Members of drug gang convicted of killing Harry Baker

By Ellyn Wright

15th Mar 2021 | Local News

Seventeen-year-old Harry Baker was found at Barry Intermodal Terminal
Seventeen-year-old Harry Baker was found at Barry Intermodal Terminal

Three men and a teenager who ambushed and chased Harry Baker to his death have today been convicted of his murder.

Seventeen-year-old Harry, from Cardiff, was found dead at an industrial container port at Barry Intermodal Terminal on the morning of Wednesday 28 August 2019.

He had been stabbed to death and his partially-clothed body was found by staff arriving for work.

Leon Clifford, 23, Peter McCarthy, 37, and Ryan Palmer, 34, Lewis Evans 62, and Raymond Thompson, 48, who are all from Barry, as well as Leon Symons, 22, from Ely, in Cardiff, and a 17-year-old from Cardiff who cannot be named for legal reasons all denied murder and stood trial at Newport Crown Court, overseen by Judge Mr Justice Picken.

All of the defendants except Clifford and Evans were also charged with alternative counts of violent disorder, which they denied, while Evans alone faced a charge of assisting an offender, which he denied.

After six days of deliberations, the jury returned their verdicts as follows:

• Leon Clifford was found guilty of murder.

• Ryan Palmer was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

• Leon Symons was found guilty of murder.

• Peter McCarthy was found guilty of murder.

• The youth was found guilty of murder.

• Lewis Evans was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. He was also found guilty of assisting an offender.

• Raymond Thompson was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

Along with his friend, Louis Johnson, Harry had been in the town selling drugs.

The jury was told the two had crossed a group of local drug users who felt 'ripped-off' and sought help from other drug dealers to confront them.

CCTV footage showed Symons, Clifford, and a 17-year-old boy arriving in Barry at approximately 10.10pm on the night of 27 August.

The three were driven to the town by Lewis Evans, 62, after being contacted by Barry drug users Palmer, Thompson, and McCarthy and informed of the perceived slight upon them.

Further footage captured all seven defendants over the next two hours searching various streets and addresses in the east end of town.

Having set up a bogus deal, the defendants then attended Little Moors Hill shortly after midnight, where some could be seen lying in wait in bushes to ambush the teens.

At least one of the group brandished a knife as the pair arrived, and a foot chase ensued along Cardiff Road and on to Wimbourne Road.

Attempting to flee their attackers, Harry and his friend scaled the fence to the Intermodal Terminal.

Further CCTV footage captured the moment Palmer, McCarthy and Symons entered the facility armed with knives and planks of wood.

Two minutes later, the three, alongside Clifford, can be seen on CCTV fleeing the scene, having inflicted fatal stab wounds on Harry and stripped him to steal his mobile phone.

Within half an hour of the killing, Symons, Clifford and the youth had been transported back to Cardiff by Evans.

During the trial, each of the defendants accepted they had been caught on CCTV at various stages between 27 August and the early hours of 28 August.

In a video released on social media, DCI Andy Mills, South Wales Police said: "The message from South Wales Police is that those involved in selling class A drugs, who carry knives, who carry weapons, will be robustly targeted and brought to justice.

"This case boils down to drugs - carrying weapons to protect the drug supply business that they run."

Sentencing will take place on 29 March at the same court.

     

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