These 12 cases of homicide in London remain unsolved. Can you help bring the killers to justice? Contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Mehar Singh Kataria, 68, was killed in his own home in East Ham, east London, on 3 February 2006.

The father-of-five was first beaten over the head with a blunt object at the house in Byron Avenue.

Police said the attackers then covered his body with a tablecloth before stabbing him repeatedly in the upper body.

There was no sign of break-in, although an envelope containing £200 was taken from the address.

Police offered a £20,000 reward for information and appealed for help tracing two men of Indian appearance who were seen in the area both before and on the day Mr Kataria was murdered.

During appeals in 2006, DCI Carl Mehta said: “Enquires have led me to believe that Mr Kataria’s killer(s) may well have been from the Asian community, possibly the Sikh community, where Mr Kataria was well known.

“I’m particularly seeking the assistance of the Sikh community to help solve this murder – I’m confident that if the police and community work together then significant steps can be made in an attempt to identify the perpetrator(s).”

It was broad daylight when he was killed in his own home; a happy loving home where he had seen his five children grow up, get married and where his 13 grandchildren visited. The thought of someone touching him is unbearable but knowing that he was murdered for no obvious reason, with such brutality, is agonising. Why was he so brutally attacked resulting in murder? What could someone have possibly gained by taking the life of an old man? I need closure, my life is on hold knowing his killers are out there, knowing they are still living and my Daddy isn’t.

Mr Kataria’s youngest daughter Rimpy Bhatia, speaking in 2006

The remains of Alexandre Madeira Marques, a 61-year-old waiter, were discovered near Woodside Road, Luton, Bedfordshire, on 2 January 2006.

He had last been seen alive at his flat in Clanricarde Gardens, Notting Hill, west London, at around 11am on 16 October 2006.

Mr Marques, an openly gay man who had moved to the UK from Lisbon in 1994 and worked at the Arts Club in Piccadilly, spoke to a friend about an hour later but failed to turn up to work the following day. He was recorded missing on 24 October.

CCTV cameras recorded an unidentified man using his bank cards in the Shepherd’s Bush, Cricklewood and Kilburn areas between 18 and 24 October.

Police want to identify this man in relation to the use of Mr Marques’ bank cards

The case was closed in 2007 but was reopened again in 2019 after new information was received.

Police offered a £20,000 reward for information but the case remains unsolved.

Any information will be properly treated as highly confidential and I can assure people that their identities can be protected if that is their area of concern. Alex’s parents are no longer alive, but he does have family still living in Portugal, elderly family members, who would really like to have some resolution found around this and I want to emphasise how committed I am to tracing and identifying the killer.

DCI Vicky Tunstall, speaking in 2021

Jordan Jackson, 20, and Leyla Djemal-Northcott, 21, were shot dead at their flat in Menlo Gardens, Upper Norwood, south London, at around 6.45am on March 7, 2006.

Two men in ski masks blasted Jordan with a pump-action shotgun as he answered the door and then killed Leyla as she lay in bed.

Jordan’s brother Keiran was also shot and was lucky to survive, while Keiran’s girlfriend managed to hide and escaped injury.

Detectives said they believed the Jackson brothers were targeted in a gangland execution and Leyla was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On 14 November 2011, police charged Michael Ennis-Simpson, 25 [13/06/86] from Plummer Road, Brixton; Shaun Sutton, 36 [7/02/75], from Wynton Gardens, South Norwood; Leon Russell, 28 [1/12/82] of no fixed abode and his identical twin Lee Russell, 28 [1/12/82] from Lyham Road, Brixton, with two counts of murder and one of attempted murder.

They were due to go on trial at Woolwich Crown Court on November 13, 2012, but the case collapsed after Mr Justice Fulford ruled that identification evidence was ‘fatally flawed.’ After an unsuccessful appeal against the ruling at the High Court the four men were cleared of all charges.

The prosecution case was that Ennis-Simpson was a drug dealer who orchestrated the hit after being robbed of £5,000 in cash. Leon Russell and Sutton were said to have burst into the victims’ home in Upper Norwood with pump-action shotguns to carry out the killings, while Lee Russell was alleged to have acted as a lookout.

Leon Russell was picked out on an identity parade as one of the two gunmen by Mr Jackson’s brother Kieran, who admitted he only saw part of their faces because they were wearing masks. The police used pictures of both Leon and his twin Lee as part of the procedure as well as two different photographs of six other men to create six ‘virtual twins’.

Mr Justice Fulford, in his ruling dismissing the evidence, said that the photos of the Russell brothers made it impossible to distinguish between them and as a result the procedure was unfair.

The judge said: “The PACE Code and the relevant jurisprudence do not provide sufficient assistance to the police as to how identification parades in these circumstances should be arranged. The officers concerned took substantial steps to address the problems confronting them, and their failure to cover all the complex difficulties that have been revealed is understandable. The measures they implemented were intelligent and imaginative, if ultimately deficient.”

Extract from ruling of Mr Justice Fulford in 2012

DCI Chris Le Pere said the case would remain open. He added: “This was a tragic case involving three young people two of which were killed in their own home. If any new information comes to light it will be thoroughly investigated with the aim of bringing to justice those responsible.”

Jordan and Leyla had been together for five years and had moved in together in Christmas 2005.

Leyla’s mum, Christine Djemal, said: “Leyla has not had the opportunity to finish college, get married, have children. She is deeply missed by her family who still find it hard to come to terms with her sudden and violent death.”

Jordan’s mum said: “Jordan is sorely missed. Due to his untimely death he has missed the birth of his twin brother’s son, a nephew he will never see. He never got to see his baby sister’s first day at school. He was a caring, considerate and loving son, brother and uncle and a joy to be around. He is missed dearly and his murder has destroyed our family.”


Peter Oduwole, 37, was shot dead in the street in Hackney, east London, on 23 April 2006.

He was handing out flyers at venues in Hackney Road when he was attacked at around 8.30pm.

Mr Oduwole, who was also known as Peter Cosa Nostra and lived in Penge, south London, died shortly after being taken to hospital.

Nobody was charged and the case remains unsolved.


Jason Gale-Bent, 29, was stabbed to death in New Cross, south London, on 17 September 2006.

He was sitting on a wall with two friends in Woodpecker Path near his home in Ludwick Mews when they were approached by a group of around 30 to 40 youths on bikes.

Jason was taken to hospital but died of a stab wound to the heart.

Police said they were investigating possible links to two incidents later that night when a shot was fired in Grove Street, Deptford, and a moped rider was chased by a large group of youths on pedal cycles.

Jason’s mother told reporters that her son was not a member of any gang.

Several youths were arrested but nobody was ever charged.

His murder was one of a series of killings on the Woodpecker Estate between 2005 and 2010, including Orville Davidson, 25, Peter Buahin, 23, Nathan Williams, 24, and Nathan Allen.


Daniel Ross, 22, was shot dead on the dancefloor of the Scala nightclub in King’s Cross in the early hours of 24 September 2006.

Read the full murdermap report on the case.


Stuart Christopher McMahon, 45, was found shot dead at his home at 8 Magdalen Road, Earlsfield, on 30 September 2006.

The victim was described in media reports as a millionaire father-of-two who ran his own building firm. He had been living at the five-bedroom house after splitting up with his wife six months earlier but had recently sold the property for £850,000.

His body was discovered in the kitchen at around 5pm after neighbours called police to report that the front door had been left open. The door had been damaged by gunshots and shattered glass was found on the floor.

A postmortem concluded he died of a gunshot wound to the chest.

During appeals for information detectives said they believed he had been shot between 9.30pm and 9.40pm on 29 September 2006.

At this moment we have no clear idea of a motive but we can rule out burglary. The house has not been ransacked. There is no doubt that somebody came to his house with the intention of killing him. “Mr McMahon was not involved in serious crime. He was not a gangster. The key to this lies in his circle of associates.

DCI Steve Richardson, speaking in October 2006

The case featured on BBC’s Crimewatch programme in August 2007. Police said the gun used was a .22 – “a very unusual weapon to be used in a murder”.


Jerome Vassell, 19, was shot dead in Hornsey, north London, on 28 October 2006.

He suffered a bullet wound to the head in the car park of the West Indian Cultural Centre in Clarendon Road shortly before 1am.

Jerome spent five months in hospital and was discharged in March 2007 with severe brain damage, partial paralysis and communication problems.

He died in December 2007 after collapsing at his home in Tottenham.

In 2008 police offered a £20,000 reward for information and said they believed Jerome was shot following an argument with a gang of black men outside the cultural centre.

Later media reports suggested it could be linked to a feud between two rival gangs, the WG in Wood Green and the NPK in Northumberland Park, Tottenham, north London, on the basis that a rapper linked to the WG posted a tribute to Jerome Vassell on YouTube.

Contact the incident room on 020 8733 4704 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111


Jamail Newton, 19, was shot dead outside a nightclub in south London on 1 November 2006.

He was leaving the Aristocrats venue with his friends when two men opened fire with Mac10 submachine guns at around 2.20am.

Jamal died later in hospital.

Police said they were called to reports of a disturbance between two groups of men outside the club, as well as a fire at the back of the premises.

Forensic tests revealed that one of the weapons had been used in the murder of Antoine ‘Fatz’ Smith, 24, who was shot dead in an alleyway near Acre Lane, Clapham, southwest, London on 20 October 2006. Although two youths aged 16 and 17 were charged with that murder, they were acquitted following a trial in 2007 and the Metropolitan Police classes the case as “detected”.

Nobody has been charged with the murder of Jamail Newton.

The Guardian reported that he had been expelled from school at 11 and became involved in cannabis dealing on the streets. With the help of key workers at the Kids Company charity, he turned away from drugs and gangs before his death and began studying computing at college and learning to drive.


Darren Ogiste, 20, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Stoke Newington, Hackney, on 19 November 2006.

He was walking along Church Street with a group of friends when six or seven shots were fired at around 1.30am.

Darren was hit in the chest and collapsed outside a supermarket in Church Street. He died in hospital. One of his friends was also injured but survived.

Five men were arrested by detectives investigating the murder but nobody has ever been charged.

No murder investigation is ever closed and my team and I remain committed to getting justice for Darren and his family. A long time has passed since he was taken from them. Birthdays, Christmases, and countless other family occasions that he should have been a part of but never got to be. That is not right and I know the pain they feel today is as raw as when they first heard what had happened to him. But I believe there are people who have information that could bring them justice and help ease that pain. Over the years allegiances change and people who once might have stayed silent, through fear, or loyalty, may now be thinking differently. If that person is you, I want you to know you can speak to us in the very strictest of confidence. Or, if you want, you can speak to Crimestoppers anonymously. What matters most is that you do the right thing and help us bring justice to a family whose grief has gone on for far too long.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Rogers, speaking in February 2022

It emerged in later court cases that Darren Ogiste had been released from prison shortly before the shooting, having been convicted of helping to dispose of the body of drug dealer Erkan Konakli.

Mr Konakli was shot dead at a flat used Darren’s older brother Delroy Ogiste, in Provost Street, Shoreditch, east London, in November 2003. His body was hidden in a barrel and dumped in the River Lea.

Delroy Ogiste was cleared of the murder of Mr Konakli after a trial in 2005 but both he and Darren were convicted of perverting the course of justice.

Three months after Darren Ogiste’s murder, the prime suspect in the shooting, a man named in court as Leon Smith, 22, was targeted by a gunman at Cremer Tyres in Southgate Road, Islington, on 1 February 2007.

Delroy Ogiste was put on trial for attempted murder in relation to the attack but was acquitted following a trial at the Old Bailey in February 2008. He claimed he was decorating his bedroom at the time and called his mother and father as alibi witnesses.

To provide information to police call 101 or tweet @MetCC quoting Operation Belzoni. Information can also be given anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.


Isaac Kofi Benson, 25, was stabbed to death in Tooting on 16 December 2006.

Police were called to reports of an assault at the Rounded Oak pub in Mitcham Road at around 1.30am.

Mr Benson, from Tooting, was found slumped outside and was pronounced dead shortly after arrival at hospital.

A postmortem gave the cause of death as a single stab wound to the heart.

Police said the pub was very busy at the time and appealed for witnesses to a disturbance or altercation inside the pub shortly before 1.30am.

A man and a woman, both aged 18, were charged with perverting the course of justice but the murder case remains unsolved.

Contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.


Other cases:

The case of Duncan Frame, who died of a heart attack after being assaulted during a brawl at the Cutty Sark pub in Thamesmead, south London, on 10 September 2006, was also listed as undetected by the Metropolitan Police. An inquest in 2008 recorded an open verdict. Seven men were charged in relation to the violence at the pub but nobody was charged in relation to the death.

Kashmir Singh Bedesha, 54, died of head injuries after falling to the ground outside a curry house in London Road, Norbury, south London, on 24 July 2006. Police investigated the death as a homicide after a witness said he was pushed over an unknown person. Restaurant staff said Mr Bedesha was drunk and fell over.

Police investigated the case of Joan Board after she died of heart disease at her home in Enfield on 2 December 2005 and arrested a doctor on suspicion of manslaughter in January 2006. The death was listed as an undetected homicide by the Metropolitan Police in 2011.

The Metropolitan Police also records the following murders as undetected, although no further details are readily available:

Edwin Rewald-Carter, 44, on 5 December 2006.

Aivar Mezolvich, 45, on 12 November 2006.

Michael Bowling, 19, on 21 October 2006.

Mohamed Said Mohamoud, 46, on 6 September 2006.

Selmore Lewinson, 49, on 19 May 2006.

Simon Monteiro, 39, on 24 April 2006.

Mayaran Jaffma Mahendraraja, 22, on 17 March 2006.

Alam Monsur, 27, on 4 February 2006.

If you know any further details of unsolved murders in 2006, contact us on mailbox@murdermap.co.uk.

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