A man who murdered his supposed friend in a park, a thug who robbed and hit a woman on the DLR and a man who ran a gun factory from his garden shed are among the east London criminals locked up last month.
Here are the names and faces of the men judges have put behind bars in February 2025.
Man who killed his friend in park
Brian, who lived in a disused pavilion in a park with Ziugzda, was killed by "blunt force trauma to his head and chest" on October 20, 2022.
Det Sgt David Brooks, from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, said: "Despite Ziugzda’s claims that he and Brian were friends, he subjected him to a sustained and ultimately fatal attack.
"This verdict is a testament to the hard work of the investigation team, the numerous witnesses who came forward, and the efforts of the wider police team."
On the morning of his death, police were called at 11.14am to Orchard Playing Fields following reports of an unresponsive man at the location.
Despite the efforts of emergency services, Brian died at the scene.
Ziugzda approached the cordon and spoke with officers, saying that he had been with Brian the previous evening.
He then said: "I killed him today, I don’t know what... my friend, in the morning I killed him, now."
Officers noted that Ziugzda’s hands appeared to have scuff marks and scratches on them, and when later questioned by detectives about his earlier comments, he said that the police officer must have misunderstood what he said.
In an interview, Ziugzda said that he and Brian arrived at the park at 8pm on October 19, 2022, and at some point that evening he left Brian to get water from a shop.
He claimed that he found him uninjured upon returning.
To confirm Ziugzda’s claims, detectives viewed ten hours of CCTV footage from the two nearest shops to the park and found that Ziugzda had visited one to buy water and alcohol, but at the time he had visible red staining on his trousers.
This was later forensically examined and identified as Brian's blood, contradicting his account of Brian being uninjured before he went to sleep.
Ziugzda was jailed for life with a minimum of 60 years for murder.
Read the full story - Man, 48, sentenced to life in prison after murder of 60-year-old in Redbridge
Thug who robbed woman on DLR
Just after midnight on May 6, 2022, Ampeh followed a woman off a DLR service into Greenwich station.
He began to verbally abuse her, swearing at her, threatening her and forcing her towards the railings on the platform.
The woman turned away at which point Ampeh hit her head from behind.
He continued to follow the woman down the stairs and through the station, asking what was in her bag.
She handed over a phone charger and some money before Ampeh began to ask where she lived.
He then asked her to email her phone number to him as well as follow him on Instagram before leaving the station.
A month later on June 5, 2022, Ampeh approached a woman from behind at Limehouse DLR station grabbing her handbag strap and pulling hard.
The woman began to scream as she attempted to pull her bag back.
The ensuing struggle caused the woman to be swung down the staircase, landing on her leg and twisting it.
After she fell to the floor, Ampeh began to go through her handbag before running out of the station, discarding her handbag on the floor.
A British Transport Police spokesperson said that during police interview, Ampeh “showed no remorse for his actions and denied any connection to either incident”.
He was jailed for eight years.
Read the full story - Video shows arrest of ‘remorseless’ man who robbed lone women on DLR
Man tortured in violent robbery
The pair burst into a flat in Maidstone on the evening of June 9 after Rowley had knocked on the door asking to borrow some milk.
They demanded cash and while one of them searched the property, the other “beat and tortured the victim”, a Kent Police spokesperson said.
The victim was dragged around the flat, beaten around the head with a vodka bottle, punched repeatedly and stamped on whilst on the floor.
Mohamed also made attempts to choke the victim using a piece of string.
The ordeal lasted at least 45 minutes, before both men fled.
The victim raised the alarm by running outside before he returned home and found Mohamed in a bedroom trying to start a fire.
Mohamed again ran from the scene but, after police attended, was quickly found nearby and arrested. Rowley was detained on the following day.
Mohamed was jailed for 12 years while Rowley was given 10 years.
Garden shed gun factory
On June 10, 2024, Parr was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder following the near fatal shooting of a man in Dagenham days earlier.
Following his arrest, officers searched Parr’s home and discovered a workshop in his back garden from where he was running a firearms conversion factory.
During the search they also found two handguns that had already been converted for potentially lethal use as well as ammunition and all the equipment required to convert more guns.
While he was not ultimately charged over the shooting, the probe found Parr had been converting blank guns into deadly firearms, including Turkish-manufactured "top venting blank firers".
Officers say this type of gun is increasingly being linked to criminal activity in London and across the UK, including serious violence and murder.
They were previously legal to own and many thousands were bought lawfully, but they have since been found to be easily convertible using household tools and are now illegal.
Parr was sentenced to a total of 10 and a half years’ imprisonment for two counts of possession of a firearm, possession of ammunition and manufacturing firearms.
Greggs thief who punched police officer
The officer was spat at and punched in the face by McInerney.
The offender later pleaded guilty to common assault and theft from a shop.
He was sentenced to 18 weeks in prison.
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