By Tony O’Reilly-
A father and his two sons have been jailed for a total of 63 years after killing a young man with a machete in a revenge attack.
Devon Jensen-Wallace, 25, was stabbed to death while out with friends in St Raphael’s Estate in Stonebridge in June last year.
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Jamal Grant, 31, who inflicted the fatal wound, had enlisted his father and brother as he sought retribution for an incident in 2018 in which he claimed he was knifed in the back by the victim.
At the Old Bailey on Tuesday (August 8), Jamal and his father Elvis Grant, 51, both of Pitfield Way in Neasden, were both jailed for 24 years for murder and perverting the course of justice .
Younger son Lamar, 26, also of Pitfield Way, was sentenced to 13 years for manslaughter and for perverting the course of justice.
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The three were convicted at the same court on 25 July.
The Old Bailey heard how Mr Jensen-Wallace had met two friends on Neasden’s St Raphael’s Estate around 6pm on June 1 last year, before walking around the area and visiting shops.
Then “two or three men” – one armed with a machete-type knife and another with a baseball bat – crept up on them from a bin area and confronted them.
The group of friends ran away, but as they were being chased Mr Jensen-Wallace was stabbed in the leg.
As the attackers chased them, one could reportedly be heard shouting something like “you can’t get away with this, you can’t run away”. Cameras also recorded one attacker shouting: “Get him.
Sentencing, Judge Mark Lucraft KC told the trio: “I have no doubt that this attack on June 1, 2022 by the three of you was one in revenge for that incident four years earlier.”
The judge referred to a statement from Mr Jensen-Wallace’s girlfriend Chantelle Crawford, who said he had matured and wanted to leave his demons behind.
According to Ms Crawford, just a week before his death, he had told her: “I don’t want any part of it anymore, it’s clearly not working for me and I want to do good things, I know I can do it.”
She told the court: “Devon’s second chance was callously snatched away. And with that, my life, soul and heart has gone with him.”
The court had heard that after the 2018 incident, Mr Jensen-Wallace had moved away, but on the day of the killing he had returned to St Raphael’s Estate at 6pm where he met two friends and the trio walked around visiting shops.
Victim: Devon Jensen-Wallace Image: Met Police
They were near Overton Close when up to three men crept up on them from a bin area, one of whom had a machete and another was armed with a baseball bat.
Cameras recorded the pursuit, with one attacker holding the large knife and another shouting to ‘get him’.
Devon ran onto Henderson Close where he was found at 6.30pm, bleeding heavily from a wound to his right leg.
Officers were called along with paramedics from the London Ambulance Service, but despite their efforts he was pronounced dead at 7.15pm.
A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as a single wound that had cut the femoral vein.
Gang members at the scene spread fear through the local community.
Neither of Devon’s friends who were with him would co-operate with the investigation.
Members of the public feared reprisal if they spoke openly, although some helped the investigation.
Jamal Grant claimed he acted in self defence, but that was rejected by the jury.
During the sentencing, Judge Lucraft said testimonials from the defendants’ family and friends as loving and caring individuals, or devoted fathers was “so very far away” from what they set out to do that day.
He said: “One of the authors of these letters describes you, Elvis, as a mild-tempered person and a calming influence who they have seen mediate situations that may otherwise have turned violent.
“It is difficult to see how that description marries with the father who takes a machete from his house, and goes with two of his sons to exact revenge for an incident four years earlier.”
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