NORWICH, England – Alfie Hammett, 19, was back in court this week for a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm following violence on Prince of Wales Road. This incident occurred less than five months before the murder of Raymond James Quigley, for which Hammett was convicted last month. As part of his bail conditions for the Prince of Wales incident, Hammett, a member of the city gang Third Side, was prohibited from returning to Norwich, prompting his move to Ipswich.
In Ipswich, Hammett and gang ally Joshua Howell murdered Mr. Quigley, who was from a rival gang known as Only The Money, in an attack in the town’s busy shopping area in January last year. This murder marked the second linked to the deadly rivalry between the two Norfolk gangs, with a previous murder occurring in January 2022.
Following the violence in September 2022, Hammett was charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm (GBH), affray, and two counts of assaulting an emergency worker. At Norwich Crown Court, Hammett pleaded guilty to an ABH charge, with the other offenses asked to lie on file.
Hammett and Howell were convicted of murder at Ipswich Crown Court last month after a trial of more than five weeks. The prosecution stated that Mr. Quigley, from Only The Money gang, was attacked by Hammett and Howell in a search for him. Hammett attacked him, while Howell wielded a machete to prevent the victim’s friends from intervening. Howell also chased one of those friends at knifepoint into a nearby store, allowing Hammett to kill Mr. Quigley.
The deadly rivalry between the Norfolk gangs was identified as the motive behind the attack, which also had connections to the murder of another individual a year earlier. Suffolk police found a picture of Hammett at the street where the previous murder occurred, but it was stated in court that there was no evidence linking Hammett or Howell to that crime.
Hammett has yet to be sentenced for Mr. Quigley’s murder, and it is likely that the sentence for the Prince of Wales Road offense will be sent to the crown court at Ipswich so he could be sentenced for both at the same time. The decision will need to be made by Norwich’s resident judge Alice Robinson and Judge Martyn Levett at Ipswich.