Norfolk gang murder: Killer and victim were childhood friends

Raymond James Quigley, 18, was murdered by Alfie Hammett and Joshua Howell after the rivalry between the Third Side and On the Money (OTM) spread onto the streets of Ipswich.

Hammett, 19, who inflicted the fatal blows, was handed a minimum jail sentence of 24 years. Howell, 19, who chased off Mr Quigley's friends with a machete to stop them helping him, was given a minimum term of 20 years.

During the hearing, it emerged Hammett and Mr Quigley had been childhood friends in Norwich, where they lived about half a mile from each other.

They had known each other from the age of six, before growing up and joining rival gangs.

Mr Quigley, 18, was from Wymondham (Image: Suffolk Police)

While Hammett became a member of the Third Side, Mr Quigley joined OTM.

The two gangs were sworn enemies and exactly a year before Mr Quigley's murder, three members of OTM had stabbed Third Side member Joe Dix, 18, to death in Mile Cross, Norwich.

LINKED KILLINGS

The trial of Hammett and Howell earlier this year heard of links between the two cases and police believe the deep-rooted rivalry between the two gangs is what led to Mr Quigley's murder.

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.

Police at the scene in Westgate Street last January. (Image: Charlotte Bond, Newsquest)

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.

Mr Quigley, meanwhile, was seen in the public gallery during the trial of Mr Dix's killers.

At the time of the Ipswich murder, Hammett was banned from Norwich under bail conditions imposed after he was arrested following violence in Mojo nightclub, on Prince of Wales Road.

Raymond James Quigley died in January 2023. (Image: Charlotte Bond, Newsquest)

This meant he was living in Rushmere St Andrew, near Ipswich, where he was associating with Howell, from 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, 18 - from the IP3 gang - discovered he was in the town and were trawling the centre looking for him, to continue the gang feud.

Alfie Hammett (left) and Joshua Howell (right) have been found guilty of murder (Image: Suffolk Police)

THE KILLING

The pair found Mr Quigley and his friends on Westgate Street, in the retail centre of the town.

Hammett and Howell were wearing face masks and had their hoods up at the time of the attack.

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 Quigley four times in the torso.

He ran into Cards Direct where, despite the efforts of members of the public and paramedics, he bled to death.

Both killers fled the scene but were arrested four days later and charged two days after that.

The cordon in the town centre following the attack (Image: Charlotte Bond)

COURT ROOM OUTBURST

During the pair's sentencing, at Ipswich Crown Court, as Mr Quigley's mother and father, Margaret and Raymond, gave a statement describing their devastation, a member of the public in the public gallery shouted out: "He killed Joe!"

Judge Martyn Levett warned the public not to speak.

Hammett and Howell, from Ipswich, had both denied murder and possession of a weapon in a public place but were both found guilty of all charges on January 26.

Defence barrister Stephen Rose spoke in mitigation on behalf of Hammett and stressed the defendant’s young age and urged the judge to consider the limited ability of a teenager to maturely evaluate consequences.

Judge Martyn Levett highlighted following the mitigation that Hammett had come from a “relatively good home where he had supportive parents”.

Chris Henley KC spoke in mitigation on behalf of Howell.

He said that Joshua Howell did not know the victim at all and that he had essentially played the role of a “useful idiot” and that he did not “for a minute think he was going to be convicted of murder”.

He said he lied in court to explain his presence at the scene because he was under pressure from others in prison to not tell the truth.

Westgate Street was cordoned off following the stabbing of Raymond James Quigley. (Image: Charlotte Bond, Newsquest)

PRINCE OF WALES ROAD INCIDENT

Hammett was also sentenced to 12 months to be served concurrently for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, following an incident on Prince of Wales Road in September 2022, four months before Mr Quigley's murder.

He was involved in a fight with another group near the toilets of Mojo's nightclub.

A doorman was left with a black eye and bloody nose, as the violence spread outside.

Hammett ran off but was chased by police. He punched one of them but was tasered and detained.

It was this incident which meant he was living near Ipswich at the time of Mr Quigley's murder. 

Alfie Hammett did not give evidence during the trial. (Image: Charlotte Bond)