Two teenagers who 'jumped for joy' after being part of a gang that knifed a 16-year-old trainee electrician to death can today be pictured for the first time.
Shai Howes and Oisin Barrett were both just 15 when they killed Ramarni Crosby in Gloucester in December 2021.
Ramarni was stabbed to death after being confronted by a gang of youths armed with a machete, meat cleaver and knives.
Court orders had prevented the two teenagers being publicly identified but the restrictions were lifted following an application by the media after they were sentenced for manslaughter at Bristol Crown Court.
Howes was sentenced to eight years and nine months' detention while Barrett received a seven-and-a-half-year sentence.
The pair, who are now both 16, were convicted alongside Levi Cameron, 19, of killing Ramarni.
Callum Charles-Quebella, 18, had previously admitted manslaughter.
The four, who were all acquitted of murder, were part of the gang that attacked the trainee electrician but did not inflict the fatal blows.
CCTV footage taken from properties in the Barton area of the city shows Ramarni and his four friends running away but the teenager then slowing and collapsing in Stratton Road where he died a short time later.
During the trial the court heard the build-up and aftermath of the attack was captured on CCTV cameras from nearby houses but not the stabbing itself.
The court heard the defendants were part of a gang called GL1 and would wear purple bandanas as a sign of membership and there was an ongoing rivalry with friends of Ramarni.
Ramarni, who was unarmed, punched one of the gang before he was set upon by 'ferocious animals' and stabbed several times.
After the fatal attack, Cameron, Howes and Barrett fled the scene and got a taxi to a nearby house where CCTV cameras showed them acting out the incident - with their arms held up and moving downwards in stabbing motions.
They then 'celebrated' the teenager's death after being told he had died - with Cameron 'jumping for joy'.
Cameron, who was armed with a machete, received a 15-and-a-half-year sentence comprising of 12-and-a-half-years' detention and an extended three-year licence period.
Charles-Quebella, who was 'right in the forefront of the attack' armed with a meat cleaver, was given an 11-and-a-half-year sentence comprising of eight-and-a-half-years' detention and an extended three-year licence period.
-- Edited by Digger on Friday 28th of July 2023 03:37:09 PM
Anonymous said
Jul 28 3:56 PM, 2023
Digger wrote:
Two teenagers who 'jumped for joy' after being part of a gang that knifed a 16-year-old trainee electrician to death can today be pictured for the first time.
Shai Howes and Oisin Barrett were both just 15 when they killed Ramarni Crosby in Gloucester in December 2021.
Ramarni was stabbed to death after being confronted by a gang of youths armed with a machete, meat cleaver and knives.
Court orders had prevented the two teenagers being publicly identified but the restrictions were lifted following an application by the media after they were sentenced for manslaughter at Bristol Crown Court.
Howes was sentenced to eight years and nine months' detention while Barrett received a seven-and-a-half-year sentence.
The pair, who are now both 16, were convicted alongside Levi Cameron, 19, of killing Ramarni.
Callum Charles-Quebella, 18, had previously admitted manslaughter.
The four, who were all acquitted of murder, were part of the gang that attacked the trainee electrician but did not inflict the fatal blows.
CCTV footage taken from properties in the Barton area of the city shows Ramarni and his four friends running away but the teenager then slowing and collapsing in Stratton Road where he died a short time later.
During the trial the court heard the build-up and aftermath of the attack was captured on CCTV cameras from nearby houses but not the stabbing itself.
The court heard the defendants were part of a gang called GL1 and would wear purple bandanas as a sign of membership and there was an ongoing rivalry with friends of Ramarni.
Ramarni, who was unarmed, punched one of the gang before he was set upon by 'ferocious animals' and stabbed several times.
After the fatal attack, Cameron, Howes and Barrett fled the scene and got a taxi to a nearby house where CCTV cameras showed them acting out the incident - with their arms held up and moving downwards in stabbing motions.
They then 'celebrated' the teenager's death after being told he had died - with Cameron 'jumping for joy'.
Cameron, who was armed with a machete, received a 15-and-a-half-year sentence comprising of 12-and-a-half-years' detention and an extended three-year licence period.
Charles-Quebella, who was 'right in the forefront of the attack' armed with a meat cleaver, was given an 11-and-a-half-year sentence comprising of eight-and-a-half-years' detention and an extended three-year licence period.
-- Edited by Digger on Friday 28th of July 2023 03:37:09 PM
As usual the sentences are ludicrously short for such repugnant savages.
Phil.
Maddog said
Jul 28 4:32 PM, 2023
Both.
Syl said
Jul 28 11:55 PM, 2023
They certainly acted like monsters..but they are still kids.
Digger said
Jul 29 10:01 AM, 2023
You didn't hear about kids stabbing each other years ago.
Syl said
Jul 29 11:40 AM, 2023
Digger wrote:
You didn't hear about kids stabbing each other years ago.
Mods and Rockers had a pretty good go of hurting each other.
Digger said
Jul 29 9:09 PM, 2023
Syl wrote:
Digger wrote:
You didn't hear about kids stabbing each other years ago.
Mods and Rockers had a pretty good go of hurting each other.
They weren't really children though, were they?
Syl said
Jul 30 12:16 AM, 2023
Digger wrote:
Syl wrote:
Digger wrote:
You didn't hear about kids stabbing each other years ago.
Mods and Rockers had a pretty good go of hurting each other.
They weren't really children though, were they?
The two 15 year old were with a 17 and an 18 year old, not young kids really.
I think some teens have always gravitated towards violence...Teddy boys, mods and rockers, punks etc.
Unfortunately, knives seem to be the weapon of choice nowadays, with drastic consequences.
jackthelad said
Jul 30 12:40 AM, 2023
In the 50's the teddy boys at least here in the UK gravitated to the Italian stiletto switch blade otherwise known as the flick knife.
After WW2 it was being mass manufactured and imported into the USA and UK primarily but just about all of the western world to some degree or other.
For the Teds it was a must have item on the streets to be seen as... the leader of the gang or at least to have tough guy street cred.
After the backlash from the law and the public the knuckle duster made a big popular comeback.
Maddog said
Jul 30 12:48 AM, 2023
Generally speaking, juveniles in the US were committing less violent crime than generations before them. Covid sort of derailed some of that progress because it allowed for them to stay home and stay "safe".
We all know that being in school and supervised, keeps kids out of trouble.
The reason a lot of things seem worse is human nature. We feel nostalgia for the good old days, that really weren't always better.
Secondly, every horrific thing that happens gets magnified by the internet, social media and the 24 hour news cycle.
We can scroll for 20 minutes and see more information about man's inhumanity than we could glean in hours of reading and watching the news 40 years ago. And we didn't have a hours a day, so many of the headlines we see today, would never have been seen 40 years ago..
jackthelad said
Jul 30 2:07 AM, 2023
Liverpool's Peaky Blinders: The High Rip gang who terrorised the streets with belt buckle beatings
It has been suggested some members had ties to Jack the Ripper
Now that hit BBC show Peaky Blinders has come to an end, people maybe missing their weekly fix of the drama based on the real life history of the ganags who controlled streets across Britain.
While the Peaky Blinders were taking over Birmingham, Liverpool was being terrorised by ruthless group of violent men known as The High Rip. Armed with heavy belt buckles, and knives, their crimes were characterised by bloody beatings and abuse.
They targeted dockers and sailors who came into the busy city port and it was even suggested that some of its most dangerous members had links to the most notorious Victorian murderer Jack the Ripper. The author of 'The Gangs of Liverpool: From the Cornermen to the High Rip - The Mobs That Terrorised a City' and 'More Gangs of Liverpool: 1890 -1970 Tearaways'
"The High Rip were often portrayed as having some level of organisation, which they used to plan criminal activities. However, one of the most terrifying features of the gang was their willingness to engage in random acts of violence.
"There was often no attempt at theft. It seems that nobody could innocently walk past them without falling prey to some sort of abuse or violence."
When did the High Rip emerge?
As with many cities at the time, Liverpool was subject to extreme poverty and unemployment creating many slum streets which bred crime and violence. Following from The Cornermen - a gang who were known for targeting their victims on street corners - in the mid 1880s the High Rip took over the streets.
It followed the Blackstone Street Murder - the first major crime attributed to the gang. In January 1884 a gang of five young men aged between 18 and 20 set on two Spanish sailors.
They were badly beaten with belts and as they tried to flee the clutches of the High Rip they darted in different directions. Exequiel Rodriguez Nuniez was caught by the gang as they shouted "Knives, boys, knives!", a court report from the time said he died bleeding out after being slashed in the neck.
After dozens of eyewitness statements in court, a jury found 18-year-olds Michael M'Lean and Patrick Duggan guilty of wilful murder and they were both sentenced to death by hanging at Kirkdale jail.
What did they wear?
Gang members were smart dressers, with tight-fitting jackets and bell-bottomed trousers - not unlike the Peaky Blinders. A quiff of hair would protrude from underneath a ‘bucko’ cap - a hat similar to a flat cap but gathered at the top - set at a jaunty angle.
This was all worn with the thick leather belts used in many of their criminal activities.
Where did they operate?
As gang members liked to pray on dockers wandering alone, the High Rip were drawn mainly from the area around Portland Street, off Vauxhall Road. These streets were often the backdrops for brutal showdowns with the gang's sworn enemies the Logwood Gang.
This rival horde of thugs, consisting mainly of dockers armed with wooden batons, would later be partly attributed with the demise of the High Rip.
Their crimes
In his book Tearaways, Michael Macilwee speaks of incidents of babies being punched in the face, shopkeepers robbed and many assaults across North Liverpool. In one incident a man had bumped into a member of the High Rip accidentally and was slashed from forehead to ear on Scotland Road.
He also talks of Bernard McCall who after serving his time in prison, and receiving 40 lashes - something many members wore as a badge of honour on their maimed skin - he went back to stay with his parents in Bootle. Fresh from jail, in a row over beer, he beat his parents to an inch of their lives, while his father escaped long enough to get help, McCall threatened to "roast" his mother before repeatedly banging her head into the wall.
The High Rip were notorious for huge riots that police at the time were terrified to break up. One on Great Homer Street involving 2,000 thugs was left unchecked for more than half an hour.
The Logwood Gang were a group of dockers who fought back with wooden batons and encouraged others to walk around in large gangs. Clashes with them were costly for the High Rip, especially when coupled with a fearless judge Justice Day who began sentencing members to flogging before and after prison.
And on the streets a police officer known as 'Pins' played a pivotal role in turning around the fearsome reputation of the High Rip. Pins was a tough officer who use some unorthodox methods on gang members, he reportedly said: "I grabs 'em, I pins 'em against the wall and I slaps 'em."
They shipped in special hanging judges which resulted in some peace for the city.
Maddog said
Jul 30 3:01 AM, 2023
jackthelad wrote:
They shipped in special hanging judges which resulted in some peace for the city.
And to think, yall were more civilized than the Scots or Irish. 😉
Syl said
Jul 30 12:01 PM, 2023
Maddog wrote:
jackthelad wrote:
They shipped in special hanging judges which resulted in some peace for the city.
And to think, yall were more civilized than the Scots or Irish. 😉
I think it's a lot safer out on the streets nowadays than it was in days gone by.
Like has been said...modern day technology which brainwashes people, gives a false image of modern day life.
Digger said
Jul 30 7:18 PM, 2023
jackthelad wrote:
They shipped in special hanging judges which resulted in some peace for the city.
I recently read a book about Victorian gang culture, and things improved when society gave the poorer people who exclusively formed these gangs, some hope for the future. It was, and probably always will be, fuelled partly by poverty. But in this day and age it's as though we've got a whole generation born without souls.
Syl said
Jul 30 7:30 PM, 2023
Digger wrote:
jackthelad wrote:
They shipped in special hanging judges which resulted in some peace for the city.
I recently read a book about Victorian gang culture, and things improved when society gave the poorer people who exclusively formed these gangs, some hope for the future. It was, and probably always will be, fuelled partly by poverty. But in this day and age it's as though we've got a whole generation born without souls.
For every soulless thug we read about, there are thousands of good kids, look around at the ones you know...they just don't make the headlines.
Digger said
Jul 30 7:40 PM, 2023
Syl wrote:
Digger wrote:
jackthelad wrote:
They shipped in special hanging judges which resulted in some peace for the city.
I recently read a book about Victorian gang culture, and things improved when society gave the poorer people who exclusively formed these gangs, some hope for the future. It was, and probably always will be, fuelled partly by poverty. But in this day and age it's as though we've got a whole generation born without souls.
For every soulless thug we read about, there are thousands of good kids, look around at the ones you know...they just don't make the headlines.
Yes, of course. And that's the way it's always been. I remember my mum telling me when I was a kid. "The Light always prevails in the end."
Syl said
Jul 31 9:59 AM, 2023
I'm sure your mum was right...maybe we won't live to see it though.
Society seems to be going through very strange times at the moment.
Digger said
Aug 1 3:42 PM, 2023
Syl wrote:
I'm sure your mum was right...maybe we won't live to see it though.
Society seems to be going through very strange times at the moment.
I don't think anyone over 50 will. I also believe that it's going to get a lot worse, and civil wars will take part all over Europe. Europe will be destroyed as we know it.
Syl said
Aug 1 6:15 PM, 2023
Digger wrote:
Syl wrote:
I'm sure your mum was right...maybe we won't live to see it though.
Society seems to be going through very strange times at the moment.
I don't think anyone over 50 will. I also believe that it's going to get a lot worse, and civil wars will take part all over Europe. Europe will be destroyed as we know it.
When you think of how British people are allowing themselves to be treated in their own country...I think people who lived through the first two world wars, would be devastated that they fought and died for this.
Civil wars may be coming...I doubt whether the Brits will be joining in, we are far too complacent.
Two teenagers who 'jumped for joy' after being part of a gang that knifed a 16-year-old trainee electrician to death can today be pictured for the first time.
Shai Howes and Oisin Barrett were both just 15 when they killed Ramarni Crosby in Gloucester in December 2021.
Ramarni was stabbed to death after being confronted by a gang of youths armed with a machete, meat cleaver and knives.
Court orders had prevented the two teenagers being publicly identified but the restrictions were lifted following an application by the media after they were sentenced for manslaughter at Bristol Crown Court.
Howes was sentenced to eight years and nine months' detention while Barrett received a seven-and-a-half-year sentence.
The pair, who are now both 16, were convicted alongside Levi Cameron, 19, of killing Ramarni.
Callum Charles-Quebella, 18, had previously admitted manslaughter.
The four, who were all acquitted of murder, were part of the gang that attacked the trainee electrician but did not inflict the fatal blows.
CCTV footage taken from properties in the Barton area of the city shows Ramarni and his four friends running away but the teenager then slowing and collapsing in Stratton Road where he died a short time later.
During the trial the court heard the build-up and aftermath of the attack was captured on CCTV cameras from nearby houses but not the stabbing itself.
The court heard the defendants were part of a gang called GL1 and would wear purple bandanas as a sign of membership and there was an ongoing rivalry with friends of Ramarni.
Ramarni, who was unarmed, punched one of the gang before he was set upon by 'ferocious animals' and stabbed several times.
After the fatal attack, Cameron, Howes and Barrett fled the scene and got a taxi to a nearby house where CCTV cameras showed them acting out the incident - with their arms held up and moving downwards in stabbing motions.
They then 'celebrated' the teenager's death after being told he had died - with Cameron 'jumping for joy'.
Cameron, who was armed with a machete, received a 15-and-a-half-year sentence comprising of 12-and-a-half-years' detention and an extended three-year licence period.
Charles-Quebella, who was 'right in the forefront of the attack' armed with a meat cleaver, was given an 11-and-a-half-year sentence comprising of eight-and-a-half-years' detention and an extended three-year licence period.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12348617
-- Edited by Digger on Friday 28th of July 2023 03:37:09 PM
As usual the sentences are ludicrously short for such repugnant savages.
Phil.
Mods and Rockers had a pretty good go of hurting each other.
They weren't really children though, were they?
The two 15 year old were with a 17 and an 18 year old, not young kids really.
I think some teens have always gravitated towards violence...Teddy boys, mods and rockers, punks etc.
Unfortunately, knives seem to be the weapon of choice nowadays, with drastic consequences.
After WW2 it was being mass manufactured and imported into the USA and UK primarily but just about all of the western world to some degree or other.
For the Teds it was a must have item on the streets to be seen as... the leader of the gang or at least to have tough guy street cred.
After the backlash from the law and the public the knuckle duster made a big popular comeback.
We all know that being in school and supervised, keeps kids out of trouble.
The reason a lot of things seem worse is human nature. We feel nostalgia for the good old days, that really weren't always better.
Secondly, every horrific thing that happens gets magnified by the internet, social media and the 24 hour news cycle.
We can scroll for 20 minutes and see more information about man's inhumanity than we could glean in hours of reading and watching the news 40 years ago. And we didn't have a hours a day, so many of the headlines we see today, would never have been seen 40 years ago..
Liverpool's Peaky Blinders: The High Rip gang who terrorised the streets with belt buckle beatings
It has been suggested some members had ties to Jack the Ripper
Now that hit BBC show Peaky Blinders has come to an end, people maybe missing their weekly fix of the drama based on the real life history of the ganags who controlled streets across Britain.
While the Peaky Blinders were taking over Birmingham, Liverpool was being terrorised by ruthless group of violent men known as The High Rip. Armed with heavy belt buckles, and knives, their crimes were characterised by bloody beatings and abuse.
They targeted dockers and sailors who came into the busy city port and it was even suggested that some of its most dangerous members had links to the most notorious Victorian murderer Jack the Ripper. The author of 'The Gangs of Liverpool: From the Cornermen to the High Rip - The Mobs That Terrorised a City' and 'More Gangs of Liverpool: 1890 -1970 Tearaways'
"The High Rip were often portrayed as having some level of organisation, which they used to plan criminal activities. However, one of the most terrifying features of the gang was their willingness to engage in random acts of violence.
"There was often no attempt at theft. It seems that nobody could innocently walk past them without falling prey to some sort of abuse or violence."
When did the High Rip emerge?
As with many cities at the time, Liverpool was subject to extreme poverty and unemployment creating many slum streets which bred crime and violence. Following from The Cornermen - a gang who were known for targeting their victims on street corners - in the mid 1880s the High Rip took over the streets.
It followed the Blackstone Street Murder - the first major crime attributed to the gang. In January 1884 a gang of five young men aged between 18 and 20 set on two Spanish sailors.
They were badly beaten with belts and as they tried to flee the clutches of the High Rip they darted in different directions. Exequiel Rodriguez Nuniez was caught by the gang as they shouted "Knives, boys, knives!", a court report from the time said he died bleeding out after being slashed in the neck.
After dozens of eyewitness statements in court, a jury found 18-year-olds Michael M'Lean and Patrick Duggan guilty of wilful murder and they were both sentenced to death by hanging at Kirkdale jail.
What did they wear?
Gang members were smart dressers, with tight-fitting jackets and bell-bottomed trousers - not unlike the Peaky Blinders. A quiff of hair would protrude from underneath a ‘bucko’ cap - a hat similar to a flat cap but gathered at the top - set at a jaunty angle.
This was all worn with the thick leather belts used in many of their criminal activities.
Where did they operate?
As gang members liked to pray on dockers wandering alone, the High Rip were drawn mainly from the area around Portland Street, off Vauxhall Road. These streets were often the backdrops for brutal showdowns with the gang's sworn enemies the Logwood Gang.
This rival horde of thugs, consisting mainly of dockers armed with wooden batons, would later be partly attributed with the demise of the High Rip.
Their crimes
In his book Tearaways, Michael Macilwee speaks of incidents of babies being punched in the face, shopkeepers robbed and many assaults across North Liverpool. In one incident a man had bumped into a member of the High Rip accidentally and was slashed from forehead to ear on Scotland Road.
He also talks of Bernard McCall who after serving his time in prison, and receiving 40 lashes - something many members wore as a badge of honour on their maimed skin - he went back to stay with his parents in Bootle. Fresh from jail, in a row over beer, he beat his parents to an inch of their lives, while his father escaped long enough to get help, McCall threatened to "roast" his mother before repeatedly banging her head into the wall.
The High Rip were notorious for huge riots that police at the time were terrified to break up. One on Great Homer Street involving 2,000 thugs was left unchecked for more than half an hour.
The Logwood Gang were a group of dockers who fought back with wooden batons and encouraged others to walk around in large gangs. Clashes with them were costly for the High Rip, especially when coupled with a fearless judge Justice Day who began sentencing members to flogging before and after prison.
And on the streets a police officer known as 'Pins' played a pivotal role in turning around the fearsome reputation of the High Rip. Pins was a tough officer who use some unorthodox methods on gang members, he reportedly said: "I grabs 'em, I pins 'em against the wall and I slaps 'em."
Gangs of Liverpool and More Gangs of Liverpool are available on Amazon
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpools-peaky-blinders-high-rip-23810096
And to think, yall were more civilized than the Scots or Irish. 😉
I think it's a lot safer out on the streets nowadays than it was in days gone by.
Like has been said...modern day technology which brainwashes people, gives a false image of modern day life.
I recently read a book about Victorian gang culture, and things improved when society gave the poorer people who exclusively formed these gangs, some hope for the future. It was, and probably always will be, fuelled partly by poverty. But in this day and age it's as though we've got a whole generation born without souls.
For every soulless thug we read about, there are thousands of good kids, look around at the ones you know...they just don't make the headlines.
Yes, of course. And that's the way it's always been. I remember my mum telling me when I was a kid. "The Light always prevails in the end."
Society seems to be going through very strange times at the moment.
I don't think anyone over 50 will. I also believe that it's going to get a lot worse, and civil wars will take part all over Europe. Europe will be destroyed as we know it.
When you think of how British people are allowing themselves to be treated in their own country...I think people who lived through the first two world wars, would be devastated that they fought and died for this.
Civil wars may be coming...I doubt whether the Brits will be joining in, we are far too complacent.