Gang convicted over cannabis farm murder

Xhovan Pepaj was stabbed to death during an attempt to rob a cannabis farm

Three men have been jailed for life for murdering a man during an attempt to rob a cannabis farm.

Xhovan Pepaj was stabbed to death in Caley Road, Tunbridge Wells, on 4 December 2021.

Four more men have been jailed for between six and 10 years for their parts in the crime, after a trial in Loughborough and sentencing at the Old Bailey.

Five others have been convicted of conspiracy to rob and will be sentenced on 30 October at Lewes Crown Court, along with a 13th man who pleaded guilty to that charge and to manslaughter.

Police called to the address in the early hours found discarded cannabis plants on the road leading to the house.

Firefighters had to help officers open a floor to ceiling metal gate blocking access to the upstairs of the building before they could reach 25-year-old Mr Pepaj, who had suffered multiple stab wounds.

Five people were arrested within 24 hours and eight more in the weeks that followed.

'Stood no chance'

Det Sup Gavin Moss said: "Things started to go wrong when associates of the victim arrived at the property and this quickly escalated with tragic consequences."

He said the victim "was repeatedly attacked with a knife" and also beaten.

On 18 May at the Old Bailey, Ciaran Stewart, 20, of Hornchurch, London, Kelvin Amoako, 18, of Ilford, Greater London and Bartosz Malawski, 28, of Croydon were all sentenced to life for murder.

Stewart will serve a minimum of 26 years, and Amoako and Malawski 22 years each.

Nathan Rainforth, 22, of Pilgrims Hatch, Essex, was jailed for seven and a half years, while Donte Simpson-Palmer, 19, from London, was jailed for six years, both for manslaughter and conspiracy to commit robbery. Rainforth was acquitted of murder.

Charles Reilly, 28, from Mountnessing, Essex, received 10 years and Mohammed Miah, 26, of Romford, London, was jailed for six and a half years, both for conspiracy to commit robbery. Reilly was acquitted of murder and manslaughter.

In a separate trial at Lewes Crown Court on Thursday, Jonathan Hedges, 26, of Romford, Nathan Turner, 30, of Brentwood, in Essex, Zach Cutting, 25, of Waltham Abbey, Essex, Glen Hough, 52, of Pilgrims Hatch, Essex, and Fabian Szymula, 21, of South Ockendon, Essex, were all convicted of conspiracy to rob.

Turner and Cutting were both acquitted of murder and manslaughter.

They will be sentenced on 30 October, along with Ray Renda, 23, of Pilgrims Hatch, Brentwood, Essex, who had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at Isleworth Crown Court to counts of manslaughter and conspiracy to commit robbery.