By Samantha Jones-
Four drug dealers who murdered father-of-four Lee Baxter in a sham deal arranged on Snapchat have all been jailed for life. Two of the crooks were sentenced to a minimum 29-year life sentence in jail and Graham to a minimum 27-year term.
Mr Baxter planned to buy £5,000 of cannabis on October 9, 2020, when he drove to an alleyway with the cash to Pavillion Terrace in Newbury Park, but the plan was to rob him not sell him drugs.
AD: Capeesh Restaurant
When Baxter realized that Syd Goss, Jermaine Forrester, and Ryan Graham were not bringing the drugs, Mr Baxter began to walk away – at which point he was attacked, stabbed multiple times and robbed by them.
As Goss, Forrester and Graham made their getaway in a car, a man who had accompanied Mr Baxter and passers-by tried to save his life.
On october 9, 2020, Lee and Karl Baxter travelled in a Ford car to the meeting spot near Leysbrook Park in East London. At 9.11pm, Forrester, Graham and Goss were caught on CCTV exiting a Nissan Juke on Leyswood Avenue and are seen talking to the two brothers on the pavement.
AD: Oysterian Sea Food Restaurant And Bar
The court heard that the two groups had never met before before the drug deal, and no direct contact had been made between Lee and the dealers. During the trial, prosecutor Nicholas Corsellis QC told jurors: “The four defendants were all at the scene, seemingly in order to conduct the drugs deal, but in reality prepared to commit a robbery.”
After initially meeting on the pavement, Karl Baxter told police that the three men had gotten into their Ford and directed them to drive around the corner. Forrester, Graham and Goss had then asked Lee to hand over the money, before they retrieved the drugs. The brothers declined and naturally asked to first see the cannabis before handing over the £5,000.
In an attempt to defuse the situation, Lee offered his killers to take a picture of his money to prove that he was a “genuine purchaser”. He produced the money from a grey plastic folder, at which point Forrester, Graham and Goss said the “person with the drugs” would not come until payment had been made.
The trio eventually launched their attack after the brothers decided to call the deal off. Lee was placed into a headlock whilst Goss ran towards Karl with his knife withdrawn. After reaching the safety of his car, Karl witnessed Lee being forced to the ground and attacked by all three men. Neither of the Baxters were armed, and at one point, Lee threw the money he had been carrying into the air in a bid to stop the attack.
Locals in the vicinity attempted to place him in the recovery position and stem the blood loss whilst awaiting for the emergency services. In a victim impact statement read aloud today, one witness said he had been left suffering with “PTSD, depression, anxiety and panic attacks” after rushing to Lee’s aid.
Paramedics from the London Ambulance Service found Lee lying in two large pools of blood with no heartbeat. Emergency surgery was conducted at the scene, but he was sadly pronounced dead. A post-mortem examination found that had suffered nine stab wounds across his lower right thigh, his left bicep, his calf, his left buttock and two further defensive wounds to his hands.
A murder investigation was launched, and the three men were quickly identified as the key suspects and were arrested. A knife that was found at the shared home of Forrester and Goss had been “cleaned thoroughly” to remove traces of blood, and the group had disposed of their clothing in bin bags. DNA swabs taken from blood inside the Nissan Juke also matched Lee’s when analysed by forensic experts.
After denying murder, they were found guilty by the jury last month. Sentencing them to life imprisonment, Judge Leonard QC said: “There are conflicting indications as to whether you set out that night to rob Lee Baxter of £5,000 without any interest in providing cannabis in return, or whether at some later stage you hatched a plan to take his money by force. You clearly went out armed with knives that night which indicates that you were ready for trouble, whether that was to be a drugs deal or from the start, a robbery.
Despite emergency crews performing surgery at the scene, he died almost immediately due to significant blood loss.
Goss, 22, from Ilford; Forrester, 25, of Tolbut Court, Romford; and Graham, 27, of Farnham Road in Goodmayes, Ilford were all convicted of his murder following a six-week trial at the Old Bailey on May 18.
Sentencing the trio, Judge Anthony Leonard QC said: “You have all been found guilty of murder, but during the trial each of you denied any involvement in the murder and were willing to shift the blame onto your co-defendants.
“I have reached the conclusion you were ready to use knives…from the moment you set out that evening, if the need arose.”
He continued: “There are conflicting indications as to whether you set out that night to rob Lee Baxter of £5,000 without any interest in providing cannabis in return, or whether at some later stage you hatched a plan to take his money by force.
“You clearly went out armed with knives that night, which indicates you were ready for trouble, whether that was to be a drugs deal or a robbery.”
Judge Leonard said he was sure Goss, who he dubbed the “ringleader”, was probably armed with a knife, but Forrester had been the “principle stabber”.
He added: “I do not know Graham if you had a knife, but in terms of sentence it makes little difference because you knew your co-defendants were armed.
“Your function was to hold Lee Baxter on the ground in a headlock while he was being stabbed and you were there to help search Lee Baxter for his money.”
An award of £750 was made to an airline pilot who had helped to save Mr Baxter’s life, who has since suffered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of the incident, and was left unable to work for some time, the court heard.
Jermaine Forrester, who murdered Lee Baxter in a Newbury Park alleyway with Ryan Graham and Syd Goss – Credit: Met Police
“I blame myself for not saving him and I should have done better,” he said in a statement that was read out in court.
Det Insp Adam Callaghan, who led the murder investigation, said: “Lee Baxter was not a master criminal, he was not adept at arranging drug deals and nor should the circumstances in the lead up to his death cast any shadow on the utter senselessness of it.
“Lee was a victim of a terrible crime and he deserves justice.
“Lee was a loving father who lost his life in the most violent of ways. My thoughts are with his family and friends at what I can only imagine is a very difficult time.
“Goss, Forrester and Graham planned to rob Lee and they were willing to use violence to carry out their plan.
“Lee did not travel to Pavillion Terrace prepared for violence. Lee was walking away from the deal when these three men decided to launch their fatal attack.
“I want to thank all of the witnesses who spoke to police about what they saw that day. You didn’t turn your back on Lee and were a vital part of our investigation to get justice for him.
AD: Heritage And Restaurant Lounge Bar