Five time nominated BEST BRITISH TRUE-CRIME PODCAST at the True Crime Awards, Independent Podcast Award and The British Podcast Awards, and voted 4th Best True-Crime Podcast by This Week, iTunes Top 25 Podcast, Podcast Magazine's Hot 50, The Telegraph's Top 5, Crime & Investigation Top 20 True-Crime Podcasts, also seen on BBC Radio, Sky News, The Guardian and TalkRadio's Podcast of the Week.
27 Antill Road, Tottenham - scene of the attack on Girl A
EPISODE THREE HUNDRED AND NINETEEN: On Monday the 12th of May 2008 at 4:45pm, two gangs clashed outside of the McDonald’s on Oxford Street, London, leaving one man, 22-year-old Steven Bigby dead. It was the epitome of pointless, yet it became a mere footnote when the press realised what he was charged with. It was a crime so heinous, some said his killing was his just comeuppance, especially given how lightly his co-defendants were sentenced. But were any of this brutal gang properly punished for their heinous crime?
SOURCES: a selection sourced from various archives:
MUSIC:
UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT: Were any of this brutal gang properly punished for their heinous crime? Find out on Murder Mile. Today, I’m standing on Oxford Street in Soho, W1; two streets north of the senseless killing of Charlie Chirgwin, two streets south of Bryan Robinson’s racist attack, a few doors up from Jacques Tratsart’s family massacre, and one street south of the priest’s hate-filled hanging - coming soon to Murder Mile. At 185 Oxford Street stands a McDonalds, the creepy clown’s house of barely-edible burgers, where the less-literate stare at a poorly paid server with a scowling face (like a bulldog’s angry anus) having waited 30 whole seconds, only to slam down a quid, not say ‘thank you’, shove this excuse for food in, and squeeze it out, as made of chemicals, when the world ends only two things will exist; cockroaches, and the poo of McDonald’s patrons. It's a horrible franchise, where the dregs of society sit and grunt. Unsurprisingly being a haven for the Ill-mannered and short-tempered, this McDonald’s was the scene of a murder. On Monday the 12th of May 2008 at roughly 4:45pm, two so-called gangs – basically a group of unemployed boys who dreamed of being gangsters and never grew up – had a petty spat, the kind that even a 2-year-old toddler could resolve, which turned into a fight, and ended in a death. It was the epitome of pointless, yet it became a mere footnote when the press realised who the victim was, what he was charged with, and was due to be convicted of. It was a crime so heinous, some said his killing was his just comeuppance, especially given how lightly his co-defendants were sentenced. But how far should a punishment go, and could any of these boys have truly been redeemed? My name is Michael, I am your tour guide, and this is Murder Mile. Episode 319: Live by Hate, Die by Hate. It’s an irony. As a ‘victim’, Steven Bigby was given a voice in death through his loved ones who painted a rose-tinted picture of his life, by raising the good, glossing over the bad and giving it a noble context. It’s something we all do as no-one speak ill of the dead. Yet, as his alleged victim - a child known only as ‘Girl A’ - had chosen to remain anonymous to protect what life she has left, her story is lost forever. Born in 1986, Steven Bigby known as ‘Biggz’ was raised in Homerton and near the De Beauvoir estate, two impoverished parts of Hackney, East London, where crime is endemic, and as his sister Charlotte said “It’s hard for a black guy to walk. He has to keep his head down if he wants to stay out of trouble”. Unlike many, he had brains, having left school with several GCSE’s, and being keen to do right by his mother Pearl, he had enrolled in a business course at BSix Brooke House College, and as a Christian, at times his faith in God was so strong that he had considered having a crucifix tattooed on his chest. As the middle child of three, times were hard as their father had abandoned them. As his friend Marc said “he never talked about his dad. It’s maybe obvious, but he had no father figure”. But his mother more than made up for that, and against all odds, giving her children everything she could and striving so hard that, at the time of his death, Steven’s sister was able to go to university to study nursing. Pearl sometimes worked as many as three jobs; as a carer, a receptionist and a cleaner, but by 2000, when Steven was 14, it all got too much, and as Charlotte recalled “that’s when the problems started”. In his mid-teens, Steven said he worked for a guy on Dalston market selling phones, but no-one really knew. Aged 16, he dropped out of college where a brighter future lay. He doubted his faith, believing that God had forsaken him. And as Marc said, “he looked up to the older gangsters in Holly Street and when he got older, he liked that people gave him a little bit of respect straightaway. He was all about respect. I think that’s maybe what killed him. He puffed out his chest to the wrong guy”. Instead of choosing the route his family had - focussed on hard work and decency - he learned from the lazy whose pathetic lives revolved around prison and parole, having stolen from the poor and the weak. Aged 22, he already had several stints in prison. Defending him, Charlotte his sister said, “he used to rob brothels, drug dealers, bad people. I don’t think he hurt anyone. It was dirty money”, as if these were the victimless crimes for an anti-hero who only did this to feed his family, not his ego or status. But every crime has a victim, and as you’ll see, ‘Girl A’ was treated as less than human. The countdown towards his death began when he joined the gang ‘Tugs from Africa’, an abbreviation of ‘Thugs from Africa’ (as proving you’re illiterate is supposedly fashionable), later changed to ‘Tugs from Around’, as they rejected the postcode rivalry many gangs fight over for territory they don’t own. Marc said, “It’s a brotherhood. We take care of each other. If one of us hasn’t got something, we get it for him. You rely on each other, not just financially, but for stability, emotional support”. But it’s also rampant with peer pressure, bickering, jealousy and fear, with no real understanding of what respect is and how it is earned except by a bunch of deadbeats who will either end up in prison or dead by their 20s owing to a misguided belief that they’re men, when in truth, they are nothing but lost boys. Marc later said “I wish people would give him credit for the good things that he done”, also admitting that as he was a “hungry guy” who wanted money, fame and possessions, yet others (who remain nameless) described him as “a wasteman” = someone worthless – as he’d scam younger weaker boys out of money or drugs, “as If he didn’t know you, he didn’t give a shit about you, the same way no one gives a shit about him now he’s dead”, or as the evidence shows, the same way the gang felt about ‘Girl A'. In the latter years of his short and wasted life, he’d committed muggings, dealt skunk, he robbed crack dealers – with his cohort claiming they threw it away “as no one wants that stuff on the streets”, and at the time of his death, he was accused of ‘wounding with intent and violent disorder’ having stabbed a man in a Tottenham snooker hall, and bafflingly, he was also bailed for the sadistic attack on ‘Girl A’. With dreams of making it as a rapper, he admitted to his sister, “I want to wake up, change my life. You know what my problem is? I’m not focused. I need to get back to college… to be a better person”. On Monday 12th of May 2008, Steven Bigby was meant to visit a recording studio to record some tracks and maybe change his life for the better, but having missed his bus, he and four pals went to the Foot Locker on Oxford Street to buy some trainers, and feeling peckish, they stopped off at the McDonald’s. Moments later, he was lying dead in the street, his life taken because of something so utterly pointless. As the press dredged through his criminal past, his loved one’s tried to ensure that his legacy wouldn’t be one of a petty wannabe gangster, but although he was never convicted of this truly heinous crime… …the question remains, would any of the gang who attacked of ‘Girl A’ ever be properly punished? It’s uncertain how many members of the 'Tugs From Around' gang there were, but at least ten attacked ‘Girl A’. Those named included Bradley Daley-Smith, Bruno Abrantes, Miguel Almeida, Opeyemi Ismail, Hector Muaimba and Steven Bigby, all in their early 20s and living in disparate parts of North London, with 19-year-old Jason Brew and 17-year-old Rogel McMorris, who was said to be the main ringleader. ‘Girl A’ was a 16-year-old Ghanian girl who was raised in Tottenham to a loving family, and with severe learning difficulties, she had the mental age of eight-year-old. Requesting anonymity, I can’t tell you her backstory, I can only tell you about the horror inflicted upon her, and the limited life she lives now. As happens in all trials, attempts were made to discredit the victim, even one with learning difficulties. Rosina Cottage QC for the prosecution stated “it’s the age old story of a girl with a number of sexual partners labelled as ‘dirty’. What had she done except to have sex with people who asked her to? She thought it would make her popular”, being mentally challenged and easily led, and let’s not forget, as all but one of these men were adults and she was only a child - this isn’t casual sex, this is paedophilia. Two days prior, 21-year-old father-of-two Bradley Daley-Smith admitted to having consensual sex with this schoolgirl, bragging “I did my thing with her and that was it for me. I’m a well-known womaniser, people know me for that. Having sex with someone is not a big deal”, summing up the gang’s attitude. Earlier on Wednesday 9th of January 2008, the night of the attack, it was said she’d had consensual sex with three unnamed men and later admitted to lying to the Police about a prior sexual assault in a car. In short, their defence counsel had painted her as a ‘slut’, but it can easily been seen that these were adults coercing a vulnerable child for sex, which was a tactic they’d used before, and would use again. Each man pleaded innocent, so when some (but not all) were tried at Wood Green Crown Court, ‘Girl A’ was forced to relive her horror. To protect her, she gave evidence by video-link. Due to her learning difficulties, parts of the legal process were explained by a social worker. And her testimony had to be broken down into 20 minute sessions, as her wounds made it difficult to talk, sit, or be still, as the salt from her tears irritated her disfigured face. Yet, as some of the gang sat wearing crucifixes to paint them as sweet little angels, some smirked and snickered at what remained of the girl sat before them. Wednesday 9th of January 2008 had been a bitterly cold winter’s night, as the heavy rain turned to hail on Antill Road, a quiet residential street south of Tottenham Hale tube comprising of two storey semi-detached houses from the last two centuries, which were sadly blighted by the area’s gang violence. At roughly 6:30pm, 17-year-old Rogel McMorris had lured ‘Girl A’ to 27 Antill Road, a vacant terraced house that was being renovated, being filled with tools, plasterboard and chemicals to strip paint. The prosecution stated “she was shy and insecure with learning difficulties“, having the mental age of an 8 year old “and thought she would be liked by these boys if she had sex with them”. But with McMorris having already texted the rest of the gang, “she had no idea what was in store for her”. As neighbours sat in the warmth of their homes watching telly, McMorris broke into this dirty derelict house, lured her passed the cold hollow ground-floor rooms, up the ramshackle stairs to the filthy first floor, and to one of the three thin bedrooms where on the bare floor lay a soiled mattress. She just wanted to be liked and so agreed to have sex with McMorris, but waiting for her were nine other men. Outnumbered and overpowered, these savages stripped this vulnerable and defenceless child naked. They forced her to perform oral sex on each and every one of them, violating her mouth for fun as this young girl swallowed what they made her to swallow, whether she cried or sobbed, that didn’t matter. Over the next two hours, the gang took it turns to rape her, savaging her vagina in this barely lit room, which was mostly illuminated by the stark lights of their phones as their filmed her terror. To them, she was a nothing, a nobody, just a warm hole to shove their penises in, and although she pleaded for them to stop by claiming she was on her period, not one of them did. None of them pitied her, as they continued laughing and filming, getting their jollies, only for many to later deny that they were there. In court, their selfish attitude remained when confronted by the video-link of the young girl whose life they had ruined forever. Rosina Cottage QC stated to the jury “these young men are arrogant. Do you get the feeling that many of them felt they should not be here? If they were all innocent that would be right, but the prosecution says they are not. You have seen them talking in the dock, some of them lolling around, and at times making noises such as laughter, even during the evidence of the victim”. But the two-hour gang-rape of this vulnerable child wasn’t the worst part of her torture. With their semen spent, as used condoms littered the floor, they wiped their soiled penises on a towel in the bathroom. To humiliate and torment her further, McMorris threw washing powder at her face, and although ‘Girl A’ was crouched, naked and screaming, they kept filming, as he scoured the house for something else to assault her with, having said she had ‘disrespected’ him by not ‘sucking his dick’. In the kitchen, under the sink, McMorris found a white tub of clear granules with a large red label. He claimed he didn’t know what ‘corrosive' meant, or what Sodium Hydroxide was, but as 98% strength caustic soda which the label stated was “for stripping paint and cleaning drains”, with no sympathy for the pain she’d endure, he only cared whether it would destroy the forensic evidence of their crime. ‘Girl A’ recalled “I didn’t know what (was) poured, but (it was) some kind of acid and it was burning… they were all around just laughing. I was crying and screaming”, as he tipped the granules on her face, genitals, buttocks, back and chest, as the chemical reacted with her sweat and burned her bare flesh. A burns specialist confirmed “she suffered severe burns to 55% of her body… specifically her genitalia”, and whether he read the label or not, by pouring water over her blistering skin, the granules turned into pure acid, leaving her screaming in agony, as large hot chunks of burning flesh fell from her body. Having used her, like cowards, they then ran from the flat, laughing, leaving her to die a painful death. No-one could ever understand the agony she endured, and continues to endure to this day. As the acid burned her lips and throat, a neighbour (coincidently an off-duty police officer) heard her muffled screams, came to the window, and seeing the gang flee, at 8:20pm, she found ‘Girl A’ on the doorstep, naked and burning, as caustic smoke rose from her red burning flesh and dissolved hair. Rushed to hospital, she survived, but only just. With extensive burns to her face, she could barely talk or breathe. Owing to the pain, the shock put her in a coma for several weeks. Unable to regulate her body temperate, being suspectable to infection, and having caused damage to her spine, she was left not only permanently disfigured for life requiring numerous skin grafts and reconstructive surgeries, but suffering extreme PTSD, 17 years on, she is still plagued by flashback, anxiety and depression. Judge Shaun Lyons said “she will need life-long treatment. It’s doubtful whether she can operate fully as a young woman”, as now being isolated, she’s petrified of returning to Tottenham. She said “I tried to forgive them, but it is so hard. I hope one day they will feel sorry for what they have done to me". Only they didn’t. They bragged about it. Witnesses proved problematic as Detective Constable Alex Newton said “a lack of co-operation by the locals made it difficult to investigate", but whether they refused to speak through fear of the gang or distrust of the Police, this was a vulnerable child who’d been gangraped, burned and left for dead. But as hard as the gang had tried to erase their crime, the scene was thick with evidence; with DNA on the towel, fingerprints in the bedroom, cell mast data from their phones, the photos and videos they’d taken (which identified some but not all of them), discarded clothes as they too were burned by the caustic soda, the used condom wrappers which littered the floor, a confirmed sighting of Rogel McMorris and several gang members, and the eyewitness testimony from the hospital bed of ‘Girl A’. Across the following weeks, ten men were named, arrested and charged… …but even with a wealth of evidence, barely any were actually convicted. On the 24th of October 2008, the trial began at Wood Green Crown Court in North London. ‘Girl A’ said she was raped by ten men, but ten never stood trial, as two were released, and the charges against 20-year-old Opeyemi Ismeil were dropped owing to insufficient evidence, taking the tally to just seven. As they all denied her rape and GBH, although still traumatised and in extreme pain, ‘Girl A’ was forced to recount her testimony, no doubt exacerbated by the stress of hearing their voices by video-link. Arrogant to the last, the self-professed womaniser Bradley Daley-Smith denied that he’d intimidated witnesses, even though, during the trial, some who said they’d seen him said they’d made a mistake. He blamed his co-defendants stating “what do you think I am, some kind of a mob boss? Half of those boys in the dock don’t like me and they have all said I wasn’t there. You haven’t got nothing on me”. Claiming he was visiting his girlfriend in a hostel when ‘Girl A’ was attacked, before assisting the Police with their enquiries, he checked the CCTV of himself signing in the hostel’s guestbook, which he took, and he was subsequently found ‘not guilty’ of rape by the jury, taking the accused down to just six. With four scars on the leg on 24-year-old Bruno Abrantes, John Settle OBE, a renowned forensic burns consultant stated they were “consistent with a caustic soda burn” like those found on ‘Girl A’, but with his defence counsel’s own expert confirming that these were old scars caused by an accident with hot oil when Abrantes was a boy, he too was acquitted of rape and GBH, leaving just five accused. Abrantes stated in court, “I feel good about the verdict. I have been innocent from the start. The jury did the right thing, it would have been a terrible mistake to convict me. I am not a rapist”, and as the gang of ten tumbled further, 22-year-old Miguel Almeida was also acquitted, taking the tally to four. On the 8th of December 2008, at Wood Green Crown Court, after an eight week trial in which ‘Girl A’ had relived her torture, sat in agony and was mocked by her arrogant attackers who had gangraped her, burned her, disfigured her and almost killed her leaving her physically and emotionally disabled, of the four gang-members remaining, just three stood before the Judge, as Steven Bigby was dead. Sentenced on the 19th of January 2009, 20-year-old Hector Muaimba would serve eight years for rape and a two-years for an unconnected robbery, 19-year-old Jason Brew to six years for rape, and as one of the ringleaders, 17-year-old Rogel McMorris to just nine years for two counts of rape and GBH. And as most prisoners who receive fixed sentences are released on licence halfway through, the family of ‘Girl A’ were shocked, describing it as “the worst day of our life. No conviction can compensate for what our daughter went through”, so rightly, the next day, an application was submitted to the Court of Appeal by the Attorney General, Baroness Scotland “to determine if they were unduly lenient". Julian Lewis, MP for New Forest East stated "such villains considered for release halfway through their sentences make a nonsense of imposing those sentences in the first place". Deborah Kitson, director of The Ann Craft Trust, said “victims with learning difficulties faced greater hurdles in getting justice, and are more likely to be victims of rape”. Richard Curen, CEO of Respond said "this was a horrific and cowardly attack that scarred and traumatised this young woman both physically and mentally. These sentences are another injury and I fear it will take even longer for her to recover". And Kathryn Stone OBE, CEO of Voice UK, stated "these sentences don't come close to reflecting the brutality and horror of this attack.. and send completely the wrong message to society" that evil will never be punished. On 2nd of July 2009, Lord Chief Justice Judge and Justices Simon & Blair deemed two of the sentences as "unduly lenient". Muaimba’s stayed at six years making him eligible for parole after three, Brew’s was increased from six to nine years and eligible after four and a half, and McMorris’ was increased from nine years to fourteen, meaning even if he served his full sentence, he’d be out before 2022. To many, even these punishments made a mockery of the law… …along with those laws there to protect victims of rape. At the end of April 2008, having been questioned about ‘Girl A’s attack, Steven Bigby was bailed. To his girlfriend, he said he was falsely accused. To his friend Larry “he was adamant he was going to clear his name”. And his sister Charlotte insisted “Steven was my big brother, he was not a violent rapist”. On Monday the 12th of May 2008, as ‘Girl A’ endured another painful skin graft, Steven Bigby who was also on bail for a violent stabbing, headed went to the West End to buy trainers and something to eat. The spat which ignited his murder was petty and pointless. At roughly 4:40pm, in the McDonald’s on Oxford Street (a place that ‘Girl A’ once went to, could only dream of going to, but probably never will again), a dirty look was exchanged between Steven and a rival gang from Waltham Forest. Like all boys pretending to be men, his friend Marc later stated “when the altercation started, we would have got on top of it right away. We would have pulled out our shanks”, meaning knives - to show how brainless they truly were, being too thick to talk or defuse it – continuing “I guarantee two or three of the people Biggz was with had a knife. Maybe a little 38 handgun. We would have got on top of the situation”. And that’s why he died, over a perceived slight of respect that as a suspected rapist, he hadn’t earned. As the dirty look was given, a fizzy drink was then thrown (being the way a petulant child would react when reprimanded by his mummy), and although the spat seemed like it had passed, as Bigby exited the door of McDonald’s and onto the bustling Oxford Street, a four-inch blade was thrust in his chest. Acting Detective Chief Inspector Bob Mahoney said Bigby was stabbed with a "bog standard, horrible knife… and the incident lasted no more than one, maybe two minutes”, unlike the humiliating torture and rape of ‘Girl A’, which lasted two hours, and the damage of which would scar her for a lifetime. His friend, Larry said he saw him pitch forward, mutter something, collapse and die in his friend’s arms, unlike the cowards who attacked ‘Girl A’ and left her to die burning in horrific pain. And as “Biggz was looking into my eyes, he couldn’t say anything”. But if he could, I doubt it would have been an apology. For this gang, life was all about ‘respect’, but where’s the respect in gangraping a vulnerable child? Three days later, 18-year-old Anthony Costa of Walthamstow was found guilty of manslaughter, and unlike the “unduly lenient“ sentences issued to three of the ten men accused of raping ‘Girl A’, Costa was given an indeterminate sentence to protect the public, owing to the seriousness of his offence. Being dead, the charges against Steven Bigby were subsequently dropped. As an additional slap in the face to the family of ‘Girl A’ and an insult to our justice system, many had felt – rightly or wrongly - that his punishment was justified, with Richard Littlejohn of the Daily Mail writing that his death was “no great loss. Sounds like whoever killed him did us all a favour”, with an anonymous blogger stating that “it was a shame we can’t round up all the guys like him, and let them stab each other to death”. Some may decry this draconian attitude of an eye-for-an-eye, especially given that he wasn’t convicted in a court of law for the rape and GBH that his friends and family are certain he did not commit. But with the Police stating “Steven Bibgy would have been convicted… he would definitely have been found guilty, as his DNA was all over a towel in the bathroom”, did he live by hate and die by hate? The Murder Mile UK True Crime Podcast has been researched using the original declassified police investigation files, court records, press reports and as many authentic sources as possible, which are freely available in the public domain, including eye-witness testimony, confessions, autopsy reports, first-hand accounts and independent investigation, where possible. But these documents are only as accurate as those recounting them and recording them, and are always incomplete or full of opinion rather than fact, therefore mistakes and misrepresentations can be made. As stated at the beginning of each episode (and as is clear by the way it is presented) Murder Mile UK True Crime Podcast is a 'dramatisation' of the events and not a documentary, therefore a certain amount of dramatic licence, selective characterisation and story-telling (within logical reason and based on extensive research) has been taken to create a fuller picture. It is not a full and complete representation of the case, the people or the investigation, and therefore should not be taken as such. It is also often (for the sake of clarity, speed and the drama) presented from a single person's perspective, usually (but not exclusively) the victim's, and therefore it will contain a certain level of bias and opinion to get across this single perspective, which may not be the overall opinion of those involved or associated. Murder Mile is just one possible retelling of each case. Murder Mile does not set out to cause any harm or distress to those involved, and those who listen to the podcast or read the transcripts provided should be aware that by accessing anything created by Murder Mile (or any source related to any each) that they may discover some details about a person, an incident or the police investigation itself, that they were unaware of.
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AuthorMichael J Buchanan-Dunne is a crime writer, podcaster of Murder Mile UK True Crime and creator of true-crime TV series. 
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