THE Crown Prosecution Service has issued this statement, following the conviction of three men for the fatal shooting of Jahmel Jones in Southampton last year.

Three drug dealers from London, Pierre Lewis, 20, Jemmikai Orlebar-Forbes, 20, and Isaac Boateng, 22, were today found guilty at Winchester Crown Court of the murder of another drug dealer Jahmel Jones, a 23-year-old from Brixton.

They already pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply drugs.

Rachel Kenehan, 35, a University Lecturer from London was found guilty of assisting the offenders, conspiracy to supply class A drugs and perverting the course of public justice.

Following the sentence Sarah Dineley, District Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in Wessex said: “It is difficult to understand in this case how Rachel Kenehan, a University Lecturer who was completing her PhD in criminology threw away her promising career and future to be involved in the criminal activities of her young boyfriend Pierre Lewis and his two co- defendants. These criminal activities led to the brutal death of Jahmel Jones, who had also chosen to lead a criminal lifestyle”.

“Jahmel Jones had selected the St Mary’s area of Southampton to sell Crack Cocaine and Heroin. He was quite established in Southampton and would regularly deal from flats belonging to drug users. Forbes, Lewis and Boateng had also chosen the St Mary’s area in which to ply their drugs and they became rivals of Jones. They would travel back and forth from London to Southampton bringing with them crack and heroin. They would stay free of charge in flats belonging to addicts in return for drugs. They believed Jones had robbed them of drugs and as a result sought retribution – the retribution was execution by shooting.”

“Once the killing was done, they fled back to London with the assistance of Kenehan who picked them up from Basingstoke and they all returned to her home where they stayed for 3 days. Whilst there is no evidence that she knew that they had planned to kill Jahmel Jones, the jury at Winchester Crown Court heard how she assisted them and went to great efforts to destroy the evidence.

“The evidence also showed how she also assisted the defendants in their supply of drugs by paying in excess of £4,000 for hire cars for the numerous trips that the defendants made to Southampton.”

“She met Pierre Lewis through her charitable mentoring work with young male offenders with the aim of reducing their re-offending on release from prison . However, she failed to observe the boundaries that were set out by the charity between mentors and offenders and became infatuated with him. Her actions in this criminal enterprise showed the extent of that infatuation and what lengths she was prepared to go to for her boyfriend.”

“Today the jury after hearing both the prosecution and the defence case found guilty the defendants of these offences. We would like to thank Hampshire Constabulary who conducted a thorough investigation, which allowed us to present the evidence clearly to the jury, and resulted to these convictions. Our thoughts are with the family of Jahmel Jones at this time.”