Jury finds fourth man guilty of killing of Camron Smith, 16

A sixth member of a Thornton Heath drugs gang who went out “hunting as a pack” and pursued a teenager into a bedroom of his own home on Shirley’s Shrublands Estate and used a zombie knife and other deadly weapons in a “barbaric” killing four years ago, was finally brought to justice at the Old Bailey yesterday.

Romario Gordon, 22, of St Helens Grove, Monkston, near Milton Keynes, was found guilty of manslaughter by a jury at the Central Criminal Court in connection with the killing of 16-year-old Camron Smith on July 1, 2021.

Gordon had evaded arrest by taking a flight to The Gambia in the aftermath of what the police described as a “brutal killing”.

Despite the Metropolitan Police issuing an international arrest warrant for Gordon, he was not taken into custody until his return to Britain in August 2023.

Gordon is the sixth person from the same gang to be convicted in connection to night when Camron Smith was killed. The attack took place in the victim’s own Croydon home, with Smith’s mother a terrified onlooker. Two of those convicted were given lesser sentences related to robbery.

James Olanipekun, from Croydon, now 19 and so old enough to be identified, was jailed for eight years for manslaughter and robbery following a trial in February 2023. Another boy, from Coulsdon, aged 16 at the time of his trial, was jailed for 18 months for robbery following a trial in July 2022.

Romain La Pierre and Jordan Tcheuko were tried at the Old Bailey in October 2023, where they were found guilty.

La Pierre was described by the judge as “a brutal and callous killer” as he jailed him for life with a minimum of 28 years’ imprisonment for murder and robbery.

LaPierre had previous convictions for carrying knives, including a Samurai sword, machete and hunting knife. The court was told it was La Pierre who used the zombie knife, plunging it into his victim’s stomach.

Tcheuko was sentenced to 14 years in prison for manslaughter. Tcheuko had previously been caught with kitchen knives. He joined a gang when 13 after witnessing the stabbing of a close friend at the age of 10.

Another of the same gang of drug-dealers who operated in Thornton Heath, Sako Amoniba-Burnley, from Norbury, was found guilty of robbery and jailed for seven years.

Camron Smith was unarmed and in his underwear when subjected to a “frenzied” attack, stabbed a total of eight times in front of his mother in their home on Bracken Avenue on a night of a Croydon crime wave in midsummer in 2021.

Detective Chief Inspector Samantha Townsend, from Specialist Crime South, said: “Camron was just 16 when his life was brutally ended in a frenzy of violence in his own home.

“Romario Gordon is the fourth person convicted over Camron’s killing. The path to justice in this case has been long, and our thoughts are with Camron’s family and friends, who have endured multiple trials.

“The injuries inflicted on Camron were shocking. From the very start, the investigation team was determined to get the people responsible off our streets.

“Despite the complexity of the investigation, and attempts to hinder our enquiries, we have succeeded in bringing him to justice.”

Romario Gordon and the other gang members were linked to the attack by DNA recovered inside a stolen minicab which was found abandoned in Hastings Road, Lower Addiscombe.

On the evening of Wednesday, June 30, 2021, the group had called for a taxi to Fieldend Road, Streatham. When the cab arrived, the group held a knife to the driver’s throat. They ultimately made off with his car.

The subsequent movements of the group were captured on CCTV. The group were armed with knives and were looking for people that they associated with the stabbing of one of their friends, Jerome Taylor, in Pawson’s Road, Croydon, on the afternoon of June 30.

Using the stolen mini-cab and a moped, the gang set out on a tour of Croydon, hunting down who they believed had stabbed their friend.

At the first address, a woman asleep in her bed was woken up by a masked man in the room. Whoever the gang was looking for was not in the house.

The group gained access to the second address they visited but left within seconds. So they moved on to the third address, at Bracken Avenue, where they kicked down the door to Camron Smith’s home.

After a struggle downstairs, they chased the teenager upstairs to a bedroom where he attempted to barricade himself and his mother inside.

Jurors heard that Smith’s mother, Audrey Johnson, stood, arms outstretched, in between her son and the group in an attempt to stop them. She tried to grab the large black zombie knife with a serrated, curved 16-inch blade from one of the attackers.

But within minutes, her son had been surrounded and was fatally stabbed.

The Metropolitan Police said: “They chased the victim into his mother’s bedroom, where they killed him.” The killers were in the house for less than three minutes.

Gordon, who was 17 at the time, was later seen on CCTV fleeing from the stolen taxi and disposing of a large machete in an adjacent road.

Gordon took a flight from Heathrow on Saturday, July 3, taking him to The Gambia, where he hid in exile for two years until he was returned to Britain.

Following the conviction, Gordon was remanded into custody to be sentenced at a later date.