County Lines men from London jailed for attack on Southampton man

Che Yethman-Spaine, aged 20, of High Road. Tottenham was found guilty by a jury in December 2018 of attempting to murder a man in Watts Park on March 30, 2017.

Callum Jeremiah Edwards, aged 18, of Spigurnell Road, Tottenham was found guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent for this part in the attack during the same trial at Winchester Crown Court at the end of last year.

The pair were also charged with possession of a bladed article in a public place and conspiracy to supply class A drugs in Southampton of which they previously pleaded guilty to.
Alongside Edwards and Yethman-Spaine stood Miron Ramadani, aged 20, of Risley Avenue, Haringey. He was also charged with conspiracy to supply class A drugs in Southampton. All three men are from London and they all pleaded guilty to dealing drugs in the city.

Ramadani was sentenced on December 14 to six years and 10 months imprisonment.

Today (Jan 10), Yethman-Spaine and Edwards were found guilty of the attack have been sentenced to a combined 30 years, including eight years on license.

Che Yethman-Spaine was handed a 18 year sentence. That is a 14 year jail term and four years on licence.

Callum Jeremiah Edwards was sentenced to 12 years, serving eight behind bars and four on license.

Yethman-Spaine and Edwards were in Watts Park in the city at 3pm on March 30 when they used knives to stab the 44-year-old victim in the throat. The almost deadly attack happened in broad daylight and the victim said the pair targeted him because they mistook him for someone else.

Yethmain-Spaine and Edwards have always denied their involvement in this attack, however officers believe from the victim’s account that the stabbing arose from a case of mistaken identity; that Yethamn-Spaine and Edwards were supposed to seek vengeance on someone else responsible for robbing them in previous weeks.

Officers were deployed to the scene and carried out a wide search of the area trying to track the assailants, who had fled the park. The victim was rushed to hospital. He had sustained a deep wound to his neck and underwent emergency surgery. The knife struck in the region of his right jugular and if he had not had the surgery, he would not have survived that attack.

Unable to locate anyone at the scene, officers launched an investigation to track down those responsible having been made aware that two men were seen running from the scene in the direction of Grosvenor Square car park.

Officers identified a vehicle from Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras that they believed was used by the offenders to flee back to London. Through enquiries they identified the driver as Ramadani.

CCTV from the city centre greatly assisted in identifying the offenders, as were witnesses; people that were just going about their daily life in the town centre had witnessed the horrific attack and helped police to provide detailed descriptions of the offenders. Some intervened and gave first aid to the victim.

In July 2017, officers executed multiple warrants in London to arrest Yethman-Spaine and Edwards on suspicion of attempted murder and drug offences after they were identified as being involved. They were then released under investigation for more time to gather evidence, building the strongest case possible against them was paramount.

In May 2018, officers were ready to arrest again. This time Yethman-Spaine, Edwards and Ramadani were all arrested and charged. During this process their phones were seized and officers were able to extract digital evidence linking them to the stabbing and the drugs conspiracy.

Today, Edwards and Yethman-Spaine were jailed for a combined 30 years.

Miron Ramadani was given a six year and 10 month term for his involvement in the drug conspiracy.

Detective Constable Russ Smith from the Western Investigation Team said: “This was a complex and protracted investigation into a brazen act of violence in our city centre parks. It was important to get the right result here today, to ensure those who think they can bring this kind of criminality and violence to Southampton that it won’t be tolerated, no matter how long it takes.

“Like most cities, Southampton has people who are dependent on illegal drugs and a high proportion of the illegal drugs dealt in Southampton are brought in by gangs from out of county, predominantly London. The enterprise is known nationally as County Lines.

“Through our campaign Fortress, we continue to try and reduce the harm caused by drugs. We work with our partners in outreach services to help people break the cycle and free themselves from drug dependency and execute regular police operations to prevent drug dealers, who bring violence and harm to our cities, from operating here.

“As well as enforcement, we work with partners to provide support and diversionary activities to people on the periphery of the drugs trade to help them escape criminality."
If you think you are aware of regular drug related criminal activity in the city please call 101 or the anonymous Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.

All information could help us catch and convict those who deal drugs to our communities and even the smallest pieces of information can help us develop a clearer intelligence picture and save lives.

Help and support

If you are concerned about yourself or someone else, help is available from Southampton Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service. They offer a warm welcome, along with free confidential and non-judgemental service.

Services are ‘open access’ which means you can self-refer by dropping in, emailing or calling. You can also be referred by your doctor or another professional

Adults (25 years and over)
Contact DARS (Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service)
023 8071 7171
2 The Carronades
New Road
Southampton
SO14 0AA
Email: southampton@cgl.org.uk
Link: https://www.changegrowlive.org/content/southampton-drug-and-alcohol-recovery-service-dars

Young People (24 years or under)
Contact DASH (Drug Alcohol Support and Health)
023 8022 4224
City Centre
13 High Street
SO14 2DF
Link: https://nolimitshelp.org.uk/get-help/dash/