By Daily Mail Reporter
Anthony Maina, 19, played a 'critical role' in a plan to steal £30,000 in takings from the store, just five months after he stabbed an A-level student to death for a mobile phone
A teenager who took part in a robbery which left a shop manager dead was on bail for murder at the time of the killing, it has been revealed today.
Anthony Maina, 19, played a ‘critical role’ in a plan to steal £30,000 in takings from the store, just five months after he stabbed an A-level student to death for a mobile phone.
He had been arrested in connection with the killing of 17-year-old Rizwan Darbar in October 2007, but police had to bail him because there was not enough evidence to press charges.
By March of the following year he had been recruited as a look-out for the Matalan robbery in Hackney, east London, during which popular manager Jamie Simpson, 33, was stabbed to death.
Maina was finally charged with Rizwan’s murder in January last year and was convicted after a trial. He was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum 14-year sentence in July.
The teenager was also charged with Mr Simpson’s murder in March last year.
Mr Simpson was knifed in the back and neck after bravely ‘refusing to yield’ when he was confronted on the shop floor by 17-year-old Kobina Essel.
He had only been working late that night after swapping shifts with a colleague.
The gang also included inside man Roy Williams, 31, a Matalan security guard and friend of Mr Simpson.
He allowed the three robbers in to the shop just before closing on March 22, 2008, to hide in a staff staircase at the shop in the Kingsland shopping centre, Hackney, before ending his shift.
Essel, now 19, has been convicted of murder.
Ringleader Simeon Jumah, 25, Maina, now 20, and Randy Osei-Owusu, 17, were convicted of manslaughter after the jury failed to agree on the murder charge.
Williams, recruiter Jamal Chambers, 18, and getaway driver Duane Owusu, 20, were cleared of both murder and manslaughter but convicted of conspiracy to rob.
Prosecutors today decided not to press for a retrial for Jumah, Maina and Osei-Owusu and asked for the murder charge to be left on file.
Judge Martin Stephens QC then lifted the court orders banning reporting of Maina’s background and the name of Osei-Owusu.
All seven men will be sentenced on March 22 this year.
During the trial, jurors heard Williams planned the robbery with his friend Jumah, a father-of-one and former school caretaker and Argos delivery driver.
With the help of Chambers, his girlfriend’s cousin, they recruited three young robbers and in a series of meetings at Jumah’s house Williams gave detailed plans of the shop floor, CCTV coverage and staff movements.
The gang picked the Easter weekend, hoping there would be bumper takings in the store’s cash office by closing time on Saturday.
The day before the robbery several of the gang members went on a recce of the shop before finalising the plans.
On Saturday evening, shortly before the store shut, CCTV cameras captured the three robbers slipping in to the shop, hooded and wearing dark clothing.
Williams who was patrolling the first floor allowed the robbers to get to the stairwell before telling colleagues the shop was clear of customers.
He left with a second guard as Mr Simpson cashed up.
The robbers hid in the staircase for almost an hour, their shadowy movements caught on camera, while Mr Simpson emptied all the tills on both floors.
Devastated: Jamie Simpson's mother Lorna and his sisters (left to right) Helen, Vanessa and Claire-Marie
As he exited the cash office shortly before 8pm, carrying only a set of keys, Essel left his hiding place and approached him on the shop floor.
The store’s cameras captured the six-second confrontation during which 19-stone Mr Simpson was stabbed three times in the back and neck and left for dead as the robbers fled empty handed through a fire escape.
Essel said Jumah had told him to bring his ‘ting’ for the robbery, so he armed himself with a 10in kitchen knife, which he later discarded and has never been found.
Mr Simpson, clutching his neck, tried to raise the alarm with shop assistants who were working nearby.
Staff desperately grabbed clothes and towels from shop rails and attempted to staunch the bleeding.
Police and ambulances arrived just after 8pm, shortly before a doctor in an air ambulance helicopter, but Mr Simpson’s life could not be saved.
This image shows three of the gang during the raid which killed Mr Simpson. As the robbers wore hooded tops they could not be identified by witnesses or CCTV
The wound to his neck had cut through the jugular and the carotid artery.
Mr Simpson, originally from Derby, was only on duty having swapped his shift with colleague Rachel Ryan the day before.
Maina was arrested almost a year later after his prints were found in a vehicle used to car-jack the Ford Fiesta used for the gang’s getaway.
After extensive investigations in to mobile phone records and movements, CCTV and the use of cars, police were able to round up to Matalan gang members.
Hidden in a shed in Essel’s garden officers found his white hooded top and a JD sports bag that was spattered with Mr Simpson’s blood.
Following their arrests several of the gang claimed they were not aware that a knife was being carried or would be used.
Jumah, of East London; Williams, of North London; Owusu, of East London; Maina, of East London; Chambers, of East London; and Essel and Randy Osei-Owusu, from East London; all denied murder.
Williams, Chambers and Owusu also denied conspiracy to rob between December 1 2007 and March 23 2008, but were convicted.
Jumah, Essel, Maina and the teenager admitted the charge.
Jamie Simpsons parents, Lorna, 54, and Lambert, 57, wept as footage of what the prosecution called a ‘tragically one-sided encounter’ was shown in court.
Mrs Simpson later described the experience as ‘tremendously difficult’ – and said those responsible for her son’s death were ‘scum’.
Mrs Simpson described the killing of her son as a ‘sickening betrayal’.
Recalling the moment she was given the news, said: ‘It was like my world came to an end.’
She added: ‘He was my friend as well as my son. I couldn’t have asked for a better son. From when he was little he’s been my little buddy.’
The victim’s parents spoke of their belief that many young people had become desensitised to violence and saw life as like a ‘video game’.
Mr Simpson said: ‘Teenagers today play that much games, they look upon life as a joke. They expect when they kill someone they are going to get back up again.’
Claire Simpson, the victim’s 22-year-old sister, said in a statement that his death was like losing a ‘vital organ’.
She added: ‘What’s the point in living when there are people like this in this world that just don’t care what consequences their actions have, and behave in such a way that makes you question what kind of society is this?
‘Is there even a thread of common decency any more?’
‘Entirely needless’ killing of gang member’s first victim
Double killer Anthony Maina’s first victim was a popular and kind-hearted teenager whose death tore his family apart.
Maina stabbed 17-year-old Rizwan Darbar in the stomach during a mobile phone robbery in October 2007 in West Ham Park, east London.
The A-level student had been sitting in the flower garden of the park listening to music on the phone with two friends when he was attacked.
Maina was jailed for life with a minimum term of 14 years at the Old Bailey for the murder which Judge Timothy Pontius described as ‘an entirely needless and wholly unjustifiable tragedy’.
Aftermath: Police forensic experts arrive at West Ham Park to gather evidence following the murder of Rizwan Darbar in October 2007
Rizwan’s brother Tausif Darbar said in a statement read in court: ‘My family’s world was turned upside down.’
Detective Inspector Simon Pickford said: ‘Rizwan was a young man with everything to live for.’
The court heard that Maina’s friend Kirkland Gayle had snatched a phone from a friend of the victim, then urged the knifeman to ‘poke’ Rizwan so he would not have to give it back.
Alan Kent QC, prosecuting, said he did so, ‘jabbing the knife at fast speed into the stomach area of Rizwan Darbar’.
Rizwan told his friends ‘I have just been duked’ as the attackers ran off.
Gayle was jailed for eight years after he was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter and robbery.
Rizwan was preparing for A-levels when he was killed. He wanted to study accountancy and get a job in the City, and was a volunteer for events held in his area to promote the 2012 Olympics.
His brother said: ‘Rizwan was your average teenager – he loved his friends, football and music. He was extremely popular among both family and friends due to his great humorous personality.
‘He was kind-hearted, generous and gave everybody the time of day. He was very obedient and respected and loved his family and friends tremendously.
‘His death came as an immense shock as only a few hours earlier he was sitting at home with his family.
‘The news of his death brought pain which no one should never have to suffer. The screams and my parents’ faces that night still haunt me today.
‘The loss of Rizwan was more painful with the knowledge that someone had taken his precious, promising young life due to their selfish actions.
‘By their violent actions, they have torn our family apart.’
-The Daily Mail
