A drill rapper who bragged about gang culture in his songs before stabbing to death a teenager with a machete in a moped ambush has been jailed for life.
Joel Amade, 19, admitted he was entrenched in the gang lifestyle “to the fullest” when he carried out the fatal attack on 18-year-old Jason Isaacs, chasing him down an alleyway before stabbing him repeatedly.
He and three accomplices had spent almost 30 minutes scouring the streets of Northolt looking for their target, pouncing on Mr Isaacs as he walked along the road with friends.
The Old Bailey heard Amade had been involved in gangs and drug dealing since 2016, and was in the midst of a feud between rival groups in South Harrow and Northolt when he murdered Mr Isaacs on November 18, 2017.
Sentencing him to a minimum of 20 years in prison on Tuesday, Judge Mark Dennis QC said the stabbing was a “senseless waste of life that accompanies the swell of knife crime across urban communities, affecting everyone”.
“You know this was a shocking and dreadful display of violence”, he told Amade.
“What you did on that fateful night cannot be put down to immaturity, but is rather down to your lifestyle choice.
“You were mature enough and intelligent enough to know full well the risks involved in making that choice.
“It is apparent from your own lyrics you appreciated how destructive to someone’s life violence can be, whether the victim or the offender subsequently called to account.”
Mr Isaac’s father Steve earlier told Amade he would now be left behind by his gang associates and urged him to reveal who else had been involved in the murder.
“This is real life, not Call of Duty," he said. “I hope you, Joel, come to your senses and bring justice to others involved in this vile attack. Why are you just taking the rap for it?”
He said violence from postcode rivalries is “absolutely nuts”, adding: “Your gang will forget about you in an instant while you are in prison.”
Mr Isaacs’ mother, Sharon Kendall, told the court her son, once scouted by QPR and training to be a carpenter, had said to her “I love you mum” as he went out the night he was stabbed.
“Little did I now this would be the last of the goodbyes, I will cherish that forever”, she said, adding that “a piece of me died” when her son passed away in hospital.
“What you did that night was forever unforgivable”, she told Amade.
The court heard Amade was one of four moped riders who headed to Northolt armed with knives and in search of violence, scouring the streets before coming across Mr Isaacs and friends.
He had travelled across London to join the attack, having been moved out of north west London and into care accommodation a month earlier to try to steer him away from gang activity.
Amade was also on bail at the time over another incident where he was accused of brandishing a knife, and later conceded he habitually carried weapons when in public.
In a probation interview after he was convicted, Amade admitted he was “in jail because of what I chose to do”, and that he had been entrenched in gangs and “living that lifestyle to the fullest”.
He also conceded that the prison sentence “may well have save my life”, and if freed he would likely go straight back to the life of gangs and violence.
Amade, of Ilford, denied murder at trial, but was caught out by CCTV of the attack as one of his accomplices called out his nickname “Jo Jo”. He was convicted by a jury last month.
He will serve 20 years behind bars before being considered for release.
