Basingstoke drugs murder: Gang 'enforcer' jailed for killing teenager

More than 1,000 people attended Taylor Williams' funeral, the judge said

A drugs gang "enforcer" has been jailed for life with a minimum of 32 years for killing a teenager from a rival gang.

Taylor Williams, 18, was stabbed in the heart at a flat in Basingstoke, Hampshire, in August 2019.

Olamide Soyege, 29, of Dagenham, east London, was previously convicted at Winchester Crown Court of murder, robbery and conspiracy to rob.

Co-defendant Paige Taylor, 24, was jailed for seven years for the robbery offences and supplying Class A drugs.

Olamide Soyege and Paige Taylor were jailed at Winchester Crown Court

Mr Williams was stabbed during a night-time raid on a flat at Kingfisher House in Shooters Way, the court heard.

The judge, Mr Justice Spencer, said Soyege was an enforcer for a London-based gang and was sent on 31 August to eliminate competition from two rival drugs groups in Basingstoke.

The defendant, of Mayswood Gardens, robbed a drugs runner in Bermuda Close Park, and then attacked a second gang at Kingfisher House, driving a knife "up to the hilt" into Mr Williams' chest, he added.

The victim was attacked at his drug gang's base in Basingstoke

Sarah Jones QC, prosecuting, read a victim impact statement from the teenager's father, describing his son's death as "a constant scream in my head".

She said the teenager's grandmother later died of a "broken heart" after saying: "Now that Taylor has gone I am barely alive."

The judge said the victim was "hugely popular", with more than 1,000 people attending his funeral.

Ms Taylor, of no fixed address, took part in the park robbery but stayed outside the flat during the second raid, the judge said.

The defendants' accomplice, Terence Maccabee, 19, suffered serious stab wounds in the confrontation at Kingfisher House, the court heard.

Maccabee, of Radnor Road, Southwark, south London, will be sentenced at a later date having previously been found guilty of manslaughter, the two robbery offences and knife possession.