Four 19-year-olds serving eight years in prison for sending text messages as part of a violent Manchester plot will appeal their convictions and sentences, the Guardian has learned.
Among them is Ademola Adedeji, a rugby player who has met MPs in Parliament for his community work.
His lawyer, Abigail Henry, said his legal team is in the process of preparing his appeal, which will argue that the judge misdirected the jury in the eight-week trial.
The appeal will also argue that conspiracy law, which came into force before smartphones and social media, applies too broadly in today’s world.
It will be said that there must be a defense of “withdrawal” where the conspirator withdraws from a conspiracy long before it is actually carried out. A 2009 Law Commission report examined whether such protection should be introduced, but it was never enshrined in law.
Adedeji was one of 10 young black men from Moston, north Manchester, who were found guilty of conspiring to commit a violent plot to avenge the death of their friend John Soyoye, who was killed in a machete attack on November 5, 2020.
The sentences sparked huge controversy in Manchester, with racial justice campaigners saying the teenagers had been found “guilty by association”.
Four of Adedeji’s co-defendants were convicted of conspiracy to murder and sentenced last week to 20 or 21 years in prison. The jury heard the four carried out brutal attacks and bragged about it in training rap lyrics.
Adedeji and five others were found guilty of conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm and received eight-year sentences.
He and three of his school friends – Raymond Savi, Omolade Okoya and Azim Okunola – were convicted solely on the basis of text messages on the Telegram app, which prosecutors said helped them identify and locate targets for attack. None of the targets listed in the chat were harmed.
All four will appeal their convictions or sentences, or both, the Guardian has learned.
Okoya, a talented American football player who studied community service in college, has already filed his appeal against the sentence and will soon also appeal his sentence, his legal team said.
Adedeji was the only one of the accused to answer questions when he was arrested. He said he was devastated by Soye’s murder and admitted to participating in the incriminating Telegram chat in which he forwarded the zip code of one of Soye’s killers.
In a letter to the judge, Mr Justice Goose, Adedeji claimed responsibility for the lyrics.
He wrote: “I got into this situation due to the fact that emotions got the better of me. It was because someone I thought of as a younger brother had just been mercilessly taken away. John was someone I shared hopes and dreams with, someone I grew up with from the age of seven. I would train with him, play Fifa and do what normal kids would do. Even though he took a different path than I did, I was devastated that his life was taken. I was heartbroken when I found out about his death, I was on anti-depressants to sleep. I felt like a part of me had been taken away.
“This is not an excuse for the text messages I sent, I spoke out of emotion and absolutely did not mean a word I said. I apologized many times and I didn’t mean those messages I sent and I didn’t want anything to happen.
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