The murder of Essayas Kassahun

Witnesses whose names have not previously been publicised in the media are identified only by their initials in this briefing.

On the evening of 11th October 2004, a large group of youths gathered on the St Luke's housing estate in the Finsbury area of the London Borough of Islington. Some of the group were armed with baseball bats and at least one knife. Most of the crowd had come from the neighbouring area of Hoxton in the London Borough of Hackney. Contrary to its media depiction as a fashionable artists' quarter, Hoxton has a largely working-class population with the majority of residents living on post-war council housing estates. Likewise, St Luke's estate in Finsbury, a 1960s local authority high-rise estate is a far cry from the stereo-typical portrayal of Islington as an area of gentrified Georgian squares occupied by the so-called 'chattering classes'. 

The leaders of the crowd intended to attack a 19 year old local man called Louis Colley. Their reasons for seeking him were almost trivial. Colley was a member of Toffee Park youth club in Finsbury which was frequented by young people from both Finsbury and Hoxton. On Friday, 8th October 2004, he was involved in a confrontation outside the club with a group of teenagers from Hoxton.

According to Colley's account, a boy he estimated to be around 15 years old said to him "who are you watching?" to which Colley allegedly replied "I don't even want to bother with you kids". According to other accounts, Colley and some Finsbury friends had threatened the Hoxton teenagers and "chased them out of the area".

Indignation about the incident ran high among some of Hoxton's young people. On 11th October, a sizeable group walked and cycled to Finsbury from  Hoxton. Some young people joined the growing crowd out of curiosity or excitement with no awareness of what was about to happen, The ringleaders, however,  went equipped to inflict violence on Louis Colley. Some of them called at the youth club looking for him. They were told he had been there earlier but had since left./next