A UK court has heard how four suspects, one of whom is on trial for the murder of a young man in Leeds in 2023, came to Ireland on a ferry shortly after the killing.
The four men, Ranei Wilks, Caleb Awe, Aquade Jeffers, and Enham Nishat boarded a ferry bound in Wales for Rosslare after the murder of 18-year-old Jeamie Meah.
It was reported that Meah and then 16yr old Kyne Priestley were set upon and kicked, punched, and stabbed with a sword in relation to a drug gang ‘turf’ dispute in the Armley area of Leeds.
The four suspects were arrested by Gardaí in Ireland in relation to a petty theft, but were released without charge.
The Yorkshire post reported that the four used fake names while in Ireland.
Gript contacted An Garda Síochána in relation to the arrests of the four men in this jurisdiction.
At the time of publication we are yet to receive a response and will update this article in due course.
Three of the men, Caleb Awe, Aquade Jeffers, and Enham Nishat remain at large, while Ranei Wilks gave himself in after a year on the run and is on trial before Leeds Crown court this week.
Now 23, Wilks turned himself in to police after arriving back in the UK on a flight from Turkey.
Wilks is charged in relation to the murder of Meah, the attempted murder of Priestley as well as possession of a blade.
West Yorkshire Police say they believe that all three are living in hiding overseas and that they are continuing to attempt to locate them with the assistance of the Crown Prosecution Service.
On the day of the murder of Jamie Meah, he and Kyne Priestley had taken a taxi to a location in Armley to meet some drug customers.
When the vehicle the teenagers were travelling in arrived at its destination , four men got out of a waiting Mercedez with the taxi driver testifying that Wilks was carrying a bladed instrument between 3 and 4 feet long.
The attack that followed was described as a “vicious, sustained, barbaric and brutal assault” by the prosecution.
The two victims, who had attempted to escape in the taxi, were dragged from the vehicle where Meah sustained fatal injuries including the severing of his femoral artery.
He ran from the scene to raise the alarm but lost consciousness before emergency services arrived, according to the BBC.
Although Priestly also sustained stab wounds his injuries were not life threatening.
Last November detectives investigating the murder of Meah renewed their appeal for information on the day his family marked the first birthday of the baby son he never met.
“Jamie Meah had only just turned 18 years old when he was stabbed and fatally wounded in an incident in Hall Lane, Armley, on March 31 last year. A 16-year-old boy was also stabbed and seriously injured in the attack.” they said.
“At the time of his death, Jamie was an expectant father, and his son was born on November 11, 2023.”
His family released a statement to highlight the significance of the date and to urge anyone to come forward with information that could assist the police in tracing three suspects who are still wanted over his murder.
They said: “The heartache of losing Jamie is something that continues to stay with us every day since his murder.
“Today is the first birthday of his son and while this is a cause for celebration it is also, for us, a painful reminder that Jamie is not here to be a part of his son’s life, and never will be”.
“Although he is just still a baby, at some point in his life he will want to know where his dad is and what happened to him, and it breaks our hearts to think about that.
“We desperately want to see justice for Jamie, and we hope that anyone who has information that could help the police investigation will think about what we are still going through as a family and do the right thing.”
Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Damian Roebuck said: “We are continuing to carry out extensive enquiries to trace Jeffers, Awe and Nishat and remain determined to keep doing everything we can to get justice for Jamie and his family.”
He said that Meah’s baby son’s first birthday was “clearly a particularly painful day for them as they mark the first birthday of Jamie’s son in what are really difficult circumstances. We would urge anyone who has information that could assist the investigation to consider what the family are going through and pass that on to us.”