Ipswich stabbing: Teens guilty of Raymond James Quigley murder

Two teenagers have been found guilty of murdering an 18-year-old who was fatally stabbed in front of shoppers in a town centre.

Raymond James Quigley, known as James, of Wymondham, Norfolk, was stabbed to death in Ipswich a year ago.

Joshua Howell, 18, and Alfie Hammett, 19, both from the Ipswich area, were also found guilty of possession of an offensive weapon.

Neither reacted as the verdicts were read out at Ipswich Crown Court.

The jury heard the attack, which took place in Westgate Street at about 15:30 GMT on 17 January last year, was gang-related.

Addressing Hammett and Howell, Judge Martyn Levett said: "The sentence I have to pass is mandatory detention for life."

Sentencing will not take place until 11 March while the court waits for reports.

The judge told Hammett: "I'm so much in the dark about your background and the consequences."

Addressing Howell, he said: "The jury have rejected your account. I also think it's important I learn more about you."

The judge said the pair would be remanded in custody "because there is a high propensity of you carrying a weapon".

He warned them against choosing to not come to court for the sentencing.

Mr Quigley was attacked in the pedestrianised street, outside the former Debenhams building.

He ran into a card shop to seek help but died from stab wounds to his torso, back and chest.

The jury heard Hammett delivered the fatal blows while Howell threatened Mr Quigley's friends with a machete.

The prosecution said the victim was associated with a Norfolk gang known as Only The Money.

The court heard Hammett, of Larkhill Rise, Rushmere St Andrew, Suffolk, had links to another Norfolk gang called Third Side.

Howell, of Wellington Street, Ipswich, had connections to the Nacton gang in east Ipswich, the jury was told.

Before the verdict was read out, Howell's mother waved at her son in the dock.

She had been supporting him throughout the trial, which started on 12 December.

The jury had been deliberating since Wednesday.

The prosecution alleged that the defendants were called on the day of the attack to work together to kill Mr Quigley.

The court heard that Hammett delivered the fatal blows.

Howell told the court earlier that he had started selling cannabis in Ipswich a month before the killing, and had armed himself when strangers contacted him to meet up.

He said: "As you've heard, I had incidents in the past and I kept the knife on me to make me feel safer - especially if I didn't know who I was meeting."

The jury heard from Lasharne Beaton who said she was with a friend in the nearby Starbucks when two people ran past.

Referring to Mr Quigley, she said: "He went into the shop because he couldn't run any more, before bending over the counter and passing out backwards."

His top was "completely saturated with blood", she said.

"He stopped breathing and I tried to find a pulse. He was still. I started to panic and that's when I started to give him CPR."

Earlier in the trial, the court heard Howell had transferred £1,000 to an account and bought a one-way plane ticket to Nairobi.

The prosecution said he did not have a phone when he was arrested four days after the stabbing, while Hammett had returned his to its factory settings.

CCTV showed Howell held a machete and chased Mr Quigley's friend into a sports store, the court heard.

Prosecutor Andrew Jackson said Howell provided "an intimidating presence" and "prevented Mr Quigley's friends from intervening to help".

As Howell and Hammett were taken away, Howell's mother strained her neck to catch her son's eye but the blurred glass that separates the public gallery from the dock blocked her view.

She tutted and looked away.

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