Pair jailed for gang-related murder in Ipswich town centre

Two men have been jailed for life for murdering an 18-year-old who was killed in front of town centre shoppers in a gang-related "retribution" stabbing.

Raymond James Quigley, known as James, of Wymondham, Norfolk, was stabbed to death in Ipswich on 17 January 2023.

Alfie Hammett and Joshua Howell, both 19, were sentenced to minimum terms of 24 and 20 years respectively.

Mr Quigley was attacked at about 15:30 GMT on Westgate Street. He ran into a card shop, but died from his wounds.

Both defendants, who are from the Ipswich area, were also convicted of possession of an offensive weapon, following a trial at Ipswich Crown Court which lasted for more than a month.

Mr Quigley was set upon outside the former Debenhams building in revenge for the murder of 18-year-old Joe Dix in Norwich in January 2022, the prosecution said.

He died from stab wounds to his torso, back and chest.

Pair jailed for murder of man in front of shoppers

Hammett, of Larkhill Rise, Rushmere St Andrew, near Ipswich, and previously of Norwich, was said to have delivered the fatal blows while Howell, of Wellington Street, Ipswich, threatened Mr Quigley's friends with a machete.

"This was a murder committed in context of gang rivalry and retribution stemming from the murder of Joe Dix," prosecutor Andrew Jackson told the trial.

Sentencing, Judge Martyn Levett said both Hammett and Howell were gang members who showed no true remorse.

"It is self evident that this was a planned attack," he added.

"I'm quite sure you both believed Mr Quigley was a rival gang member... you both had been given enough information from others about the identify of Mr Quigley [and his friends] in order for you to recognise them."

He continued: "This gang violence featuring in our Suffolk communities is blighting the historic reputation of peacefulness and replacing it with a belief that streets, shopping areas and thoroughfares are unsafe to visit alone or with their children.

"A consequence of that fear is that it is affecting the local economy and vibrancy of town centres."

The court heard an impact statement from the victim's mother, Margaret Oakes, which said she lived with the pain of his loss every day.

"James was very precious and special to me, he was the baby of the family," she said.

"To see my son in the morgue was the worst pain a parent can imagine.

"I keep seeing the savage injuries inflicted on my son; what I saw cannot be unseen."

His father, Raymond Quigley, said his life was empty without his son and he was "struggling every day".

The court heard the defendants were on police bail at the time of the murder - Hammett having been arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer in Norwich and Howell on suspicion of a robbery in Ipswich.

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