I watched the January episode of CrimeWatch, which showed an on-going case on a South London gangster who they've finally convicted for his crime that he commited 12 years ago.
The man in question is Gary Nelson, 36, one of Britain's most dangerous gangsters, was found guilty of the murders of security guard William "Kwame" Danso and PC Patrick Dunne in Cato Road, Clapham, south London, in October 1993.
I used the websites http://www.guardian.co.uk/gun/Story/0,,1712558,00.html, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/02/18/ngangsta18.xml&sSheet=/portal/2006/02/18/ixportal.html and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4717168.stm which have furthered my knowledge on this case even more. I want to use this as one of my main case studies - going into detail why he murdered his 2 victims, what his lifestyle was like, what his influences were (films? peer pressures? etc), which in turn will hopefully prove useful in arguing my view.
On reading up about Gary Nelson, it has becomme apparent that his violent record, consisting of 21 offences, dates back to his teen years (15), with links to one of Londons most infamous crime families. He may have joined this group due to peer pressure, or as a result of wanting to feel 'invinsible' (which is how he later described himself).
We can also see a side of Nelson's personality which may suggest he had some mental problems - in 1994, he ran out of his cell naked lunging at police officers with a broom handle. In addition, he was convicted of commiting a violent act on a man who simply overtook his car whilst driving. This could suggest an instability in his thought processes, meaning that he felt the need to release his anger through violent acts.
