‘Postcode gang’ killers will serve over 20 years

FIVE males who murdered two teenagers while ambushing a birthday party with machetes to attack a rival postcode gang will each serve at least 22 years behind bars.

Childhood friends Dom Ansah and Ben Gillham-Rice, both 17, were stabbed to death at a house in the Emerson Valley area of Milton Keynes in October 2019. Two others were left with serious but non-lifethreatening injuries.

On Wednesday, Earl Bevans, 23, Charlie Chandler, 23, Clayton Barker, 20, and two previously unnamed teenagers appeared at Luton Crown Court to be sentenced.

The two 17-year-olds can now be named as Ben Potter and Jamie Chandler, the brother of Charlie, after Mr Justice Spencer lifted reporting restrictions following an application from the PA news agency.

The judge said Barker, Potter and Jamie Chandler were “enthusiastic” members of the B3 postcode gang and that Charlie Chandler and Bevans, who were not members, closely associated with them.

He said the B3 gang members, named after the MK3 postcode in West Bletchley, planned the revenge attack after being told that members of the rival M4 gang were at the party.

The judge said: “The all-too-familiar background to these senseless and tragic killings was rivalry between gangs of young men, and the culture of violence and knives promoted on social media.”

Barker, Potter and the Chandler brothers had denied both murders and two counts of wounding with intent, but were unanimously convicted by the jury after around nine hours of deliberation.

Mr Justice Spencer gave each adult defendant a life sentence, with minimum terms of 27 or 28 years, and the two teenagers received sentences of detention with a minimum term of 22 years.

He said: “The five of you gatecrashed a 17th birthday party at a house in Milton Keynes, armed with knives and machetes, and with masks to conceal your identity.”

The court heard Ben was stabbed six times in the living room “whilst the party was in full flow, in the presence of several teenage boys and girls”.

Mr Justice Spencer said Dom was subjected to an “appallingly brutal sustained attack” and was stabbed nearly 40 times and later chopped with a machete, adding: “He was chased, running quite literally for his life.”

The court had heard of an incident when Potter was stripped and assaulted in woodland when he was 14, and jurors were also told Jamie Chandler had been stabbed months before the murders.

Both assaults were carried out by members of the M4 gang, of which Dom was said to be a member.

The judge said: “I have no doubt that these two incidents fuelled the desire on the part of members of B3 to have their revenge on members of M4 if and when a suitable opportunity arose.”

The judge said the attack would have caused “untold trauma” to those who witnessed it.