Five gangsters jailed over Bedford gang violence

LONDON: Five members of two warring gangs have been jailed following a stabbing and a retaliatory shooting in Bedford.

Luton Crown Court heard rivals from the Kempston Block and Mile Road gangs in Bedford were “at war” over drugs in 2017, Bedfordshire Police said. A man was assaulted in a park in Kempston on June 3 2017. Two Mile Road gang members retaliated with a machete attack on June 17, then Kempston Block hit back on June 19 with a drive-by shooting targeting a Mile Road gang associate, the force said.

An off-duty police officer saw the first assault. Colleagues tracked a car from the scene and forcibly stopped it, freeing the victim from the vehicle.

The driver, Saffa Gbonda, 25, of Walcourt Road, Kempston, was jailed on Thursday for 12 years after he was convicted of conspiracy to kidnap and GBH with intent at an earlier trial, police said. The victim of the machete attack which occurred two weeks later “virtually had his arm severed”, Judge Nigel Lithman QC said.

Maksims Boikovs, 19, of Brackley Road, Bedford, and Terrell Romain, 22, of Lewis Close, Bedford, have been jailed over the attack in Hawkins Road, Bedford. Both were convicted at an earlier trial of violent disorder, wounding with intent to cause GBH and possession of a bladed article, police said.

The force said Romain was sentenced to 18 years in prison and Boikovs for 14 years. The drive-by shooting happened two days after the stabbing, police said, with shots fired from a 12-bore shotgun at a residential property in Miller Road. Two men suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Antonio Ziu, 22, of Warwick Avenue, Bedford, and Vincent Kingswell-Shaw, 23, of Foster Road, Kempston, were convicted at an earlier trial of conspiracy to commit GBH with intent and possession of a shotgun with intent to endanger life, police said. The force said Ziu was jailed for 19 years and Kingswell-Shaw for 16 years.

Detective Inspector Janine Graham, who led the investigation, said: “This violence sprung up from rival gang members looking to fill the vacuum left at the top of these gangs after the previous leaders were arrested and taken off the streets.”

In the same proceedings, Daniel Brownlee, 21, of Pearcey Road, Bedford, received a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years, for being concerned in the supply of cannabis. Dreyfuss Mussington, 23, of Barford Avenue, Bedford, received a one-year sentence suspended for two years for a similar offence.