Three men jailed for life in stabbing murder of unarmed father in north London

Three young men received life sentences at Southwark Crown Court for the knife murder of Gregory Catillo Volquez on a north London estate in January 2024.

Life sentences handed down for knife killing of unarmed father on Tiverton Estate

Three young men have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of an unarmed father on a north London housing estate, Google News CA — Crime (EN) reports. Benito Ramirez Kones, 20, Carlos Akum Metumbe, 22, and Luiggi Perelli Santana, 22, attacked Gregory Catillo Volquez in a car park on the Tiverton Estate in Haringey on 13 January last year, stabbing and beating him with an "arsenal of knives" and a hospital crutch.

Southwark Crown Court heard that Volquez had spent the evening with a friend at clubs in south London before travelling north to Haringey, where the pair entered a flat on the estate for between 30 and 40 minutes. When they walked out to the car park — an area out of range of CCTV cameras — the three defendants gave chase and launched the assault. Volquez later died in hospital, having sustained 22 "sharp force injuries". Evidence presented at trial also showed he had been stamped on and kicked in the face by more than one attacker.

Sobs were audible from the public gallery as the sentences were delivered. Kones and Santana each received a minimum term of 23 years; Metumbe was ordered to serve at least 22 years before being eligible for parole.

The sentencing judge did not spare his words. "This was a truly wicked crime committed by very dangerous men," he told the court. "In my judgment, none of you have shown any real remorse for what you did." He added that "the violence inflicted on [Mr Volquez] in the car park was grossly disproportionate to any threat he could have posed."

Four knives — including a machete and a so-called 'Rambo' knife — were subsequently recovered from two separate flats on the estate. The court heard that after the killing, Metumbe and Santana fled the United Kingdom. Kones, of De Beauvoir Estate in Hackney, was arrested in Swansea. Metumbe, of Lower Clapton Road, and Santana, of Brixton Hill, escaped to Spain and were extradited later that year.

The defendants' prior records added to the gravity of the case. Two of the three already carried convictions for possession of a bladed article in a public place. At the time of the attack, Kones was serving a suspended sentence for possession of a locking knife in October 2024. Santana was on court bail after failing to appear at a November 2024 hearing for carrying a "machete with tape around the handle" in his trousers — a weapon described in court as similar to the one used in the murder.

The judge's remarks that the trio "went into the night" after the killing underscored the premeditated nature of the flight from justice.

Source: Google News CA — Crime (EN)