Ramarni Crosby: Four guilty of teenager's manslaughter

By Harriet Robinson

BBC News

Three teenagers have been found guilty of the manslaughter of a 16-year-old boy who was stabbed to death.

A fourth defendant earlier admitted the charge after Ramarni Crosby died in a gang fight in Gloucester.

Ramarni was stabbed in the skull and back after clashing with a group, some armed with machetes.

Jurors at Bristol Crown Court deliberated for more than two weeks before clearing a total of eight defendants of murder.

Ramarni, from Frampton-on-Severn, died after a feud had developed following an earlier fight outside a McDonald’s, on 15 December 2021.

The court heard some of the group were armed with knives during the clashes.

Two 16-year-olds, who cannot be named because of their age, and Levi Cameron, 18 were found guilty of Ramarni’s manslaughter.

Callum Charles-Quebella, 18, had earlier pleaded guilty to the same charge.

Det Ch Insp Mark Almond, of the Major Crime Investigation Team, said CCTV showed Ramarni’s group approaching the scene, in Stratton Road, and then running away, pursued by the defendant group.

“Ramarni was the last to run away, his escape was delayed by a matter of seconds. He was set upon by a number of the defendants,” he said.

“After he’d run a short distance, he collapsed on the street.”

He had been stabbed multiple times in the back and once in the skull.

Another four defendants, three 17-year-olds and 20-year-old Dean Smith, were cleared of manslaughter.

A ninth defendant, Keishaleigh Margrett-Whitter, 20, was cleared of two counts of assisting an offender.

The two-month trial heard that following the clash, some of the group fled in different directions.

But Cameron and the two 16-year-olds got a taxi to a nearby house, where some of them stashed their weapons.

The CCTV evidence shown in court featured three defendants outside the property, during which they acted out the stabbing, prosecutors said.

They then appeared to “celebrate” Ramarni’s death after being told he had died, prosecutors told the jury.

Fiona Lamdin, BBC West home and social affairs correspondent

After almost three weeks of deliberations over nine defendants, there was a real risk the jury could struggle to reach a verdict on all counts – and the trial could collapse.

There was relief at Bristol Crown Court when we were told that, not only were the jury ready to deliver their verdicts, but they had reached decisions on all of the defendants.

Nerves were running high.

However, the family were clearly distressed with the results. There were audible sobs and gasps as “not guilty” was read out again and again. Unable to listen to any more, they rushed out of court.

Knife crime has once again ruined young lives here in the west of England. One teenager is dead and his killers will find out how long they will spend in prison on 27 July.

Adam Vaitilingam KC, prosecuting, had told the jury that his killing was the culmination of “ongoing rivalry” between the two gangs.

“In particular, there was a fight that had taken place about a week earlier involving one of these defendants and one of Ramarni’s friends,” he said.

“That fight hadn’t settled anything – there were still grievances bubbling away between them and more violence was very much on the cards.”

The defendants were part of a gang called GL1 and would wear purple bandanas as a sign of membership, the court was told.

During investigations officers found two knives and a meat cleaver in drains nearby.

Police divers also searched the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, in the Hempsted area, as part of the inquiry.

As the verdicts were returned, people in the court’s public gallery were visibly upset, while some of the defendants burst into tears.

Those convicted are due to be sentenced on 27 July.

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