A gang who ambushed and killed a 17-year-old after luring him to a south-east London park have been convicted of murder.
The killers arranged a meeting with Michael Jonas in Betts Park, Bromley, where they stabbed him to death.
Charges against six men for the murder in 2017 were initially dropped.
However, the case remained open and after fresh evidence surfaced and they were found guilty of murder at Southwark Crown Court on Monday.
Key forensic and CCTV evidence was used to bring them to justice.
The court had heard that the teenager had died at the scene after suffering multiple stab wounds after the group had considered their victim a "snitch".
Nyron Jean Baptiste and Jamie Marshall, both 22 and from Penge were two of the killers convicyed of murder.
The others were Divon Henry-Campbell, 23, from Streatham, Jason Smith, 20, from Dartford, Ryan Girense Brown, 21, from Croydon and Sarraviho Smith, 23, from Camberwell.
Detective Chief Inspector Matt Webb, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “Michael was just 17 when he was fatally stabbed in a violent, pre-planned attack. His family remain devastated by his loss and will never come to terms with what happened that night.
“This has been a long and complex investigation but we were determined to keep fighting for justice and we are pleased these men will now be off the streets of London and unable to cause further harm.”
A post-mortem gave the cause of death as stab wounds to the chest.
Detectives immediately began an investigation which including gathering a significant amount of CCTV from the park and surrounding areas while forensic evidence was also collected.
The footage showed attackers on bicycles ambushing the teenager on bicycles in an attack which lasted 120 seconds.
Meanwhile DNA from bloodstains at the scene was also found to be one billion times more likely to be from Jean-Baptiste than from an unknown and unrelated individual.
None of the group ever admitted responsibility or provided any reason for their actions however the court heard that they had believed Michael was a ‘snitch’ and so carried out their fatal attack.
By early December 2017, all six defendants had been arrested and charged.
The case was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) early the following year, but officers were determined to get justice for Michael and continued to gather further evidence.
In October 2022, CPS agreed to reinstate the original charges and the men were remanded until trial.
