A rapper from North London has been branded a ‘despicable excuse of a human’ by the mum of the man he killed in a barbershop, in front of his son.
Renai Belle, 30, who also goes by the name ‘Topz’, was sentenced to life with a minimum of 28 years for the murder of dad-of-two Josh McKay in July last year.
He’d stabbed the 31 year-old in the neck while he was getting his hair cut in Leyton, with a trial at the Old Bailey hearing Belle had “made preparations for the attack to make sure he could carry it out before Mr McKay had finished”.
Josh’s eight year-old son was in the same barbershop and witnessed his dad’s murder, which the court heard “broke his tiny heart into a million pieces:”.
Delivering her impact statement to the court, Josh’s mum Bash Kehinde looked directly at Belle, as he sat in the dock, emotionless.
She said: “You are a product of a lack of love. You grew up to be a bully because that was the only way you could get attention. Your parents let you down and you grew up to be a monster.
“On 6th July [2024], the heartbeat of our family stopped beating. You had no right to take his life.
“I tried to understand what could have led you to turn on Josh because we were friends to you.
“You were homeless and you had no money and Josh allowed you to sleep on his sofa and helped you back on your feet.
“You are a coward and a despicable excuse for a human being. I hold you accountable for the complete destruction of my family.”
The Old Bailey previously heard that there was existing hostility between Renai Belle and Josh McKay with a YouTube video by the rapper, uploaded before the murder, referencing his desire to attack Mr McKay.
“I pray every day that I buck JMK,” was one of the lyrics included.
Having seen Josh walking into Hollywood Cuts on Lea Road, Belle quickly made plans to attack, the judge heard, including changing his shoes and sourcing a knife and a balaclava before returning to the shop.
His partner, Tenika Parker, 39, who drove him to the scene of the murder was also sentenced to XX YEARS.
A jury found her and another man, Daniel Cooper, 22, who provided the weapon and a balaclava, not guilty of Josh’s murder, but both were convicted of possession of a bladed article.
Addressing Tenika Parker in the dock, Josh McKay’s mum, Bash, said: “There’s a special place in hell for you.
“What a wasted childhood – you’ve grown into a worthless, spineless person unable to make decent choices.”
Speaking outside court, Mr McKay’s mother Bash Kehinde told reporters that referring to murders as “knife crime” strips it of its “human cost” and allowed people to “look away”.
She said: “You say knife crime like is something vague, urban, gang related, drug fuelled, black on black. All the coded language that helps us believe that this will never happen to me.“But it’s not knife crime. It’s murder.
"And it happens to people like you and me. Innocent teenagers shot at parties, young men killed for their watches, fathers murdered while taking their son to have a haircut.
“So stop calling it knife crime. Call it what it is. Call it murder. And start acting like it matters.”
She went on: “Today’s sentencing changes nothing to me and my family.
"I will never see my beautiful son and his two children will now face a life without their hero.
“To all of the mothers of murdered children, I understand your pain, the sadness and sense of loss that is unbearable and made worse because it was all so senseless.
“Josh was a beautiful, happy, kind, man, and an active, loving father. The world was less kind, less bright, and less funny, without him here."
Although Belle had previous convictions for 55 offences, Mr Trembath said: “What happened in that barber shop was off the scale.”
Kirsty Brimelow KC said Parker had expressed “complete remorse” for what happened.
A third defendant, Daniel Cooper, 22, from Leytonstone, pleaded guilty to possession of a blade and was jailed for 30 weeks on a previous occasion.
