Michael Reaney

Two men were jailed for a total of 26 years after killing a man and committing a series of robberies. It was a successful culmination of what appeared to be separate cases involving robberies at off-licences, private houses and a murder which forensics was able to show were linked.

Francis Carbon and Andrew Docherty met in June 2000. Six months later they were robbing cab drivers to feed Docherty’s cocaine habit. They then began targeting prostitutes and committing aggravated robberies singling out vulnerable, elderly people. At the same time several Unwins off-licences in south London were burgled.

In June 2001, after neighbours became concerned, police found the body of 54-year-old Michael Reaney in the bedroom of his south London home.

He had been assaulted, tied up and gagged. His flat had been ransacked and a number of items stolen. Carbon became a suspect after checks on the victim’s mobile phone showed a call had been made to download ringtones to Carbon’s girlfriend’s phone.

Metropolitan Police officers looked at other robberies that may have been linked due to the similarities in the ligatures used. Meanwhile, following intelligence from the Flying Squad’s serious and organised crime unit, Docherty also became a suspect.

The pair were arrested at an Unwins store with an imitation handgun during an armed surveillance operation. Police searched Carbon’s address in Walthamstow, east London, Docherty’s in Croydon and the home of a woman who had a professional relationship with Docherty.

Around 360 items were submitted to the Forensic Science Service for forensic tests. Several significant items were found at this woman’s home, including a bracelet, a Goodmans CD/cassette player and remote control, several mobile phones, a roll of black gaffer tape and a pawn ticket.

When this ticket was redeemed, officers retrieved three cameras and a pair of binoculars belonging to Michael Reaney. When the films on the cameras were developed there were photos of Michael at his home and of the woman’s son.

The forensic scientist who led the biology work was able to show a number of links between the suspects and the crimes. These included blood found on the inside of a role of tape found at the woman’s home that matched one of the armed robbery victims and one of the Unwins off licence victims. Blood on Carbon’s trainers, his handgun and crash helmet came from two of the off licence victims.

Other work showed that fibres found on tape round Michael’s face matched those on gloves worn by Carbon when he was arrested. Finger marks when developed on a Goodmans stereo were later identified as Carbon’s and Docherty’s. DNA Low Copy Number profiling tests found Michael’s DNA on the stereo remote control.

A number of animal hairs found on Michael’s ligatures were sent for Mitochondrial DNA analysis to compare with hairs recovered from a dog bed at Carbon’s home. Although the hairs from the ligatures were all the same, a scientist concluded that the hairs from the bed didn’t come from the same dog as those on the ligatures.

It took 45 minutes to read all the charges to Carbon in court. He gave evidence against Docherty and pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to manslaughter, 12 robbery charges, nine firearms charges and asked for 13 additional robbery offences to be taken into account and was jailed for 11 years.

Docherty got a 15-year sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter, eight robbery charges and five firearms charges.