Bright Akinleye: two men given life sentences for murder

Bright Akinleye, 22, was stabbed three times with a large hunting knife at a flat in Euston in February last year after a "war of words."

During the onslaught he grabbed the blade and left a trail of blood as he ran 150 yards to a hotel foyer where he collapsed and died from a leg wound.

Following an Old Bailey trial, Abdoulie Ceesay, 28, of Lewisham, and Tashawn Brewster, 31, of Kennington, were found guilty of his murder.

Today they were sentenced to life imprisonment, with both to serve a minimum term of 21 years.

A third man, Oliver Petts, 30, of Bromley, who had pleaded guilty to manslaughter during the trial, was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment.

Oliver Petts

Detective Inspector Jamie Stevenson, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: “Today’s sentencing is the culmination of our investigation into the needless death of another young man.

“Our thoughts remain with Bright’s family as they continue to struggle to come to terms with him being snatched from them.

“This fatal stabbing stemmed from several people being involved in taunting on social media. I still cannot comprehend how it ended in such a violent murder.”

Mr Akinleye, a sports management graduate from Lewisham, was involved with a group of drill artists from Birmingham called 23 Drillaz.

Bright Akinleye

He later became the manager for one of the rappers, who was connected with the video shoot where he was attacked, jurors previously heard.

Prosecutor Simon Denison QC said knifeman Brewster had been recruited to help "punish" Mr Akinleye over a long-running dispute.

Mr Denison said: "Bright Akinleye had been in a long-running dispute with twin brothers from the Aylesbury estate in Southwark called Jospin and Elvis Mayamba.

"At the end of 2018 Bright had posted online a video that showed Jospin Mayamba being manhandled and disrespected by a group of people and it appears that there was a war of words between them that continued in the early part of 2019."

A few days before the murder, Mr Akinleye used Instagram to contact the twins' older brother, Chris Mayamba, who was then in jail in Nottingham.

Mr Denison told jurors: "Instead of resolving anything, they taunted each other and it ended with a threat from Chris Mayamba to Bright - 'When stuff go wrong for u or ur friends Mum just remember I said I don't do verbal'."

On the evening of February 18 last year, the twins' friend, Ceesay, and Petts had been at a studio in Deptford where the video shoot began before moving to Euston.

While in Deptford, Ceesay called Jospin Mayamba, who did not pick up.

He then called Brewster who travelled to Euston from his home in Kennington.

Brewster's DNA was later found on the handle of the knife and more DNA evidence linked him to a pair of trainers that were stained with Mr Akinleye's blood, the court heard.