Dancer killer jailed for 27 years

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/london/7842923.stm

Version 0 of 1.

A man who murdered a 17-year-old dancer over a simmering dispute in a nightclub has been jailed for life with no chance of release for 27 years.

Triston Walker, 22, was described by Judge Anthony Morris at the Old Bailey as being "arrogant and controlling".

Annaka Pinto was celebrating her GCSE results in June 2007 when Walker shot her in the head on the dance floor of the Swan club in Tottenham.

The court heard that Walker had been showing off a handgun at the club.

Walker, of Reed Road, Tottenham, north London, had claimed in court that the gun went off accidentally - a defence rejected by the jury.

Unprovoked attack

In passing sentence, Judge Morris described the attack as unprovoked and said: "It is difficult to imagine a more callous and dangerous act.

Walker fled to Oxford after the shooting in June 2007"Having seen you throughout this case, I am satisfied that you are an extremely arrogant and self-important young man who revels in being the centre of attention."

Annaka's mother, Janet Mitchell, said in a victim impact statement read to the court: "I cannot help but think that the people who did this have to possess a particular level of evilness."

During Walker's trial, the court heard that the altercation came after ill feelings were created between Annaka's all-girl dance troupe and the sister of Walker's girlfriend.

A second man, Ricardo Lumsden, 32, from Edmonton, north London, had earlier been found guilty of assisting an offender after helping Walker escape to Oxford, where he was arrested a month after the 23 June 2007 shooting.

The jury found a third man, Marlon Golding, 25, from Tottenham, not guilty of assisting an offender.