The parents of a teen murdered in a deadly Norfolk gang feud have spoken of their horror after one of their son's friends killed another youth as part the ongoing tit-for-tat rivalry.
Emma and Phil Dix's son Joe, 18 - from Norwich street gang the Third Side - was stabbed to death on the streets of the city by three members of rivals On The Money (OTM).
Twelve months later, Alfie Hammett, 19, a friend of Joe's who was also in the Third Side, murdered Raymond James Quigley - who was linked to OTM - in Ipswich after the Norwich rivalry spread to Suffolk.
The links between the two killings emerged at Hammett's murder trial and following his sentencing at Ipswich Crown Court this week, Mr and Mrs Dix have told of their devastation that one of their son's friends had continued the bloodshed.
Mrs Dix said her family knew Hammett and that he had been in touch, following her son's murder, to express his sympathy.
"He was one of Joe's mates," she said. "We were aware of who he was and what he looked like.
"He was one of the ones who went to Joe's funeral and he used to message us saying 'I'm gutted for you'.
"That's what's hard. When someone's telling you that but their actions are completely different.
"It's bad that another family has to go through the feelings that we've had to.
"We can empathise with how they feel but you don't want it to happen again.
"We don't in any way condone it and we're disappointed that people who are linked with Joe didn't learn from Joe's death and the ripple effect it has on all.
"It's not just the person [who is killed]. It's everyone and anyone who has ever known that person.
"We were gutted to think it has happened again."
LINKS BETWEEN THE CROSS-BORDER KILLINGS
Although the trial earlier this year did not suggest that anyone involved in Mr Quigley's murder had been involved in Mr Dix's killing, it did hear evidence that the second murder was the result of the ongoing gang rivalry and highlighted direct connections between the two deaths.
In a search of Hammett's bedroom, following his arrest, police found a copy of the order of service from Mr Dix's funeral, in Norwich.
On a phone, they also discovered a picture of Hammett at Vale Green, the street in Mile Cross where Mr Dix was killed and which has since become a memorial site for him.
Meanwhile, it also emerged that Mr Quigley had been seen in the public gallery at Norwich Crown Court during the trial of Mr Dix's killers.
It was also revealed that Mr Quigley and Hammett were childhood friends who had grown up together in Mile Cross before becoming affiliated with different gangs.
At the time of Mr Quigley's murder, Hammett was banned from Norwich as part of his bail conditions after he was arrested in connection with a brawl in Mojo's on Prince of Wales Road.
This meant he was living in Rushmere St Andrew, near Ipswich, where he was associating with a Suffolk street gang, called the IP3 or Nacton gang, which was affiliated with the Third Side.
On January 17, last year, Mr Quigley, from Wymondham, went to Ipswich to visit friends.
Police believe that Hammett and his friend Joshua Howell, 19 - from the IP3 gang - discovered he was in the town and were trawling the centre looking for him, to continue the gang feud.
The pair found Mr Quigley and his friends on Westgate Street, in the retail centre of the town.
In front of shocked shoppers, Hammett attacked him, as Howell wielded a machete to prevent the victim's friend from helping him.
As Howell chased one of those friends into a branch of JD Sports, Hammett stabbed Mr Qigley four times in the torso.
He ran into Cards Direct where he bled to death.
Earlier this week, Hammett was jailed for a minimum of 24 years. Howell was jailed for at least 20 years.
ECHOES OF FIRST MURDER
The killing has echoes of Mr Dix's murder.
He was killed by three members of OTM as they went to rob a crack house near Mr Dix's flat in Vale Green in January 2022.
A friend of Mr Dix's at the crack den - which was being used as part of a county lines drug dealing operation - called him to tell him it was being targeted.
He left his flat to intervene but was chased off by the rival gang and stabbed in the street.
In October last year, Hans Beeharry, then 20, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 20 years while Benjamin Gil and Cameron Palmer, both then 19, received life sentences with a minimum of 21 years after all three were found guilty of Mr Dix's murder.
Since his murder, Emma and Phil Dix have launched a charity to raise awareness of the dangers of child exploitation, gangs and knife crime in our region to parents, carers and youngsters, which has won the backing of Hollywood star Idris Elba.
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