Murder of Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare

Two women, Charlene Ellis, 18, and Letisha Shakespeare, 17, were shot with a MAC-10 machine pistol, outside a hair salon in Birchfield Road, Aston, Birmingham, England, as they were leaving a party in the early hours of 2 January 2003, in a gang-related drive-by shooting.[1][2] Shakespeare and Ellis were described as "best friends" and "innocent victims".[3]

Charlene's twin sister Sophie, cousin Cheryl Shaw and a friend, Leon Harris, were also injured. Shaw was shot in the hand.[3]

The shooting, investigated by the West Midlands Police under its new Chief Constable, Paul Scott-Lee, was part of a feud between two Birmingham gangs, the "Johnson Crew" and the "Burger Bar Boys", and was in response to the murder of Yohanne Martin, a Burger Bar Boys associate.[4]

Four men were each convicted of murder and attempted murder at Leicester Crown Court in March 2005. Marcus Ellis, 24 (Charlene's half-brother), Michael Gregory, 22, and Nathan Martin, 26 (brother of Yohanne[4]), were jailed for a minimum of 35 years. Rodrigo Simms, 20, was sentenced to 27 years – the lesser figure being due to his age at the time of the shooting.[5] The trial was the first in England at which witnesses were allowed to remain anonymous.[4] In 2005, the convicted men appealed at Woolwich Crown Court but the appeal was turned down.[4] They were also refused leave to appeal to the House of Lords.[4] In 2012, Ellis, Martin and Simms appealed to the European Court of Human Rights that they had not received a fair trial. This appeal was also dismissed.[4]

The mothers of the two dead women, Marcia Shakespeare and Beverley Thomas, have since actively campaigned against gun crime and gangs.[3] They set up the 'Letisha and Charlene Education Awards', administered by the Birmingham & Black Country Community Foundation, a registered charity,[6] in 2006.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "January 2003 interview re deaths of two black girls in Aston on BBC". Breakfast with Frost. BBC. 5 January 2003. Retrieved 2008-03-26.
  2. ↑ "Thrown in at the deep end". West Midlands Police. July 21, 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 Wilson, Peter (2 January 2013). "BBC News – Letisha Shakespeare and Charlene Ellis shootings: 10 years on". BBC Online. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 McCarthy, Nick. "New Year shootings: Letisha Shakespeare's mother reveals her living nightmare". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  5. ↑ "Four jailed for New Year killings". BBC Online. 21 March 2005. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
  6. ↑ Charity Commission. Birmingham & Black Country Community Foundation, registered charity no. 1048162.

Coordinates: 52°30′28″N 1°54′09″W / 52.50767°N 1.90253°W / 52.50767; -1.90253

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