Two men, including one from Bromley, have been jailed for life for the murder of a 33-year-old in Croydon.

Harvey MacFoy, 26, from Beachborough Road was found guilty of murder and pleaded guilty to perverting the court of justice.

Donald Owusu, 25, was also found guilty of murder following a joint trial at the Old Bailey on May 9, 2022.

Albert Amofa was stabbed multiple times on December 15, 2019 outside his home in Drake Road.

He was taken to hospital where he died the next day.

Amofa’s family member said: “Albert’s death has predictably devastated our family and also affected us in ways that you cannot imagine.

“A mother has lost her son, a son has lost his father, siblings and cousins lost a brother; the list goes on.

“Albert’s wife is now a single parent through no choice of her own, having to navigate life without her husband to parent their son into adulthood.

“Whatever the sentences handed out today, it would never be enough to compensate for the infinite loss and pain in our lives.

“Albert’s cheeky smile along with kind and caring nature lives on his son.

“We hope that the defendants are troubled by the devastation they caused every day of their imprisonment.

“We hope they never have the opportunity to hurt anyone like this ever again, that’s the justice that Albert, and us as his family, deserve.

“We say that Black Lives Matter yet very little is being done to address black on black crime.

“We hope that this tragedy can inspire people to address the issues within their communities and prevent a loss like this from ever happening again.”

The two men had carefully the planned the attack on Amofa, who they wrongly believed would be in possession of a large amount of cannabis, even having a tracker fitted to Amofa’s car.

Detective sergeant Quinn Cutler, a homicide detective from the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Crime unit who led the investigation, said: “Our goal as an investigative team was to gain an overwhelming chain of evidence to ensure convictions and strong sentences against these callous criminals.

“We worked tirelessly to understand what happened to Albert and identify those responsible.

“In doing so two very dangerous and callous drug dealing criminals have been put behind bars.

“Our thoughts throughout this investigation have been with Albert’s loved ones who have suffered such an unimaginably sad loss.”

A third man, Theo Brown, 32, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice for his role in disposing of the car used in the attack.

He received nine months in prison.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “Two men who carried out a deadly attack in the mistaken belief that their target possessed a large quantity of drugs have been sentenced for murder at the Old Bailey.

“Donald Owusu, 25 (25.09.96), of no fixed address, received life with a minimum at 25 years on Thursday, 7 July.

“Harvey MacFoy, 26 (26.10.95), of Beachborough Road, Bromley, received life with a minimum of 21 years.

“Both had been found guilty on Monday, 9 May of the murder of 33-year-old Albert Amofa following a trial at the same court.

“MacFoy pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice at the start of the trial.

“A third man, Theo Brown, 32 (21.11.89)], of Horsham, West Sussex, was found guilty of perverting the course of justice for his role in disposing of the hire car used in the attack.

“He received nine months' imprisonment.

“Owusu and MacFoy had put a considerable amount of planning into the attack on Mr Amofa, who they believed would be in possession of a sizable quantity of cannabis.

“They had gone so far as to buy a tracker which they had earlier fitted to Amofa’s Mercedes.

“On 15 December 2019, shortly after 21:10hrs, Mr Amofa, and a female friend, arrived home, parking in Drake Road, Croydon.

“As Mr Amofa exited the car, he was rushed by two men – one of whom was Owusu (the other remains unidentified) – who pushed him back into the vehicle.

“The woman, who had already exited the car, was grabbed by MacFoy and forced into the rear of the car.

“The assailants demanded the keys to the car, which were lost during the struggle, resulting in Owusu stabbing Mr Amofa multiple times in the leg.

“Panicking, all three suspects ran from the car in the direction of Onslow Road, leaving Mr Amofa – who had rolled out of the car onto the pavement – bleeding heavily.

“The woman was unharmed.

“The emergency services conveyed Mr Amofa to hospital where he sadly died the next day.

“A murder investigation was launched by the Met’s Specialist Crime Command. Forensics Services specialists conducted a full examination of Mr Amofa’s car.

“Their blood pattern analysis and damage assessments corroborated witness accounts.

“They also discovered a tracker fitted to the car which had Owusu DNA on it.

“Viewing CCTV, Murder Squad detectives established that a Peugeot car had been used by the assailants prior to, and following, the attack.

“The registration was not clear, however, just over a week after the murder, a car-hire firm reported one of their Peugeots stolen.

“The car had been hired around a week earlier and had been paid for by the girlfriend of MacFoy.

“Analysis of the Peugeot’s tracker revealed that after being hired on 13 December 2019, the car was stationary close to an address in Bromley linked to MacFoy.

“Forensic data examination from the Peugeot was linked by detectives to CCTV from the locations they knew the car had been parked and quickly identified that Owusu and MacFoy had been regularly using this vehicle.

“More importantly, vehicle data showed the car had been driven and parked in Onslow Road, Croydon minutes before the attack on Mr Amofa and had been driven away from the area almost immediately after the suspects were seen fleeing Drake Road.

“Owusu and MacFoy were then arrested on 20 January 2020. Owusu was bailed and MacFoy returned to prison.

“Once all the evidence in the case had been gathered the defendants were rearrested and charged in December 2020.

“Forensic analysis by digital experts of various mobile phones and computers in their possession revealed they had been in regular contact with each other at key times over the days leading up to and after the murder.

“Cell site analysis of their phones placed them at significant locations, backing up evidence provided by the car data and CCTV.

“The Peugeot was found by police abandoned on a residential street in Nottingham, having been driven there by Brown (who had removed its tracker) with MacFoy travelling in convoy.

“The Met’s Forensic Services carried out a meticulous examination of the Peugeot, identifying Mr Amofa’s blood in the car, indicating that Owusu, MacFoy or both had been in the vehicle after the attack.

“Data from the tracker fitted to Mr Amofa’s car showed it was purchased from a shop in Camden on 29 November 2019.

“Data from Owusu’s and MacFoy’ mobile phones showed they were in the vicinity of the shop.

“Police also use used their phone data along with the movements of the hire car to show that the purchased tracker was driven to Onslow Road in the early hours of 13 December.

“It then became stationary having been fitted to the underside of Mr Amofa’s car.

“By tapping into the movements of Mr Amofa’s car, Owusu and MacFoy were able to precisely time their arrival in Onslow Rd to coincide with Mr Amofa’s arrival at his address.

“As Mr Amofa had been treated in hospital after the attack it was difficult for the pathologist to determine how many times he had been stabbed.

“A forensic damage assessment of Mr Amofa’s clothing assisted the pathologists in determining the number and severity of the stab wounds.”

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