Three men have been sentenced to life in prison on Friday, 4 September, for the murder of 36-year-old Gregory Catillo Volquez, who was attacked with a machete and a crutch on a north London street.

Following an eight-week trial at Southwark Crown Court, Benito Ramirez Kones, 21, Carlos Akum Metumbe, 22, and Luiggi Perelli Santana, 22, were convicted of murder, as reported by MyLondon and the Mirror. The court ordered the trio to serve a combined minimum term of 68 years before they can be considered for parole.

Kones, of Hackney, and Santana, an Italian national living in Lambeth, were each handed minimum terms of 23 years. Metumbe, also from Hackney, received a minimum term of 22 years. A fourth defendant standing trial alongside them was acquitted.

The killing took place in the early hours of 13 January last year on Tiverton Road in Haringey. The court heard that Mr Volquez had been on a night out with friends in south London before travelling north, where he was confronted by the three men, who were strangers to him.

CCTV footage played to the jury captured two of the attackers wielding a machete while another repeatedly struck Mr Volquez with a crutch. Paramedics attended the scene, but he died in the street. A post-mortem examination found he had suffered 22 stab wounds, largely inflicted by a long blade, along with blunt-force bruising.

The Metropolitan Police investigation quickly tracked the suspects across the UK and into mainland Europe. Kones was arrested five days later in Swansea, where officers recovered trainers stained with Mr Volquez's blood. Metumbe and Santana fled to Spain shortly after the attack; British detectives traced both men and secured Metumbe's extradition in August and Santana's in October. Forensics also linked Santana's bloody fingerprints directly to the knife and the crutch recovered from the scene.

In a victim impact statement read in court, Mr Volquez's partner, Teresa, spoke of the impact on their young daughter: "She asks for him, she still expects to see him coming back. She needs his hugs, his words, and his presence. It is very painful to see a little girl suffering the absence of her father and how she tries to understand why he is not with us. They robbed her of the opportunity to grow up beside him, to share her birthdays, graduations and all the important moments of her life."

Teresa added that the attack had broken the heart of Mr Volquez's mother, who lost her only son in "such a cruel and unjust way".

Detective Inspector Jim Barry praised the family's strength throughout the proceedings and credited his team's forensic inquiries with securing the convictions. Police confirmed that Mr Volquez did not know his attackers, and detectives maintain that the motive for the fatal assault remains unknown.

I will continue to monitor any further developments in the case.