Ambush attack gang jailed for Dale Martin killing

Six members of a masked gang who killed a man after setting upon him "like a pack of animals" in an armed ambush have been jailed.

Dale Martin, also known as DJ, was dragged out of a car in Derby in June 2025 and repeatedly stabbed and slashed.

On Friday, Jayden Mannion-Roberts, 26, of Tennyson Street in Derby, was given a life sentence, with a minimum term of 27 years, for his murder.

Five other men from Derby found guilty of manslaughter were also jailed at the same hearing.

They were convicted by a jury at Derby Crown Court, which was sitting at Loughborough Magistrates' Court, on 22 September.

With a "leading role" in the ambush, Judge Gregory Dickinson KC handed Ki Grant-Finlayson, 23, of Addison Road, an 18-year jail term, with a three-year extended licence on release.

Keenan Hamblett, 27, of Osmaston Park Road, was sentenced to 17 and a half years, and Shaylon McCalla, 27, of Copes Way, received 18 years, with a three-year extended licence.

Grant-Finlayson and Hamblett tried to fly one-way to Tunisia following the attack but were arrested at Gatwick airport, each with about £3,000 in cash, said Dickinson.

Dickinson gave "enthusiastic participants" in the attack, Kayin Holmes, 25, of Nightingale Road, 15 years, and Kelci Thompson, 19, of Osmaston Road, 10 years, to be served in a young offenders institution.

The attack followed a history of "animosity" between two rival groups, one in Sinfin and another in the Allenton and Osmaston areas, stretching back years, and two "tit for tat" confrontations earlier that weekend, the court heard.

Martin was attacked in Oaklands Avenue and Stenson Road at about 23:45 BST, near to where Martin had been attending a gender reveal party at a pub that evening.

The court heard a Renault Megane he was travelling in was ambushed when, "in a show of force", the group put their electric bikes in the road to stop the car, which then swerved and stalled.

Adrian Langdale KC, prosecuting, told the trial attackers had armed themselves with swords, machetes and "Rambo knives".

Martin was pulled from the car through a smashed window, and initially managed to escape, but then tripped on a piece of wood.

His attackers set upon him "like a pack of animals", a witness had told the court.

Sentencing, Dickinson said: "Dale Martin was outnumbered and surrounded and was stabbed 11 times.

"The attack was rapid and ferocious."

Dickinson said while the fatal blows were not seen on CCTV, "Dale's terrible screams" were heard, "which must haunt his family".

"There were shouts of 'kill him'," he added.

Dickinson said the killing was "not another statistic" but the "horrible reality" of the carrying of weapons. He said the convicted men would now "waste away the best years of their lives in prison".

Following sentencing, Dickinson offered condolences to Martin's family and friends, and commended emergency services who attended the scene, in particular PC Swierczek for his efforts to save Martin.

Following the hearing, Det Insp Chris Wright told the BBC: "We've heard really emotional, raw victim impact statements, which have really hammered home how important it is that these six are no longer on the streets of Derby.

"They surrounded him. They behaved like a pack of animals.

"I was extremely horrified by it, it's nothing I've seen before in my career, the repeated slashing, stabbing, chopping motions.

"It's thankfully something we don't see on the streets of Derby often, it's shocking."

Asha Waddilove, 21, of Ashworth Avenue in Derby, Bridget Hamblett, 58, of Osmaston Park Road in Derby, and John Sylvester, 21, Regan Road, Derby, were all previously found not guilty of assisting an offender.

Another man, who was 17 at the time of the trial, was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter.

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