Violent gang leader banned from London is jailed again

A CONVICTED street-gang leader who was banned from London to protect the public, after the Home Office failed to deport him, has been jailed again.

Holland Giwa, 30, was sent to Newport, South Wales, because he was considered “too dangerous” to return to his gangster haunts in Croydon, south London, after he was jailed for a string of robberies and thefts in 2009.

The Home Office tried to deport him but was unable to do so because he refused to reveal where he was born and Sierra Leone and Nigeria, his suspected home countries, would not accept him without documents proving his country of origin.

However, despite pledging to start a new life, Giwa, who grew up terrorising the streets of south London with his gang called Don’t Say Nothing (DSN), was on Monday jailed for four years for trafficking heroin and crack cocaine.

The sentence reflected that he was on licence for robbing a William Hill betting shop in 2015. Wearing a red bandana over his face, he had jumped over the counter before pushing the cashier to the floor and stealing £600.

In London, he had earned notoriety after appearing in Youtube videos where he claimed to be “the f---ing general” and bragged of “shanking” his rivals – street slang for stabbing.

Police chiefs said Giwa had a “clear propensity for violence” and posed a “serious threat to the public”. After his 27-month jail sentence in 2009, he smuggled a phone into prison to post a picture of himself pumping iron.

On Monday, Judge Jeremy Jenkins told Giwa: “You have serious offences of robbery on your record and you have spent significant periods in prison before. The drugs found on you were of a significant value.”