Judge hands 27-year minimum life term in Derby murder case

Judge Gregory Dickinson KC handed down a life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years at Loughborough Crown Court on Friday, closing one of Derby’s most serious criminal proceedings in recent memory. Jayden Mannion-Roberts, 26, of Tennyson Street in Derby, received the term for the murder of Dale Martin, known as DJ, who was dragged from a car in Derby in June 2025 and repeatedly stabbed and slashed by an armed gang.

Five other men from the city, convicted of manslaughter after a four-month trial, were also jailed. Ki Grant-Finlayson, 23, of Addison Road, received an 18-year term with a three-year extended licence on release for what the court identified as his “leading role” in the ambush. Keenan Hamblett, 27, of Osmaston Park Road, was sentenced to 17 and a half years, while Shaylon McCalla, 27, of Copes Way, received 18 years with a three-year extended licence. Two men the judge described as “enthusiastic participants”, Kayin Holmes, 25, of Nightingale Road, and Kelci Thompson, 19, of Osmaston Road, were given 15 years and 10 years respectively, the latter to be served in a young offenders institution.

Additional reference context is available at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c30rlw4lkjzyo.

The court also heard details bearing on accountability after the killing. Grant-Finlayson and Hamblett attempted to fly one-way to Tunisia following the attack but were arrested at Gatwick airport, each carrying about £3,000 in cash.

Prosecutor Adrian Langdale KC told the trial that the attackers had armed themselves with swords, machetes and “Rambo knives”. In a “show of force”, the group placed electric bikes across the road to stop the Renault Megane in which Martin was travelling; the car swerved and stalled. Martin was pulled through a smashed window and initially escaped, but tripped on a piece of wood, after which a witness told the court his attackers set upon him “like a pack of animals”. The court heard the attack followed years of “animosity” between two rival groups, punctuated by two “tit for tat” confrontations earlier that same weekend. Martin had been attending a gender-reveal party at a pub several hours before the attack, which took place nearby.

Meanwhile, the victim’s family gave their own assessment of the proceedings. Speaking to the BBC after the sentencing hearing, the victim’s father described the four-month trial as “hell” and said some of the killers had attended the same school as his son, with some having come to his house for evening meals as children. “That hurts, it hurts a lot,” he said. “Some of these children used to hang about on the street late at night, and if we were about and we were cooking tea, someone would come in and have tea in the garden or in the kitchen with us.”

He said he felt “relief” that the proceedings had concluded, while acknowledging that normality would remain out of reach. “It hurts, we’re just going to go home as a family and just try and get back to some sort of normality which it never will do. It’ll never come to normality because DJ’s not there,” he said. “He’s always in our thoughts, always in our hearts, he’s always here with me, it’s just hard and i’m just glad it’s all over.”

“Nobody deserves to die the way he died over a ‘tit for tat’,” Martin added. “It’s just horrible, it’s horrible, but he was a lovely lad and he’ll be forever missed by a lot of people.”

Paying tribute, he said the memory he would miss most was his son’s smile. “He was just a proper family lad with a heart of gold and he’d do anything for his family.”

Martin’s younger sister said the 21-year-old had been a “very big part” of her life. “Towards the end is when we got closer, we went everywhere together,” she said. “I spent most of my time with him, and it’s just hard not having him here.”