£20,000 Well Spent..?

The brother of a man killed in the London riots hopes a new film will help explain why young people took to the streets last summer.

We already know why, don’t we?

Theo Gonzales, 23, a musician…

Woodwind? Strings?

… who has served a jail sentence for selling drugs…

Ah.

…advised the makers of Offender on creating a vivid picture of life in the capital’s poorest estates and inside the youth justice system. He said it particularly mattered to him that there was a greater understanding of the roots of last summer’s troubles.

His brother, Trevor Ellis, 26, a father of four, was shot in the head as he sat in a car in Croydon.

Shocking. Terrible. Just sitting in a car. What’s the world coming to? *shakes head*

“The movie shows that people don’t want to live this life. Not everyone has a gang mentality, they’re people who got caught up in it.”

Oh, I know Theo! I’m terrified, just terrified, that I’ll pop out to Sainsbury’s one day in my lunch hour, get caught up in gang culture and then there I’ll be, cruising the streets in a low-rider with a tattooed crew of henchmen.

Wakes me up in a cold sweat, so it does…

“Everyone can learn from looking at the world from a youth point of view. I hope everyone gets to see what really goes on. ”

Everyone really, really does, Theo. We see, all right.

He said the Olympics had prompted lots of talk about ambition but it was difficult for people from backgrounds like his to share in that success.

“I used to play professional tennis but I was shot and stabbed and that took my mind completely off tennis. ”

Who shot and stabbed you, Theo? Society? The justice system? And why?

The Met said there had been arrests in connection with the shooting but no charges and is offering a £20,000 reward for information.

So…back to Trevor’s untimely end. Just how did he come to be shot in the head?

Father of four Trevor Ellis paid for his part in the riots with his life.

Hang on! ‘His part in the riots’? I thought he was just peacefully sitting in his car?

The 26-year-old was shot in his car on Duppas Hill, Waddon on the night of the riots after an argument over stolen loot escalated.

Handyman Trevor Ellis, from Brixton Hill, was with two other men, Blaze Aitcheson-Daley, 22, and Tyrone Cooper, 26 on the night. A court case into his two companions in June revealed the pair had both been looting, with CCTV showing Aitcheson-Daley, Ellis’ cousin, entering Cash Converters with an empty rucksack before emerging with a bulging bag.

Cooper went on to blame Ellis for looting goods.

Ah. Ain’t it great when thieves fall out?

Aitcheson-Daley pleaded guilty to burglary at an earlier hearing and was jailed for 18 months. Cooper pleaded guilty to handling stolen goods and was jailed for 10 months.

They are probably already out.

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Sergeant Darren Lovatt said: "They went there by choice during this violent disorder on London's streets.

"Most tragically this was an incident where a young man lost his life. Without the looting, there would have been no shooting."

You’re a poet, Darren, and you don’t know it! Though I have to take issue with your description of this as a 'tragedy'...