The mother of a murdered Canonbury man compared the justice system to “a snakes and ladders game”, after the inquest into her son’s death due to take place this morning was delayed.
An inquest into the death of Jonathon “JJ” McPhillps, who was stabbed through the chest outside Islington Town Hall in February 2017, was listed to start at 10am on Monday morning at St Pancras Coroner’s Court.
But in the latest setback for his bereaved mother’s fight for justice, it was postponed due to concerns about the Camley Street Court’s capacity to control witnesses.
Michelle McPhillips told the Gazette: “All this Christmas I was winding myself up and getting ready for court, like I did with the murder trial they cancelled before, but they did it again because they said ‘there is two rival gangs involved’.
“Everyone thinks I should have accepted the fact that my son has been murdered, that I should be getting on with life as normal.
“Well my life will never be normal. I have lost my only child. I do not have a family now. I didn’t celebrate Christmas because my son has been killed.
“It was hard enough with all this going on, but I was also preparing for the inquest.”
Michelle’s been told the inquest will go ahead at the Old Bailey at some point within the next three to six months.
A murder trial at the same court collapsed last August due to insufficient evidence.
“I didn’t understand why there is to be an inquest,” said Michelle. “We have had a murder trial.
“They are saying it doesn’t affect [any future] trial, so at least in doing an inquest we may get closer to real answers on what happened.
“I have waited two years to be told exactly what happened to my son medically.
“It just that whenever I get closer to dealing with stuff I get sent back to step one – it’s like a snakes and ladders game.”
The Met police released CCTV footage from the night JJ was stabbed last year, which shows a group of six man, some armed with knives, pursuing JJ down Upper Street.
JJ, who was 28 and a father of two young children, died in hospital three days later.
Cops announced a £20,000 reward for information leading to JJ’s killers’ imprisonment in September.
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