Teenager guilty of murdering 17-year-old before pushing him into canal in West London

A teenager has been found guilty of murdering a 17-year-old in the middle of the day before pushing him into a canal in west London. Victor Lee was stabbed twice in the back and once in the chest on the towpath of the Grand Union Canal, near Wormwood Scrubs Park, on June 25 last year. Elijah Gokool-Mely, 18, was convicted of the murder after a jury at the Old Bailey deliberated for more than 16 hours. Jurors also found him guilty of robbing the victim of his bike and rucksack. A 16-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy were each charged with murder and robbery but they were both acquitted of both counts on Monday. Two men living on houseboats on the other side of the water were able to haul Victor out on to the bank but he bled to death within minutes. The trial heard Victor had bought knives and a crossbow on the internet in the months before his death and had been selling them on for a profit. The prosecution told jurors during the trial that Victor appears to have met up with the three defendants at the towpath at around 3.30pm and sold them a crossbow. It was said the same group then met for a second time at the same location at around 5.30pm, after Victor was asked if he had any knives to sell, which is when the attack occurred.

There were no witnesses to the killing but one witness saw the tallest of the three boys – Gokool-Mely – pushing Victor into the canal, the court heard. Gokool-Mely will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on July 19. Detective Chief Inspector Brian Howie, the senior investigating Metropolitan Police officer, said: “Victor was a young man who was not directly involved with gangs or criminality – he had an interest in buying, fixing and selling bikes. He had energy and drive but sadly not enough wisdom. His family have told me that he had an inability to properly assess situations, people or threats. “When Victor crossed paths with the defendant, he took advantage of him and ultimately subjected him to a sudden, unprovoked and shockingly violent assault. “Having worked so intensely on this case – speaking to Victor’s family and thinking about his life and tragic death – it will forever be a source of regret to me that this vulnerable but independent young man was able to buy weapons online simply by altering the date of birth in his passport. “Having previously purchased knives, Victor brought a crossbow online in the days before he was killed, and seems to have sold this to his killer at around 3pm on the day of his murder. He was robbed and murdered when seeking to sell knives to him later that day. “Apparently unable to grasp the devastating consequences of his actions, he probably regarded this as an interesting scheme to make some money. But, having met his killer after arranging to sell the weapons via Snapchat, this scheme sparked the events which cost him his life. “Victor had his life ahead of him and his family have been torn apart by what happened to him. They are understandably still struggling to come to terms with his murder, and the events that led to his death at such a young age. My thoughts are with them today, and I can only hope that today’s conviction can bring them some small measure of comfort.”

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