A fourth man has been convicted of murdering UK university student who was stabbed 12 times

A fourth man has just been convicted of murder over the death of a UK university student who was killed after being mistaken for a gang member in 2018.

Russell Jordan Jones was a student at The University of Hertfordshire. As he stood chatting with friends outside a shop in London, he was attacked without warning by men wearing dark clothing and masks.

He was stabbed 12 times in the back and then “blasted” with a shotgun. He died at the scene after losing a large amount of blood. His friend, Karun Singh, was also stabbed in the back.

Police said Russell Jones was a victim of a gang that had set out in search of rivals, but that he and his friends had no links with any gang.

Russell Jordan Jones was murdered in 2018 (Via Met Police)

Three men – Bilkan Bilkaner, Duke Quainoo and Sherome Williams have already been convicted of murder but a fourth man, Kyle Gordon, has been convicted this week, nearly exactly six years after the crime.

In an impact statement, Russell’s mother said: “Russell was my only son, my daughter’s twin and my parent’s only grandson. He was my strength, my protector, my voice of reason, but mostly my baby.

“I will love and miss him till the day I die and I just hope one day we will meet again. There are no words to fully explain how the last five years have changed and affected me, my daughter, my family and Tara, the love of his life with beautiful red hair who he was planning to spend his future with.

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“Our lives are shattered, our hearts broken and only a future of huge pain and loss lies ahead. Russell was an extremely bright, intelligent, quick-witted, lovable young man with an endearing smile and his whole life ahead of him.”

Gordon, who will be sentenced on Thursday, was also convicted of causing grievous bodily harm to another man and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Sherome Williams, who was only 16 when he killed Mr Jones, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years for murder, grievous bodily harm and possession of a firearm. Bilkan Bilkaner and Duke Quainoo, both 20 at the time, were each jailed for 29 years for the murder in 2019.

CCTV Footage from the incident

Detective Sargeant Joanne Donoghue, from the Met’s Specialist Crime North Homicide Team, said: “Russell’s family has endured years of court proceedings with patience and dignity. I hope they find comfort in today’s conviction and in knowing that those responsible for Russell’s death have been held to account.”

Philip Evans, prosecuting, told the jury how the “sudden, violent and bloody attack left one man dead and another seriously wounded.” He said: “The violence was deliberate and planned – the best of which indication being that it was done with a gun and with knives, brought there for the purpose. The attack was truly vicious in its ferocity. At just after half past midnight on 17 March 2018, Russell Jones was stabbed 12 times. He was at the same time shot in the abdomen with a 12-bore shotgun.

He added: “An indication of the intention and purpose of his attackers is given by the fact that ten of those stab wounds were to his back. The evidence from eye-witnesses and CCTV is clear that the attack was carried out by a group of four men, one of whom the prosecution say was the defendant Kyle Gordon. All four of the men involved can be seen to have been directly involved in the attack on Russell Jones, appearing on the CCTV either to shoot him or to inflict blows on him.”

He continued: “There was no apparent provocation for the attack, which effectively took the form of an ambush; it was also clearly carefully planned, in the sense that there was an obvious plan to look for victims and then to kill with lethal weapons which were taken in the car to the scene.

“At the moment of the attack, [Jones and Singh] were together with a group of at least five other friends and had been to eat before returning to the location to collect cars. The evidence does not suggest that either Russell Jones or Karun Singh were particular individual targets of attack but rather that the deadly violence was aimed at the group.”

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