But it had led to Braithwaite seeking out Alleyne and Kika – resulting in them stabbing someone who had nothing to do with it to save face.

He said: "I think it is done out of pure ignorance. People seem to resort to the most serious violence, particularly young people.

"They are people who are ignorant and socially inept. Young people become desperate about being disrespected.

"Braithwaite probably thought he had been disrespected by one of the younger kids and wanted to take retribution, to take revenge."