Prisoner killed in ‘drone smuggling’ fight

A 21-YEAR-OLD inmate was killed at Pentonville prison in a bloody battle to control the wing’s “lucrative” contraband route, a court heard.

Jamal Mahmoud was allegedly murdered by three other prisoners in a dispute over a smuggled package of phones, SIM cards and a knife.

He had a coveted cell on the top floor that gave him control over illicit weapons, drugs and mobile phones that were delivered by drone, jurors were told.

The recent father, part of a group known as The Somalis, had allegedly warned, “If you want war, I will give you war,” after being threatened. The alleged killers – Basana Kimbembi, 35, Joshua Ratner, 27, and Robert Butler, 31 – were allowed out of their cells, even though authorities had been warned of looming trouble.

Opening the Old Bailey trial, Mark Heywood QC, prosecuting, said the attack in October last year shocked prisoners at the jail. “He was killed with calculated brutality by a group of men armed with weapons that went to find him,” he told the court.

“That lethal violence was quite deliberate and expected. The sheer determination of the killers is indicated by the fact that neither the location, the security or the presence of prison staff served to stop it or deter the violence or the weapons used to drive it home.”

Mr Heywood said by mid-october last year, a “serious dispute” had developed over Mahmoud’s access to contraband. He said the defendants killed him to “make their point” and gain “control of part of the lucrative contraband route on to that wing of the prison”.

The defendants have denied murder as well as wounding a second man with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

The trial was adjourned until Monday afternoon when jurors will visit the prison.