Keon Lincoln: Teenagers jailed for boy’s shooting and stabbing deathon November 29, 2021 at 4:37 pm

A 14-year-old has been jailed for at least 16 years for murdering schoolboy Keon Lincoln, who was shot and stabbed outside his home.

The 15-year-old was attacked by a group of youths on Linwood Road, Handsworth, Birmingham, in January.

A judge at Birmingham Crown Court lifted restrictions on naming the 14-year-old, accused of firing the fatal shot, as Yussuf Mustapha.

Three others were also sentenced for murder.

Tahjgeem Breakenridge, 18, from Oldfield Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham and Michael Ugochukwu, 18, from Twyning Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, were both sentenced to life with a minimum term of 19 years.

A 16-year-old Walsall youth also convicted of Keon’s murder, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was ordered to be detained for at least 17 years.

Kieron Donaldson, 19, of Aston Lane, Perry Barr, was sentenced to a 12-year custodial term for Keon’s manslaughter, having supplied weapons to those involved in the killing.

Passing sentence, Lord Justice William Davis said Keon’s murder had been “carefully planned and executed” using a revolver and a stolen car.

“It’s quite clear that all who came from the car were party to the use of the gun,” the judge said.

Keon’s mother had been at home when her son was attacked.

“She heard the shots. She went out to find her son dying on the pavement. Not only has she been robbed of her son when he was only 15 but also she had to experience the trauma of watching him die,” he said.

The judge added: “When a 15-year-old boy is killed in that way the first question will be why? That question has never been answered.”

Keon’s mother Sharmaine Lincoln called the convicted teens “heartless, evil monsters”.

In a victim impact statement, she said: “I’m in a nightmare I cannot wake up from, my heart is broken without repair.

“I miss my boy so much, it physically hurts, I can only hope the day will come when the senseless murder of children will end.”

The trial heard Keon was fatally wounded outside his home in a “short and brutal” attack on 21 January.

He was repeatedly stabbed by a group who chased him after getting out of a stolen car. He was then shot in the stomach as he lay on the ground, the court was told, and died two hours later at Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

Prosecutors said a Ford S-Max, which had a false registration plate, was used. It was later involved in a crash on Wheeler Street, Birmingham, where investigators found forensic evidence including a hunting knife.

Detectives previously said it was not clear whether Keon had been specifically targeted or attacked “by chance”.

But Lord Justice Davis said the lack of clarity did “not mean that the murder of Keon was motiveless”. He said: “It simply means that neither the jury nor I have any notion of what the motive was.”

Det Insp Jim Colclough of West Midlands Police said: “The fact that they’ve gone out, and carried such weapons, and have acted for a purpose that at the moment is beyond us, I can’t comprehend.

“People of that age should not be arming themselves with weapons and going out with a view of causing either someone really serious harm or killing them.”

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