Ipswich - Two teenagers handed life sentences for murder

Alfie Hammett & Joshua Howell

Two teenagers have been handed life sentences for the murder of an 18-year-old man in Ipswich at the beginning of last year.

Alfie Hammett and Joshua Howell, both aged 19-years-old, appeared at Ipswich Crown Court today, Monday 11 March, where they were sentenced to life imprisonment with minimum custodial terms of 24 years and 20 years respectively.

Hammett, of Larkhill Rise, Rushmere St Andrew; and Howell of Wellington Street, Ipswich; had both been found guilty on Friday 26 January of murdering Raymond James Quigley – known as James – following a trial lasting over five weeks.

They were both also found guilty of possession of an offensive weapon in a public place and Howell was further convicted of threatening another person with a bladed article.

The incident occurred at approximately 3.35pm on Tuesday 17 January 2023, in Westgate Street.

James had travelled to Ipswich from his home town of Wymondham in Norfolk to meet two friends and he was walking through the town centre with them when they encountered Hammett and Howell - who were wearing face masks, had hoods up and were both carrying large knives.

Hammett then ran directly towards James and proceeded to attack him, while Howell – brandishing a machete - chased after one of James’ friends, who managed to escape to safety in a nearby shop.

Howell then ran off up Providence Street towards Tower Ramparts, while Hammett – having stabbed James a number of times – ran off in the opposite direction back across Cornhill.

Following the attack, James managed to stagger across the road to get help and collapsed in a nearby shop. Members of the public came to his assistance and provided initial first aid, with Street Rangers, police units and ambulance crews arriving shortly afterwards, but despite the best efforts of the public and medical personnel he died at the scene.

A Home Office post-mortem examination concluded that James sustained four stab wounds to the torso, with two wounds to the chest and abdomen proving to be fatal. 

Raymond James Quigley

A large-scale murder inquiry to identify and locate the suspects was immediately launched following the incident.

As it had occurred in the town centre, there were a huge amount of CCTV opportunities and the attack itself was captured on camera. Officers then began viewing footage and tracking the movements of the offenders after the incident.

Hammett’s movements were tracked back through the town centre, until he eventually left the main shopping area in Carr Street, heading into the Tacket Street car park. He had been wearing distinctive grey jogging bottoms, which he changed out of into black joggers somewhere within that car park (he later changed back into the grey joggers by the time he returned home).

He was then captured on camera in Upper Orwell Street where crucially he was seen for the first time without his face mask. Further enquiries over the next couple of days continued to track his movements along Rope Walk, past Suffolk New College, before re-emerging in Back Hamlet, where he was then seen without a mask and with his hood down.

Hammett was positively identified by officers after his image was circulated across Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies.

Meanwhile Howell’s movements were also tracked, following him up Providence Street, into Tower Ramparts, past the bus station, along Old Foundry Lane and then up Woodbridge Road towards Christchurch Street and Blanche Street.

Howell was identified as a suspect around 48 hours after the murder by a combination of his description and mobile phone analysis that confirmed his presence in the locality at the time of the attack. Officers began to make enquiries as to his whereabouts and it transpired he had fled to an address in Oxfordshire.

At just after midnight on Saturday 21 January, officers arrested Howell in Oxfordshire. A little over 12 hours later, Hammett was arrested in Rushmere St Andrew. They were taken into police custody for questioning, before being charged with murder two days later.

CCTV enquires also tracked the movements of both suspects prior to the attack, working backwards from when the incident occurred.

Hammett was captured on doorbell camera leaving home that afternoon at 2.15pm – wearing the distinctive grey joggers, the same as those worn by James Quigley’s killer. He then travelled into Ipswich on his moped, parking up in Bishops Hill. His vehicle was fitted with a tracker that confirmed these movements.

From Bishops Hill he made his way across Alexandra Park and into the grounds of Suffolk New College, where he then waited for Howell.

Howell was captured leaving his residence in Wellington Street at 2.35pm. He was then seen just over 30 minutes later walking along Argyle Street towards the college and was now wearing a distinctive coat which matched that of the second suspect.

The pair met in the grounds of the college at 3.15pm, immediately walking towards each other and exchanged a greeting of a fist bump that suggested they were known to each other.

They then began walking towards the town centre, taking a snaking route on their way towards Westgate Street and can be seen standing and looking around in various places like they were clearly searching for someone.

20 minutes after they met near the college, they had found James and attacked him. Hammett and James were known to each other and so Hammett would have had no trouble identifying him in a crowded street.

The court heard that the motive for the attack was most likely due to tensions between rival gangs from Norwich. James Quigley had an association with a gang called ‘OTM’, which stands for ‘Only The Money’.

Hammett – who had previously lived in Norwich – was associated with another gang from there called ‘3rdside’, who were rivals of ‘OTM’. Joshua Howell had links to the Nacton gang in Ipswich - also known as ‘IP3’ – who the prosecution attest had formed a level of cooperation with ‘3rdside’.

Mobile phone analysis discovered that a series of phone calls had been made prior to the attack between two individuals – one associated with ‘3rdside’ and the other with ‘IP3’.

Immediately following these calls, a call was made by the ‘3rdside’ associate to Hammett and by the ‘IP3’ associate to Howell. Within minutes of receiving these calls, both Hammett and Howell left their respective homes and made their way towards their meeting place near the college.  

The prosecution attested that this sequence of events was no mere coincidence. Although what was said in these calls cannot be proven, it is highly likely some sort of order or direction was given to both Hammett and Howell.

Alfie Hammett did not give evidence during the trial, but his defence disputed that he was the man who attacked James Quigley – referred to as ‘Male 1’ by the prosecution.

Joshua Howell did take the stand to give evidence and denied being affiliated with ‘IP3’. He claimed he had not previously met ‘Male 1’ and said he had gone out to make a drug deal that day and was carrying a machete for his own protection.

He said after making the deal, he had only walked through town with ‘Male 1’ to show him the way to a kebab shop in Westgate Street and the attack had occurred spontaneously, without his prior knowledge. His defence for drawing his machete was that he feared being attacked by the other group.

The court also heard that Howell had left Ipswich on the night of the attack and travelled to Oxfordshire. The following day he was bought over £250 worth of clothes and a suitcase and had booked a flight out of the UK, which was due to depart the day after he was arrested.

The jury rejected Howell’s defence and were also satisfied that the police evidence proved that Alfie Hammett was indeed ‘Male 1’, finding them both guilty by unanimous verdicts on all counts.

Detective Chief Inspector Tam Burgess, the Senior Investigating Officer, said: “This was an horrific and completely senseless act of extreme violence that has resulted in the death of an 18-year-old man who had his whole life ahead of him.

“I want to pay tribute to James’ family for their dignity and perseverance throughout this investigation and more latterly the trial, which has been an incredibly difficult process for them.

“I also want to thank everyone who has been involved with this inquiry, from detectives, to the CCTV team, enquiry officers, major incident room staff and crime scene investigators. It was an intense three days following the attack, seizing and viewing hundreds of hours of video footage and gathering all the other evidence, which ultimately led to us identifying Alfie Hammett and Joshua Howell.

“I am still staggered by the brazen way in which Hammett and Howell committed this heinous crime in such a public place, with numerous members of the public around and in full view of CCTV cameras.

“James Quigley was simply walking through town with his friends, when he was subjected to this unprovoked attack and without any opportunity to defend himself. He stood no chance. 

“And the motivation? Although they are never likely to tell us themselves, everything points to it being down to gang rivalry. Across the country we are seeing too many deaths of this nature. This senseless loss of young lives has to stop.

“Carrying knives is not the answer to anything. It devastates peoples’ lives, not just those of the victims, but their family and friends and also the families of the attackers.

“We must continue to work together as a society to educate everybody about the risks and do everything we can to prevent another family going through what James’ family has had to suffer.”