14-year-old believed to be youngest gun killing defendant named and locked up

A 14-YEAR-OLD boy believed to be Britain’s youngest defendant convicted of a gun murder has been handed a life sentence and ordered to serve at least 16 years behind bars.

Yussuf Mustapha, who turned 14 just three weeks before he shot and killed Birmingham schoolboy Keon Lincoln, can now be named in media reports after a judge lifted an order protecting his identity.

Passing sentence on Mustapha and four other teenagers convicted of killing Keon, Lord Justice William Davis said the 14-year-old had shown a clear intent to kill when he opened fire at close range.

Mustapha and the other youths who carried out the killing were branded “heartless, evil monsters” by Keon’s mother in a victim personal statement read to Birmingham Crown Court on Monday.

Sharmaine Lincoln said the killing of her 15-year-old son had left her feeling like “a piece of my soul has been taken from me”.

Passing sentence on Keon’s killers yesterday, Lord Justice William Davis said at least five offenders who arrived at the murder scene had been party to the use of a revolver.

A five-week trial was told Keon suffered eight sharp force injuries and a fatal gunshot injury to his abdomen outside his home in Linwood Road, Handsworth, Birmingham.

The teenager, who was shot while on the ground, died in Birmingham Children’s Hospital, having been attacked with knives and fired at twice at about 3.35pm on January 21.

The judge told Italy-born gunman Mustapha, who has no previous convictions, that the material before the court indicated he had lived “a decent life with his family” prior to the murder.

The judge said: “According to the pre-sentence report he has been able at times to show a maturity in advance of his age.

“Certainly there is no indication that he is immature for his age or that he suffers from any behavioural issues which might have led to the events of January 21.

“I am invited in the report to consider the extent to which he may have been acting impulsively and whether his conduct may have been affected by emotional volatility or negative influences. I have done so. The offence was not impulsive or the result of volatility.

“I have no evidence of negative influences other than the fact that the other defendants were older than him.”

The judge said the only mitigating factor in Mustapha’s case was his age “given that, for someone of his age, many years in custody will appear, literally, to be a lifetime”.

Kieron Donaldson, 19, of Aston Lane, Perry Barr, was cleared of murder but convicted of unlawful killing

Mustapha, along with a 16-yearold and Tahjgeem Breakenridge, 18, of Oldfield Road, Balsall Heath, and Michael Ugochukwu, 18, of Twyning Road, Edgbaston, all denied playing any part in the killing.