Jodie Chesney murder trial: 'They wanted to really hurt someone that night'

1. Day 26 of the trial of four people accused of murdering Jodie Chesney, 17.
2. Murder accused denies 'throwing friend under bus'
3. Court heard killer targeted the 'wrong people'
4. Jodie was stabbed to death while with friends in Harold Hill 1 March
5. Manuel Petrovic, 20, and Svenson Ong-a-kwie, 19, deny murder
6. Two boys aged 16 and 17, also deny killing Jodie

Jury sent home for the day

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Svenson Ong-a-Kwie and the 17-year-old both identified themselves as the two who went into the park, the prosecutor told the court.

Crispin Aylett QC said: "Eddie Coyle (pictured) saw two men walk towards them at the side entrance to Amy's Park."

The prosecutor then paused his closing speech and told the jury he will continue tomorrow at 10:00.

'This was an ambush'

CCTV shows Manuel Petrovic's Vauxhall driving away from Harold Hill

Jodie Chesney's death was "nothing to do with drugs but everything to do with an ambush," Crispin Aylett QC told the jury.

Svenson Ong-a-Kwie and the 17-year-old walked into the park "in darkness" while the car was "turned around" by Manuel Petrovic.

"This was an ambush," Mr Aylett added: "The car need to be turned around so they could get away quickly.

"We now know the two in the park were Svenson and the boy, I say now know because the police were not told this before."

'They drove around not knowing who the person was'

Reuters

When the defendants got to Harold Hill there was a dispute between them, Crispin Aylett QC told the court.

Manuel Petrovic said "they were looking for someone" and Svenson Ong-a-Kwie said they were going to Amy's Park all along.

In the car there were "probably half-a-dozen" mobile phones in Mr Petrovic's black Vauxhall Corsa.

Mr Aylett suggested it was unusual that Mr Ong-a-Kwie had not tried to contact his customer despite Mr Petrovic being "in a hurry as the time was his rush hour" for dealing his drugs.

The prosecutor continued: "All those phones in the car, no one thought for Svenson to ring that person and Manuel did not know who Svenson was meant to be meeting.

"They are driving around without knowing who this person is.

"Svenson did have an answer to the 'no telephone call' being made, because conveniently Svenson does not have a number for Dreads and Dreads doesn't have a number for Svenson.

"Svenson, who served his defence statement on 9 September, said there was no mention of Dreads - he said that was 'too much detail'.

"But is it? That was the reason they went to Harold Hill.

'Everything has an air of subterfuge and secrecy about it'

Julia Quenzler

Manuel Petrovic's version of events was that Svenson Ong-a-Kwie had been sending him Class A customers all day, Crispin Aylett told the court - despite phone records "not matching" this."

Mr Aylett added: "Manuel has struggled to get his story straight on this important aspect of the case.

"What they do agree on, is that when Svenson asked Manuel to drive him to Harold Hill, they both agree that at the request Manuel had said 'you are killing me'.

"In other words, Manuel did not want to go because he knew Svenson wanted to bang out on his ops.

"But, they don't agree on why Manuel gave in. Manuel said it was because he had been giving his Class A stuff all day and Svenson said he no longer had a drugs phone because Manuel lost it when he crashed his car on 21 February.

"Everything has an air of subterfuge and secrecy about it."

Svenson Ong-a-Kwie was 'insistent on a lift' from Manuel Petrovic

Julia Quenzler

Svenson Ong-a-Kwie and Manuel Petrovic listen to Eddie Coyle, Jodie Chesney's boyfriend, give evidence

After the minicab driver dropped Svenson Ong-a-Kwie and the teenage boy back off in Collier Row, Crispin Aylett QC said the 19-year-old needed someone "reliable" to give a lift back to Harold Hill.

Mr Aylett told the jury that on the evening of 1 March: "Svenson was insistent and kept repeating a request that he needed to speak to Manuel Petrovic.

"There are a number of text messages and two telephone calls.

"The first lasted 35 seconds, and the second a few minutes later lasted 46 seconds.

"What is said in those calls is rather important."

Close enough friends for 'beef of one to be beef of both'

Met Police

Crispin Aylett QC has made a reference to an incident in October 2018 when Svenson Ong-a-Kwie was stabbed in the leg, but he said it was not put to the 19-year-old where geographically he was stabbed.

The prosecutor suggested that if Mr Ong-a-Kwie and the 17-year-old boy were close enough for "the beef of one to be the beef of both".

Regardless, Mr Aylett continued, Mr Ong-a-Kwie needed transport for an "urgent return trip to Harold Hill" after Mr Haque, the minicab driver, would not take him as he had a job at Heathrow Airport.

"When Mr Haque gave evidence he was not asked whether or not Svenson had asked for them to be taken back to Harold Hill for a second trip.

"I suppose all one can say, is Svenson did not ask Mr Haque to contact the control room at A1 Cabs."

Prosecution puzzled by defendant's 'five bag policy'

Julia Quenzler

On the afternoon of 1 March Svenson Ong-a-Kwie sent 443 texts to sell drugs in Harold Hill despite having no transport and living in Collier Row, Crispin Aylett QC told the court.

Mr Aylett added: "On occasions he gets to Harold Hill by walking - about three miles each way - and only takes five bags with him as a policy.

"We looked at the clip of Svenson and the boy walking along Hillfoot Road and going off in the direction of the park

"It matters because Svenson's reason for going back to Collier Row before going back to Harold Hill is based on him having cannabis.

"In other words he needed to reload to supply his long lost customer 'Dreads.'

"But something happened in Mr Haque's taxi."

'The two figures in the park could well have been rivals'

Met Police

On the evening of 1 March, Bryce Henderson said he ordered some cannabis from Svenson Ong-a-Kwie, but he took too long and he went to another drug dealer called Jade, Crispin Aylett QC recalled.

After buying the cannabis the 18-year-old joined the group in Amy's Park and the prosecutor has moved on to speak about the two figures who were in the park near to Jodie Chesney and her group of friends.

A friend, called Clarice Sharp, said she spotted two men who Mr Aylett described as 'person X and person Y'.

He said it was possible that "X and Y could well have been Svenson's ops".

Mr Aylett continued: "Despite all of the publicity in the case, X and Y have not come forward.

"In the end, the role of X and Y has been to confuse Jodie's friends who were in the park.

"Because to the friends there was some uncertainty as to whether X and Y were the same people who came into the park and stabbed Jodie.

"We know that is not the case, however Eddie Coyle and some others didn't."

Jury back into court

BBC

The 12 jurors are now back in their jury box following their brief mid-afternoon break.

The four defendants, Manuel Petrovic, Svenson Ong-a-Kwie and the two teenage boys - are in the dock sitting opposite Judge Wendy Joseph QC.

There are around 29 people in the public gallery listening to Crispin Aylett QC continue his closing speech.

He is moving onto summarising the evidence and began by talking about what Bryce Henderson (pictured) told the court.

Jury go for mid-afternoon break

The 12 jurors, made up of seven men and five women, have been sent for a short mid-afternoon break.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC has paused his closing speech and Judge Wendy Joseph QC has adjourned the case until 15:15.

'Terrible consequences of carrying and using knives'

BBC

The murder Jodie Chesney is but another example of the "terrible consequences of the carrying and using of knives," Crispin Aylett Qc told the jury.

"It seems every day now," Mr Aylett explained to the court. "In our city, another young life is lost to a knife

"I am sorry to say that your verdicts in this trial will not bring this to an end.

"If at any time someone finds himself or herself saying 'there is just too much of this about' then you will have strayed from your oath or affirmation that you took to try this case on the evidence."

'They wanted to really hurt someone that night'

Met Police

Crispin Aylett QC made another general observation that the case is part of a "tit for tat feud where certainly in the past no one had died and no one had told the police."

"The stabber," he continued. "Whether it is Svenson or the 17-year-old boy, plunged that knife into her."

He suggested that the prosecution believe the two went into the park in order to make sure that "someone should be really badly hurt".

'They went there to bang out a rival drug group'

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The prosecution do not suggest that any of the defendants set out that night intending to kill Jodie Chesney.

Crispin Aylett QC said: "The police struggled to make any connection to Jodie and her friends and on the other hand any of the defendants.

"None of the defendants explained what all of this was really about, they found it out because of the 17-year-old boy - who told his brother during a phone call at Feltham Young Offender's Institute 'my man [Svenson] went there to do someone else'.

"Manuel, rather more specific and emphatic, what actually happened when he told Gemma Gray, 'they went there to bang out on their ops and banged out the wrong people'.

"Manuel know says that was his best guess, but it is a matter for you to work out."

Boy, 17, had a 'hunting knife' on him when arrested

The 17-year-old had previous convictions for actual bodily harm and being in possession of offensive weapons, Crispin Aylett QC said.

The prosecutor added that on the day of his initial arrest in March the boy had with him a "hunting knife" in his rucksack - although in his evidence he said it was not his but he would not name the owner.

"The fact is," Mr Aylett continued. "The boy had that knife with him.

"Why have that knife? He had it in his rucksack with the styling mousse, toothbrushes and letters from Inland Revenue."

'You are going to end up dead because of that kid'

CCTV of three accused killers in cafe before Jodie Chesney stabbing

Referring to evidence given by Jodie Chesney's cousin, Liam Chesney, Crispin Aylett QC said the jury were told that he felt it was "out of character" to be arrested for the 17-year-old girl's murder.

Mr Chesney did say he knew Mr Petrovic was with Svenson Ong-a-Kwie - and Mr Aylett pointed to CCTV evidence which showed the two and the 16-year-old boy in a cafe.

"Perhaps they admired each other?" he told the court.

Mr Aylett said another person, Gemma Gray - who visited Mr Petrovic in Belmarsh Prison - took a different point of view from Mr Chesney.

"Gemma Gray, you may recall," Mr Aylett said. "She said in a transcript that he was 'going to go to jail because of that kid or end up dead'."

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'You decide whether the 16-year-old was out of control'

Julia Quenzler

Crispin Aylett QC has now moved to talk about the previous convictions of the defendants - starting with the youngest of the accused killers, the 16-year-old boy.

Although the boy has no previous convictions for offences of violence, he did once "set fire to a bus seat" when he was 12 and ran drugs, including cannabis and cocaine, for "quite some time", Mr Aylett told the court.

"He hung around Manuel Petrovic - someone four years older than him.

"He was involved in the cleaning of the car on 2 March it must have been an attempt to disguise those involved [in Jodie Chesney's murder].

"On the 5 March, when Manuel was arrested in Leicester, he had an appointment with his mother to be readmitted to school."

Mr Aylett said the jury would have to consider whether the boy was "out of control".

BBC

'Sorry you've been exposed to these grim realities'

Julia Quenzler

Just because the defendants are drug dealers it "does not make them murderers", but violence does occur in their world, Crispin Aylett QC has told the court.

The prosecutor made reference to a separate incident on 6 September, 2018, where Svenson Ong-a-Kwie and the 17-year-old defendant were present in the attack on another teenager who was stabbed in the neck, chest and arm.

"You may think this is not a very nice world in which the defendants operate in," he told the jury.

Mr Aylett continued: "The idea of drug dealing as work - or in Tom Giles-Wyatt's case - burglary as work and money paid to runners as wages are perhaps that you would use in an altogether more respectable and appropriate context.

"If this case has given you a glimpse of a world you knew little, and perhaps even understand less, then i am sorry you have been exposed to these grim realities."

'Temptations in the drug world are obvious'

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Crispin Aylett QC said each of the four defendants lived in a world where large amounts of money were easy to come by.

He added: "Those concerned are trying to protect their corners of a market and in turn move into someone else's.

"Temptations are obvious.

"No one hands over these valuable drugs phones, so weapons are carried. Knives and bats.

"All of this drug dealing is illegal, so anyone who has a grievance - maybe moving in on their trade or stealing from a runner - these people are not going to go to police.

"The prosecution says these drug dealers take matters into their own hands."

'All four accused come from broken family homes'

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After the last of the agreed facts were placed into the jury bundle, Crispin Aylett QC said they have "reached the end of the evidence".

"You must put to one side in your deliberations any feelings of sympathy towards this case," he told the jury.

"Jodie, a fine young girl, a victim of a brutal act of unprovoked violence. Her family and friends are left to mourn her loss.

"You may have sympathy for one or more of the defendants. A murder trial is a sad nature of affairs.

"All four are from single parent families or broken homes.

"All four of them have drifted into a life of crime whether stealing motorbikes or drug dealing."

Jury in and closing speeches begin

The panel of 12 jurors are now back in court and Crispin Aylett QC is starting his closing speech.

He begins by telling the jury they have listened to an "extraordinary amount of evidence in the trial" so far.

He says he is going to break his speech into four parts.