Five men jailed over revenge murder of rival gang associate

Five people have been jailed for the murder of a teenager in a gang dispute.

Tavis Spencer-Aitkens died on June 2 last year after he was stabbed in gang attack in Packard Avenue, Ipswich by ‘shamed’ gang members who hid in a shop.

Now, his attackers have been jailed for a total of 104 years.

Aristote Yenge, 23, of Spring Road, Ipswich, was jailed for 25 years, Kyreis Davies, 17, of Turnstile Square, Colchester, was jailed for 21 years, Adebayo Amusa, 20, of Sovereign Road, Barking, was jailed for 23 years and Isaac Calver, 19, of Firmin Close, Ipswich, was jailed for 21 years - all of whom were convicted of murder.

Callum Plaats, 23, of Ipswich, was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment.

The gang were found guilty following a 14-week trial at Ipswich Crown Court.

During the trial, the court heard that Yenge, Davies, Calver and Plaats were all part of a group who called themselves ‘J-Block’, based around the Jubilee Park area of Ipswich, close to the western edge of the town centre.

Amusa was known to associate with ‘J-Block’ and has appeared in some music videos they recorded.

Tavis was friends with a group of males who called themselves ‘Neno’ or ‘The Three’, which is a reference to the IP3 postcode area of the Nacton Estate in south-east Ipswich from where they came.

The two groups had a heated rivalry and both posted ‘diss tracks’ on YouTube.

Earlier in the day on which Tavis was murdered, Yenge and Davies took refuge in a shop in Ipswich town centre after being spotted by two members of ‘Neno’.

The two ‘Neno’ members taunted them shouting out “IP3”, before a plain-clothes police officer heard a disturbance from out in the street, entered the shop and escorted the ‘Neno’ members out.

The ‘shame’ suffered by Yenge and Davies for running and hiding from two members of the ‘Neno’ group, is why they launched the attack.

Within a couple of hours of this incident in the town centre, Yenge and Davies rounded-up other members of J-Block - including Calver and Plaats - and also Amusa and quickly began to plot their revenge.

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Yenge, Davies, Amusa and Calver were driven in a DPD van being used by another man who bought drugs off people associated with ‘J-Block’, and all four are linked to the van by forensic evidence.

They set off in convoy with two cyclists, one of whom was Callum Plaats, and made their way across town towards the Nacton Estate seeking revenge.

On seeing Tavis walking back from the shops in Queen’s Way, they followed him into Packard Avenue where he was brutally attacked and stabbed 15 times - one of which proved to be fatal - and had a bottle smashed over his head.

The gang fled but Yenge’s jumper had been spotted and was later vital in tracing them.

The knife used was retrieved by the Met Police dive team.

Detective Chief Inspector Mike Brown, of Suffolk Police major incident team, said: “Tavis was 17 years old, still just a boy with his whole life ahead of him, and this was cut short by an utterly senseless act of violence.

“His attackers also had their whole lives ahead of them, but in taking the deliberate and calculated decision to ambush Tavis and stab him 15 times, they will now spend what should have been their own prime years locked away, making our streets a safer place.

“I hope that other young people who are lured into the dangerous world of knife crime and gang culture take note of the outcome of this case. It might be seen as glamorous by some, but let me assure you there is nothing glamorous about spending 20 years inside a prison.

“You are not free to inflict harm on other people as you see fit and without consequences. This investigation has shown our determination to pursue the people responsible for Tavis’ murder and bring them to justice.”