A United Kingdom-based Nigerian man, Lekan Akinsoji, is to spend the rest of his life in prison after being convicted of murder.
Akinsoji, 27, a drill rapper was given the sentence alongside his accomplice, Sundjata Keita, 27, of Cruikshank Road E15.
The two had earlier been arraigned at the Old Bailey on Friday, 24 October, 2025.
The conviction was in connection with a 2017 murder. The Metropolitan police were able to link them to the murder through DNA evidence.
Akinsoji will spend a minimum term of 28 years, while his accomplice, Keita will spend minimum term of 22 years.
On Thursday, 9 October, 2025, the jury found them culpable in the murder of Ahmed Deen-Jah in East London.
Ahmed, aged 24, was stabbed during an unprovoked assault in a convenience store near Custom House station in Newham in 2017, On Sunday, April 2, a formal investigation was launched into the incident.
The leader of the investigative team, Detective Superintendent Kelly Allen, expressed hope that the long sentences handed to the convicts would provide some measure of closure to the victim’s family, who had to wait for nearly a decade for justice.
He recalled that Lekan Akinsoji and his accomplice, Keita, committed an unprovoked atrocity and tried to evade the law.
The detective remarked that they managed to avoid the law until 2023, when damning forensic evidence came to light.
CCTV Cameras had captured Ahmed entering the store on Freemasons Road, Newham, at around 15:20hrs, to buy a cigarette lighter.
He returned to the shop around 30 seconds later, closely followed by a man wearing a balaclava.
Ahmed sensing danger took flight, but the man chased him around the shop, before stabbing him and running away.
The victim died on the spot as he was stabbed through his heart.
Police men rightly picked up Akinsoji and Keita within eight days of investigations but released them when they did not have cast-iron proof.
An investigation review was carried out In 2023, which included detailed phone analysis that placed Keita’s phone inside the car used for the murder.
Police had traced the car to Epping Forest where the found it on fire.
Forensic results from a knife sheath found near the crime scene and DNA findings from the victim’s hand were submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Analysis showed that they matched the DNA of the two men. Consequently, the two men were rearrested on Friday, 25 October, 2024.
The two were arraigned and formal trial began on Monday, 8 September.
Information emerged in court that Ahmed’s murder was a result of “tit for tat” violence between gangs.
The two men had been on the prowl in the area looking for looking for people they suspected being in a rival gang.
A CCTV captured Akinsoji ambushing Ahmed and following him into the shop, before st@bbing him.
Ahmed’s father reacted to the judgement by thanking the police for working hard to bring the killers to justice.
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