A teenager has been sentenced to life in prison after murdering a father-of-three who confronted youths outside his home for shouting abuse at his daughter.
Jamie Markham, 45, was stabbed three times with a large knife by the boy who was banned from the area by a criminal behaviour order which he had flouted multiple times before.
Judge John Hillen ordered the boy to be detained for life with a minimum term of 15 years, at the Old Bailey today. The judge described Mr Markham as “a hard-working stonemason with his own business who worked hard to support and bring up his family”.
By contrast, the defendant’s behaviour leading up to the murder was increasingly worrying and he was branded “out of control” by Judge Hillen.
He told the boy: “You had not responded to attempts to divert you away from crime and antisocial behaviour. You regularly went missing. You have a low attendance record at school.
“Your foster parents could not prevent your behaviour. You were out of control.”
The youth claimed to have acted in self defence but was found guilty of murder and having an offensive weapon following a trial at the Old Bailey in July.
Mr Markham had grabbed a drill bit and confronted the group of youths in an area that was a hot-spot for anti-social behaviour, the Old Bailey heard.
The perpetrator brandished a knife and the duo began swinging at each other before Mr Markham was struck multiple times with the blade.
The father-of-three died at the scene in Chingford, east London, despite receiving emergency CPR from medics. The boy, who was aged 14 at the time of the offence and is now 15, sprinted away from the area but dropped his phone.
He was later arrested on suspicion of murder and made no comment at interviews.
Today, Mr Markham‘s mother Anita described the impact of the “wicked” murder on them and the wider community.
Addressing the defendant, she said: “On August 9 2021 you stabbed my son Jamie Markham three times and murdered him.
“You had nothing to say, not even ‘sorry, I did not mean it to happen. You could not say it was an accident as you stabbed him three times.
“Taking my son’s life has broken me. Jamie is in my thoughts all the time, seeing him lying there knowing I could not patch him up like when he was a kid.
“Wanting so much to help him, bring him back to us. You can never replace a child.
“When Candice (Mr Markham‘s partner) phoned and told me Jamie had been stabbed I had never thought that would be it and I would never be able to give him a hug and a kiss.”
Sister Lisa Sawyer said: “I did not think things like this happened to normal people.”
Of the boy, she said: “You were not even man enough to tell the truth and say sorry.”
The boy was described in court as having a “miserable” criminal record, having been in court 12 times and convicted of 22 different offences.
The first was in June 2020 when aged 13 he pleaded guilty to battery and convicted of possessing cannabis and was handed a rehabilitation order.
In January 2021, he was convicted of theft, criminal damage and using threatening words and behaviour and subjected to a rehabilitation order and criminal behaviour order banning him from the Chingford Mount area
He breached that order six times with the day of the murder the seventh breach.
In mitigation, Laurie-Anne Power KC said the boy had been affected by a lack of family presence or support as well as “neglect, abuse and feelings of trauma and loss”.
She said her client offered “sincere regret for his actions”.
Additional reporting by agencies
