‘A wall of fear’: Ex-detectives reveal why some murder cases are never solved
The mother of a teenager who was shot dead in the street says her hopes are fading that her son’s killer will ever be caught – and believes police have “prioritised” other murder cases.
Cherie Nedd told Sky News that her 18-year-old son Ethan Nedd-Bruce “was just coming home” when he was attacked outside a fried chicken shop in southeast London almost three years ago.
Two men arrested on suspicion of murder were later released under investigation – and Ms Nedd has voiced frustration at the “wall of silence” surrounding Ethan’s death.
It is nearly three years since Ethan Nedd-Bruce was shot dead in Greenwich, southeast London. Pic: Cherie Nedd
It comes as the brother of a 20-year-old man who was fatally shot in west London voiced fears that his killer may strike again.
No one has been charged over the murder of Alexander Kareem who was gunned down in June last year, in what police believe was a case of mistaken identity.
While the Metropolitan Police are actively investigating both unconnected killings, two former detectives have spoken to Sky News about the problems that can arise in murder investigations that mean some culprits never face justice.
• The unsolved murder of Ethan Nedd-Bruce
Ethan was shot dead in October 2018 but no one has been charged with murder. Pic: Cherie Nedd
As she prepares to mark the third anniversary of Ethan’s death, Ms Nedd remembers the moment police informed her that her son had been shot dead.
“It felt like the blood had left my body,” she tells Sky News.
“My knees went weak and I fell to the floor. I was in absolute shock.”
Nearly three years on, Ms Nedd says there has been “no progress” in the investigation.
“For us, it’s been a really painful time,” she says. “I live with that pain every day.
“I feel other cases are prioritised over it.
“There are other murders being solved after Ethan.
“The hope is diminishing.”
Cherie Nedd says she lives with ‘pain every day’ over her son’s murder: Pic: Cherie Nedd
• ‘Young black boys in London – nobody sees their lives as important’
Ethan was killed in Greenwich on 22 October 2018 after he was involved in an altercation with a gang of men who then chased him on a motorbike and in a silver Ford Kuga car.
The Met Police described the shooting as a “targeted attack linked to a number of other incidents in the area between two criminal groups”.
However Ms Nedd insists her son was in the “wrong place, at the wrong time”, having recently moved to the area from north London.
She says there was “no retaliation” after he was killed which proves he was not involved in gangs.
Two men, aged 24 and 34, were arrested on suspicion of murder last year but were later released under investigation.
Meanwhile, police have confirmed that a potential key witness whose image they released last year has not yet been tracked down.
Police released this image of a potential key witness last year but he has yet to be tracked down. Pic: Met Police
A £20,000 reward is now on offer for information that leads to the conviction of Ethan’s killer.
Ms Nedd says she was told by police there were “no further updates” when she last received information on the progress of the investigation six weeks ago.
“It’s completely frustrating because I know somebody knows something,” she adds.
“More has to be done to get that information and break that wall of silence.”
Ms Nedd says the murder of Sarah Everard in March was quickly solved “and a lot of people got behind that”.
“I don’t see that support for other victims when they’re of a particular demographic, which is really sad,” she adds.
Ms Nedd says she has faced a ‘wall of silence’ over Ethan’s murder: Pic: Cherie Nedd
“Young black boys in London – nobody sees their lives as important.
“It tends to be the cases of young black boys, sadly, where the perpetrators are not found.
“Why is that? That’s the question we have to ask.
“People are not up in arms about it.”
• The unsolved murder of Alexander Kareem
Alexander Kareem was murdered as he made his way to a friend’s house in Shepherd’s Bush on 8 June 2020.
It is thought a white Range Rover drove past the 20-year-old and shots were fired from it, with the vehicle later found burned out in Ealing, west London.
Alexander Kareem was shot dead in west London in June 2020
Alexander’s sister Khafi (left) and mother Victoria during his burial in July
Nine people – including a 16-year-old boy – were arrested over the murder but five were released under investigation and four were freed with no further action.
Alexander’s brother Kabir has now voiced concerns that his brother’s killer remains at large and could murder someone else.
“We need people to come forward,” he tells Sky News.
“There’s a sense of frustration and anger knowing somebody could do that and they’re still out there.
“At the same time, there’s worry that they could do it to someone else.
No one has been charged over Alexander’s murder
“My brother wasn’t the intended target. That just means the target is still out there. They’ll probably go out there to try to kill someone else.
“It’s frustrating and it makes me angry, in a personal sense, as I want justice for my brother.
“You also know there’s someone out there who is willing and able to commit dangerous crimes.”
Mr Kareem says it is “in the back of my mind” that he may unwittingly come into contact with his brother’s killer.
“Because the case has been online and on TV, they’ll probably know who I am – but I won’t know who they are,” he says.
“I’m not going to live my life worried I might bump into people.”
Alexander’s family say the want ‘justice’ over his murder. Pic: Kabir Kareem
More than a year after his brother’s death, Mr Kareem says he is still “hopeful” that the killer will be caught.
“Whether that will happen is a whole different story,” he adds.
• How can murders go unsolved?
Former Met Police detective Clive Driscoll, who worked as a senior investigator on the Stephen Lawrence case, says a high proportion of murder cases are solved but they can falter for “a variety of reasons”.
“It could be that witnesses are scared to come forward,” the former detective chief inspector tells Sky News.
“I remember in one of my cases they said it was ‘a wall of silence’. It was never a wall of silence, it was a wall of fear.
“People were scared to come forward.”
Mr Driscoll says cases may involve a lack of CCTV evidence or there could be poor quality footage that means officers cannot identify suspects.
Alexander Kareem was shot dead in Shepherd’s Bush, west London
Meanwhile, a case where the murder weapon is not recovered means forensic evidence is missing, he adds.
“There are many, many reasons why a murder investigation might stall,” Mr Driscoll says.
“Gun crime can be difficult purely because of the fear factor.
“Usually gun crime is connected to serious organised crime. The witnesses could be reluctant to become involved.”
• Which murders are more likely to go unsolved?
Stuart Gibbon, a former Met detective, says police never “completely” close an unsolved murder case and it gets “periodically reviewed”.
He tells Sky News: “There are actually quite a lot of unsolved cases out there – not so many murders, but unsolved cases where police go through all their lines of inquiry and draw a blank for one reason or another.
“The longer it goes on without being able to identify those responsible, the harder it becomes and the less likelihood there is that you are going to be detected.”
Mr Gibbon says CCTV evidence alone is often not enough to arrest and charge murder suspects.
“Unless you can identify those people or tie it in with other evidence, on its own it’s not always enough,” the former senior investigating officer adds.
“It’s fair to say anything that involves gangs – where a group of people have been involved and the community knows what happened… but for one reason or another, they are not willing to share that with the police – they are the most challenging.”
However Mr Gibbon believes it is more difficult than ever before for criminals to get away with murder.
“The rate now is higher than it’s ever been in terms of arrests, detention and I would say convictions as well,” he says.
“The investigations are generally very, very thorough.
“If you can find the motive, then the person responsible often comes off the back of that.”
• What have the Metropolitan Police said?
In relation to Ethan’s murder, Detective Chief Inspector Richard Leonard, who is leading the investigation, said: “Our thoughts continue to remain with Ethan’s family who we know are heartbroken following the loss of their son.
“We understand that they need answers and we too are still searching for the truth as to what happened on the evening of 22 October 2018.
“We have not given up – this remains an active murder investigation and we would again ask anyone who may be able to assist us to come forward.”
The Met Police told Sky News it is currently actively investigating 280 murders dating back to 1974.
A further 245 cases of homicide – meaning murders or manslaughters – remain open but inactive because all reasonable current lines of inquiry have been investigated, the force added.
“We never close a murder investigation and will review any new information received in relation to these,” a Met Police spokeswoman said.
Last year, the force said it investigated 126 homicides and charges were brought in 121 of those cases.
“Our specialist teams continue to investigate the five remaining cases,” the spokeswoman added.
A woman who is under police investigation after assisting the suicide of her husband at Dignitas in Switzerland has told Sky News she has no regrets.
Louise Shackleton has spoken publicly for the first time since her husband’s death in December, as parliament prepares to vote again on legislation to introduce assisted dying in England and Wales.
Mrs Shackleton surrendered herself to police after returning from Switzerland having seen her husband Anthony die. He had been suffering with motor neurone disease for six years.
“I have committed a crime, which I have admitted to, of assisting him by simply pushing him on to a plane and being with him, which I don’t regret for one moment. He was my husband and I loved him,” she said.
“We talked at length over two years about this. What he said to me on many occasions is ‘look at my options, look at what my options are. I can either go there and I can die peacefully, with grace, without pain, without suffering or I could be laid in a bed not being able to move, not even being able to look at anything unless you move my head’.
“He didn’t have options. What he wanted was nothing more than a good death.”
The law in the UK prohibits people from assisting in the suicide of others, but prosecutions have been rare.
Louise Shackleton has spoken publicly for the first time since her husband Anthony’s death
In a statement, a North Yorkshire Police spokesman told Sky News: “The investigation is ongoing. There is nothing further to add at this stage.”
The next vote on the assisted dying bill for England and Wales has been delayed by three weeks to give MPs time to consider amendments.
The legislation would permit a person who is terminally ill with less than six months to live to legally end their life after approval by two doctors and an expert panel.
‘He was at total peace with his decision’
Mrs Shackleton says she saw her husband “physically and mentally” relax once on the flight to Switzerland.
She said: “We had the most wonderful four days.
“He was laughing. He was at total peace with his decision.
“It was in those four days that I realised that he wanted the peaceful death more than he wanted to suffer and stay with me, which was hard, but that’s how resolute he was in having this peace.
“I was his wife, we’d been together 25 years, we’d known each other since we were 18. I couldn’t do anything else but help him.”
‘We need to safeguard people’
She said the hardest part of the journey came after her husband’s death.
“There was this panic and this fear that I was leaving him,” she said. “That was a horrific experience.
“If the law had changed in this country, I would have been with family, family would have been with us, family would’ve been with him. But as it was, that couldn’t happen.”
Opponents to the assisted dying bill have raised concerns about the safety of vulnerable people and the risk of coercion and a change in attitudes toward the elderly, seriously ill and disabled.
They say improvements to palliative care should be a priority.
“I think that we need to safeguard people,” said Mrs Shackleton. “I think that sometimes we need to suffer other people’s choices, and when I mean suffer I mean we have to acknowledge that whilst we’re not comfortable with those, that we need to respect other people, other people wishes.”
Read more:
Assisted dying: What is in the legislation?
Debate over assisted dying delayed
Anthony, who died aged 59, was a furniture restorer who had earned worldwide recognition for making rocking horses.
“I think the measure of the man is that nobody has ever said a bad word about him in the whole of his life because he was just so caring and giving,” his widow said.
‘This is about a dying person’s choice’
She said she had chosen to speak publicly because of a promise she had made him.
“I felt that my husband’s journey shouldn’t be in vain. We discussed this on our last day and my husband made me promise to tell his story.
“He told me to fight and the simple thing that I’m fighting for is people to have the choice.
“This is about a dying person’s choice to either follow their journey through with disease or to die peacefully when they want to, on their terms, and have a good death. It’s that simple.”
UK
Feminists ‘feel braver about speaking out’ after gender ruling – but critics say it ‘stokes culture war’
A former Labour MP who quit the party over Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership has welcomed the landmark Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman as a “victory for feminists”.
Rosie Duffield, now the independent MP for Canterbury, said the judgment helped resolve the “lack of clarity” that has existed in the politics around the issue “for years”.
She was speaking to Ali Fortescue on the Politics Hub on the same day the UK’s highest court delivered its verdict on one of the most contentious debates in politics.
Politics latest: MPs respond to Supreme Court ruling on gender
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How do you define a woman in law?
The judges were asked to rule on how “sex” is defined in the 2010 Equality Act – whether that means biological sex or “certificated” sex, as legally defined by the 2004 Gender Recognition Act.
Their unanimous decision was that the definition of a “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 refers to “a biological woman and biological sex”.
Asked what she made about comments by fellow independent MP John McDonnell – who said the court “failed to hear the voice of a single trans person” and that the decision “lacked humanity and fairness” as a result, she said: “This ruling doesn’t affect trans people in the slightest.
“It’s about women’s rights – women’s rights to single sex spaces, women’s rights, not to be discriminated against.
“It literally doesn’t change a single thing for trans rights and that lack of understanding from a senior politician about the law is a bit worrying, actually.”
However, Maggie Chapman, a Scottish Green MSP, disagreed with Ms Duffield and said she was “concerned” about the impact the ruling would have on trans people “and for the services and facilities they have been using and have had access to for decades now”.
Susan Smith and Marion Calder, directors of For Women Scotland celebrate after the ruling. Pic: Reuters
“One of the grave concerns that we have with this ruling is that it will embolden people to challenge trans people who have every right to access services,” she said.
“We know that over the last few years… their [trans people’s] lives have become increasingly difficult, they have been blocked from accessing services they need.”
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‘Today’s ruling only stokes the culture war further’
Delivering the ruling at the London court on Wednesday, Lord Hodge said: “But we counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another. It is not.
Campaigners celebrate outside the Supreme Court. Pic: PA
“The Equality Act 2010 gives transgender people protection, not only against discrimination through the protected characteristic of gender reassignment, but also against direct discrimination, indirect discrimination and harassment in substance in their acquired gender.
“This is the application of the principle of discrimination by association. Those statutory protections are available to transgender people, whether or not they possess a gender recognition certificate.”
Read more:
Supreme Court decision has immediate real-world consequences
Prisons across England and Wales now 98.9% full
Asked whether she believed the judgment could “draw a line” under the culture war, Ms Chapman told Fortescue: “Today’s judgment only stokes that culture war further.”
And she said that while Lord Hodge was correct to say there were protections in law for trans people in the 2020 Equality Act, the judgment “doesn’t prevent things happening”.
“It may offer protections once bad things have happened, once harassment, once discrimination, once bigotry, once assaults have happened,” she said.
She also warned some groups “aren’t going to be satisfied with today’s ruling”.
“We know that there are individuals and there are groups who actually want to roll back even further – they want to get rid of the Gender Recognition Act from 2004,” she said.
“I think today’s ruling just emboldens those views.”
Arsenal have reached the semi-finals of the Champions League after a dramatic victory over holders Real Madrid in Spain.
The north London side, who became the first English team to win twice at the Bernabeu following their triumph there 19 years ago, will face Paris Saint-Germain in the last four after the French side beat Aston Villa on Tuesday.
It is the third time the Gunners have made it through to the semis of the top club football tournament in Europe, and the first since 2009.
Arsenal went into the second leg of their quarter-final clash on Wednesday with a 3-0 lead.
Backed by a raucous home crowd, Madrid tried to get off to a strong start and Kylian Mbappe scored after two minutes. However, the goal was disallowed for a clear offside.
Arsenal had the chance to go ahead in the 13th minute but winger Bukayo Saka missed a penalty.
The Spanish hosts were awarded a penalty of their own about 10 minutes later when Mbappe stumbled under pressure from Declan Rice in the box – but the decision was overturned by VAR.
Saka atoned for his tepid penalty as he chipped the ball past Madrid’s keeper Thibaut Courtois when put through on goal by auxiliary striker Mikel Merino in the 65th minute.
But Arsenal were pegged back just two minutes later as Vinicius Junior caught William Saliba dawdling on the ball and fired Real Madrid level.
Arsenal’s resolute defending kept the home side at bay until Gabriel Martinelli made a late break through the home side’s defence to put his side 2-1 ahead three minutes into injury time, as the Gunners made it 5-1 on aggregate.
(L-R) Arsenal’s Declan Rice and Mikel Merino celebrate after the defeat against Real Madrid. Pic: AP
‘We knew we were going to win’, says Rice
Arsenal midfielder Declan Rice has insisted his team are intent on winning the Champions League after their victory in Madrid.
Speaking to TNT Sport, Rice, who was named player of the match, said: “It’s such a special night, a historic one for the club. We have the objective of playing the best and winning the competition.
“We had so much belief and confidence from that first leg and came here to win the game. We knew we were going to suffer but we knew we were going to win. We had it in our minds, then we did it [in] real life. What a night.
“I knew when I signed, this club was on an upward trajectory. It’s been tough in the Premier League but in this competition we’ve done amazingly well.
“It’s PSG next, who are an amazing team.”
‘We have to be very proud of ourselves’, says Arteta
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta told TNT Sport: “One of the best nights in my football career.
“We played against a team with the biggest history.
“To be able to win the tie in the manner we have done, I think we have to be very proud of ourselves.”
He added: “The history we have in this competition is so short. The third time in our history of what we have just done and we have to build on that. All this experience is going to help us, for sure.”
Real Madrid were seeking their third Champions League title in four seasons.
Mbappe twisted ankle
Their forward Mbappe twisted his right ankle during the game and was jeered by part of the crowd when his substitution was announced after a lacklustre performance.
The French star, who is still looking for his first Champions League title, was replaced by Brahim Diaz in the 75th minute following his injury. He was able to walk off the pitch by himself, but was limping slightly.
The other semi-final will be between Barcelona and Inter Milan.
The first legs are set to be played on 29 and 30 April, with the second legs on 6 and 7 May.
The final will be on 31 May.
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