Teens locked up for life for Jodie murder

LONDON: Two teenagers have been locked up for life for the “callous” murder of Girl Scout Jodie Chesney.Drug dealer Svenson Ong-a-Kwie, 19, and his 17-year-old runner Arron Isaacs were involved in a “tit-for-tat vendetta” with rivals when they killed Jodie by mistake, the Old Bailey heard.

The popular 17-year-old student had been relaxing with friends in Amy’s Park in Harold Hill, east London, on the evening of March 1 when two shadowy figures emerged from the dark and one knifed her in the back.

She screamed and collapsed in the arms of her boyfriend, Eddie Coyle, 18, as her attackers made off in a fellow drug dealer’s car. Days later, they were arrested together as they fled from the rear of a house, with one crashing through a roof.

The defendants denied Jodie’s murder, each blaming the other for inflicting the fatal wound. The jury deliberated for less than six hours to find them guilty last week of Jodie’s murder. Judge Wendy Joseph QC handed the stabber Ong-a-Kwie a life sentence with a minimum of 26 years.

She ordered his “enthusiastic supporter” Isaacs to be detained at Her Majesty’s Pleasure for at least 18 years. She told the pair: “Jodie was a bright, warm and loving girl who could have given so much to so many, and who should have led a happy and fulfilled life.

“All that was taken away by an act of callous, casual and utterly irresponsible violence. Those present at the scene will live with the horror for a very, very long time. The whole community has been shocked to its core, and the ramifications have been widespread.”

The judge said the stabbing had come about amid an escalating “tit-for-tat vendetta” between rival drug dealers. The Judge agreed to lift reporting restrictions on Isaacs’ identity in the exceptional circumstances of the case.

Jodie’s father, Peter Chesney, who gave up a job in the City, said: “I have lost the most precious human being I will ever know. I have no idea how I’m going to continue my life or come to terms with the loss.”