Three men convicted of Taylor Cox murder in Islington

Jaden McGibbon, 22, of Warltersville Road in Hornsey, Robel Michael, 22 of no fixed address, and Sichem Mangituka-Mpelo, 22, of Holloway, were found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey yesterday (October 20).

Police were called at 4.24pm on June 8 in 2021 to reports of a shooting in Hornsey Rise Gardens in Islington.

Emergency service crews found Taylor Cox, 19, of Barnet suffering gunshot injuries and took him to hospital where he later died.

A post-mortem examination on June 11 in 2021 found that Taylor died from a gunshot wound to the head.

David Campbell, Taylor's father, said: "Despite the guilty verdict, it still doesn’t help the pain that knowing we won’t see Taylor again causes us".

Taylor Cox, 19, was fatally shot in the head (Image: Met Police)

Detective Chief Inspector Linda Bradley added: “This was a targeted attack on a young man who should have had the rest of his life ahead of him.

“My thoughts are with Taylor’s family, " she continued. "While nothing can bring him back, I hope that today’s guilty verdicts bring them a degree of satisfaction.”

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The convicted men were remanded in custody and will be sentenced at the same court on December 15.

A fourth person, Dunia Oukili, 22, of Harrington Square in Camden, was convicted of perverting the course of justice.

After shooting Taylor the suspects fled the scene.

McGibbon's girlfriend Oukili booked a hotel room and bought a mobile phone to try and help him evade arrest.

Police later found spent ammunition cartridge cases in Oukili’s handbag of the same calibre used in the shooting.

Detectives found CCTV images of McGibbon riding a bicycle shortly before the report of shots fired was made to police.

Just before the murder he covered his face with a balaclava, police added.

Despite his efforts to avoid capture, McGibbon was arrested on June 12 in 2021 and charged with murder the following day (June 13).

Michael was arrested on 4 August 2021 and was subsequently charged with murder.

Mangituka-Mpelo was arrested on 23 August 2021 and was subsequently charged with murder.

Det. Ch. Insp. Bradley said: “It saddens me to see so many young lives cut short by violence on the streets of our capital and I hope these convictions, and the loss of freedom the defendants are about to face, serve as a warning to any others who think that conflict of any kind can be resolved with weapons and violence,."

David Campbell added: "The whole family are grateful that we come to this conclusion and are thankful for the efforts of the police in all the work they did to convict the defendants."

If you have information that could help keep your community safe, but don’t want to speak to police, please contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Any young people who have information about violence or knife crime, can visit www.fearless.org where they can pass on information anonymously – your I.P address will not be traced.

Fearless is part of the Crimestoppers charity, and is also independent of the police.