Drugs gang who stabbed 17-year-old to death in Barry, South Wales, jailed for at least 119 years

The heartbroken mother of a teenager brutally stabbed and beaten to death by a rival drugs gang today confronted her son’s killers in court, as they were jailed for at least 119 years.

Brave Emma Baker, 44, told the seven killers of the ‘overwhelming pain’ they had caused her family by knifing 17-year-old Harry Baker to death.

The teenager and his friend were lured into an ‘ambush’ by members of a drug gang in Barry, south Wales, in August 2019.

Prosecutors said the group had decided Harry should should ‘die or suffer really serious harm’ after he ‘strayed into their territory’.

Harry desperately ran for his life as he was chased by the pack of killers for a mile before attempting to hide in the town’s shipping port.

But while his friend managed to escape, Harry was caught and subjected to a ‘swift, bloody and merciless attack’ by the gang, before being left to die.

He was found dead by dockworkers arriving hours later.

Three men and a teenager were found guilty of murder in connection with Harry’s death. Three further men were jailed for manslaughter after a trial at Newport Crown Court.

Today, as the seven men were sentenced over the teenager’s death, Harry’s mother told the court she wanted to face down his killers and read her statement aloud.

Ms Baker said: ‘I feel this is one of the last things I can do for Harry, which is to be his mum and show how much he was loved.

‘To lose a child under any circumstances is a parent’s worst nightmare but to lose your child in such traumatic and violent circumstances is too hard to bear.

‘The overwhelming feelings of pain and grief we feel as a family will be with us for the rest of our lives.’

Ms Baker, a hairdresser from Llanrumney, Cardiff, told how Harry ‘got sucked in’ to the dark world of drugs shortly before his death.

She said: ‘We were a normal family of four, we ate dinner together, we went on family holidays.

‘We were not prepared for the change in Harry at 16. He found a different lifestyle with different friends and we felt powerless to change this no matter how hard we tried.

‘We were aware he was involved in drugs but never imagined how deep he was in. 

‘The days before he died he did not come home and we knew he was in trouble and we did all we could to keep him safe.

‘Being involved in drugs is glamorised too much in the younger generations and Harry got sucked in.’

Ms Baker read her heartbreaking last text to Harry telling him she loved him and that she wanted him to come home to talk to him.

However the next she heard was a knock on the door from police officers telling her that her son was dead.

She said: ‘Four lives were taken when Harry died. They took a normal family of four and destroyed us all.’

Judge Mr Justice Picken said Ms Baker had shown ‘great courage and dignity’ by reading her statement in court.

Prosecutor Paul Lewis QC said Harry’s blood-covered body was found by workers arriving for their shift at the Intermodal Terminal at the town’s docks.

Mr Lewis said: ‘He was lying face-down on the ground. He had been repeatedly stabbed and his clothing had been stripped from his body.

‘He was just 17 years old at the date he was so brutally murdered .

‘Harry Baker was deliberately targeted as a victim. He was ruthlessly hunted down by vicious people who were determined to find him.’

The court heard Harry and friend Louis Johnson were ‘ambushed’ in a street by the gang in a row over selling drugs – and he tried to flee.

Mr Lewis said: ‘The two of them ran away from attackers. They were chased by an armed and deadly gang through the town of Barry and towards the docks for a distance of about a mile.

‘Harry attempted to escape his pursuers by climbing a fence and taking refuge in a secure floodlit docks compound.

‘He no doubt thought he would be safe there but he wasn’t. His killers were determined.

‘They subjected him to a swift, bloody, and merciless attack before quickly fleeing from the scene.

‘Fortunately for him, you may conclude, Louis Johnson managed to escape the gang by climbing back out of the compound fence and fleeing the scene.

‘Harry Baker was not so lucky. He was stabbed repeatedly and he was left to die alone in that yard.’

Mr Lewis said pathologists concluded it must have taken Harry Baker some time to die from his injuries’.

He added: ‘As he lay dying his attackers made off in a car sent to the scene in order to make their getaway.’

Leon Clifford, 23, Leon Symons, 22, Peter McCarthy, 37, were convicted of murder and jailed for life.

Clifford, of Barry, must serve a minimum of 27 years, Symonds, of Cardiff, 28 years, McCarthy, of Barry, 23 years.

Brandon Liversidge, of Ely, Cardiff, was 16 at the time of Harry’s murder and was detained for a minimum of 20 years.

He was named as the youngest of Harry’s murderers after reporting restrictions against him were lifted. 

Ryan Palmer, 34, Lewis Evans, 62, and Raymond Thompson, 48, all of Barry, were convicted of manslaughter.

Palmer was jailed for 11 years, Evans four years and Thompson six years.