Daniel Herbert

Daniel Herbert was shot in Bermondsey on 17 August 2009 after having been assaulted and died the next day in hospital.

Two men were tried for his murder but cleared although they were convicted of grievous bodily harm.

Daniel Herbert was a night-club promoter from Orpington, Kent and had been staying with friends at the time in Bermondsey and had just left to catch a night bus back home. He was then chased and murdered whilst walking home and passing a property in Eldridge Court.

His murder was said to have been in relation to a drugs war between two groups.

One group was said to have been using a room at a property in Eldridge Court in Bermondsey to cultivate cannabis. However, their property had been broken into about three times and money, drugs and electrical items were stolen.

It was said that another group who were friends and associates of Daniel Herbert were also growing herbal cannabis, or Skunk, and that they were to blame for the break in.

The court heard that Daniel Herbert had walked past the Eldridge Court property on 17 August 2009 and was then chased by four men from the Eldridge Court group. He was said to have been chased through Bermondsey and finally caught in Clements Road where he was punched, kicked and stamped on. During the assault Daniel Herbert was heard to say, 'Help me, help me'. They also kicked and stamped on his head as he lay on the ground.

It was then said that Daniel Herbert was pulled up from the ground by the scruff of his neck whilst semi-conscious and then whilst he was on his knees was shot in the head.

The assault was witnessed by a person driving by in a car who said that they had tried to intervene but were threatened with a gun. The gun was never found and was thought to have been a non-lethal weapon that had been converted to fire live ammunition.

At his post-mortem it was stated that the cause of death could have been by either the injuries sustained whilst he was being beaten or the gunshot wound.

The court heard that the property had been targeted before and that on one occasion a group of men that was said to have included Daniel Herbert had tried to steal £50,000 from the property.

The court heard that one of the men charged with the murder had written a letter to a friend in prison stating that their property had been broken into and had said that they had been out in cars and vans looking for the people responsible and seeking revenge and that he had said that it was like the film, 'Football Factory'. In the letter the man had said that those responsible knew not to come back for more and that if they did then they were ready to go to war.

The court heard that after the murder the two men convicted of GBH had fled to Eastbourne and stayed with a relative who had then given them an alibi. They were seen on CCTV leaving the scene of the crime and later driving down the A21 in a grey Ford Focus past Hastings. They were later seen in CCTV near a parade of shops in Brassey Parade, Eastbourne.

They were caught after they had discussed what had happened with a family friend in Eastbourne who happened to be a police informant. The man said that he had been invited by the relative to speak to the man tried for murder and said in court that he was then unexpectedly face to face with revelations of murder and immediately contacted his police handler.

Of the four men that were said to have attacked Daniel Herbert, there was not enough evidence to include two of them in the murder charges and the two that were charged with his murder were convicted only of GBH.