A 19-year-old man found guilty of murdering a teenager in Northolt has been jailed for a minimum of 20 years.

Joel Amade, 19 (27.04.00), of Eastwood Road, Ilford, was found guilty of the murder of Jason Isaacs at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, 17 April.

He was sentenced at the same court yesterday, Tuesday, 28 May.

An investigation was launched by the Met’s Homicide and Major Crime Command after Jason – a talented footballer – was stabbed in a residential cul-de-sac in Northholt in 2017.

PICTURED: Jason Isaac

Today, in the week that Jason would have turned 20, his mother, Sharon Kendall, said:

“As a family, we have mixed emotions today. Yes, of course we have seen some justice as one of Jason’s four killers has been sentenced and he will not be able to hurt anyone else.

“The fact that three remain at large is deeply troubling, it is heart wrenching that members of the community see fit to support and shelter them.

“No one has been able to answer the why it had to be Jason. He was our amazing son and brother, working for a living and with his whole life in front of him. Why did it have to be him? Every parent’s question. He never stood a chance against the machetes in the street of London.

“Our family have joined a unique club, and it is one you never want to be in, because it means your child has been murdered. When Jason was murdered, I spoke out and said knife crime was out of control, whilst some people challenged my comments, the reality is, it still is. Parents were paying for teenage sons to travel in cabs to avoid the gangs and police officers were rarely seen in outer areas. Some young people are self-medicating i.e. doing their own stiches and for sure, they are not reporting the ‘near misses’ where they are threatened and chased and they manage to get away, they accept these as ‘life’. I really worry that society is almost accepting the violence.

“To this day, our murder detectives have been exceptional; the work that went into Jason’s case has been staggering. We are so proud of you all.

“The police are only one piece of the jigsaw, and they need our information on who the knife carriers are and too many people sit in silence.

“You do not need to do studies to know that stop and search does work, and it saves lives. The lack of stop and search in 2017 possibly cost Jason his life as the police had their hands tied behind their backs. However, when the police find the weapons the sentencing needs to be tougher, it is madness that some youths are being caught for a second offence and not going to prison. The moment you have decide to carry a knife, you should be going to prison, end of.

“As if things couldn’t get any crueller, the sentencing is in the week that you should have turned 20. Far too, short a life, Jason we were blessed to call you our son, brother and grandson. Thank you and I will toast your birthday with a smile, a tear and a broken heart.”

Police were called just before 22:30hrs on Saturday, 18 November 2017 to Newnham Close and found the 18-year-old suffering from multiple injuries.

He was taken to St Mary’s Hospital, and immediately had surgery. He remained critical for some time before dying at 11.55hrs on Tuesday, 21 November.

During the trial, which began on Monday, 18 March, the court heard how 18-year-old Jason and four of his friends had made their way to the area after deciding to spend their Saturday night at a friend’s house.

They walked to Oldfields Circus in Northolt and bought some drinks, before heading along Orchard Close.

As they got past the junction heading towards Girton Road, two mopeds appeared and drove at speed towards the group.

On each moped was a rider and a pillion passenger, who were all masked or wearing helmets and carrying weapons. They stopped the mopeds at Newnham Gardens, jumped off, and began to chase Jason and his friends.
They resumed the chase on their mopeds and Jason became separated.

He was pursued into Newnham Close and set upon in what was described as a shocking and sustained knife attack.
The attackers fled the scene on the mopeds.

Prior to the arrival of London Ambulance Service, one of Jason’s friends and a resident, whose door Jason had knocked on in distress, attempted first aid. He had collapsed in their front garden but unknown to those who were trying to help him, he had been fatally wounded.

A post mortem examination at Uxbridge Mortuary on 24 November 2017, established that Jason had eight knife wounds, possibly caused by two different weapons.

He had been stabbed four times in the back, and it was one of these which proved to be the fatal injury. Jason also had a wounds to his upper right arm, right elbow, right knee and left thigh.

These were consistent with injuries caused by a sword or machete.

An investigation was launched by the Homicide and Major Crime Command.

Amade was first arrested on Monday, 20 November, 2017 on suspicion of attempted murder and bailed while further enquiries were made. In the wake of Jason’s death and post mortem results, he was arrested again on Thursday, 30 November and charged with murder.

He appeared at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on Friday, 1 December, where he denied murder and was remanded in custody.

Amade – originally from the Harrow area – left his home in Ilford at around 16:45hrs on the day of the attack and used public transport to get to Northolt.

CCTV showed that he was carrying a black motorcycle helmet and had made a telephone call just before he headed over to north west London,

By 00:30hrs, around two hours after the attack, Amade took a train back to east London and was caught on a CCTV camera at Wembley Park station wearing the same clothes as he had been seen in earlier that day.

Upon his arrest at the Ilford address, these clothes – a puffed jacket and hoody were found – alongside the helmet which also featured a distinctive V shaped logo. This matched that of a moped pillion rider captured on nearby CCTV shortly before the attack.

During the course of the investigation, one of the mopeds used was recovered and forensically examined. Blood was found on one of the body panels. DNA profiled identified Amade as being the likely contributor on a one in a billion basis.