John Benson QC and Salma Lalani successfully defended a young man charged with murder at The Old Bailey recently. Jordan Archambie was one of five men indicted for the murder of Raja Ali by stabbing in September 2016. The prosecution alleged that Mr Archambie and three other accused were members of a drug gang and that the deceased was the senior figure in a rival drug gang. The fifth accused was alleged to have set up the attack by arranging to meet the deceased at a certain time and place in Dagenham – information which was then passed to the other defendants. The prosecution alleged that Archambie had a knife and was responsible for the killing. The challenges in the case increased when two of the co-defendants sought to blame Archambie. CCTV captured much of the incident and, so the prosecution asserted, showed Archambie with a knife. At the conclusion of a seven week trial Jordan Archambie was acquitted of murder – a verdict which demonstrated that the jury could not be sure that he had a knife. He was convicted of manslaughter and of violent disorder on his own admission.
