Five men have been convicted at the Old Bailey of murdering a 21-year-old who was hunted down and stabbed to death in south London last spring, in what detectives described as a sustained group attack born of escalating tensions between rival groups.
Giovanny Rendon Bedoya was killed in Walworth on the evening of 14 April 2025. After an 11-week trial, jurors on Tuesday returned guilty verdicts against all five defendants, who will return to court for sentencing on 20 May.
What happened on Hillingdon Street
The Metropolitan Police were called shortly after 9.16pm on the evening of the killing to reports of a group fighting with knives near Hillingdon Street and Langdale Close, SE17. Officers found Mr Rendon Bedoya behind a block of residential flats with multiple stab wounds. Despite efforts by paramedics, he was pronounced dead at 10.07pm. A post-mortem examination established that he had died from multiple sharp-force injuries.
Investigators later established that he had been pursued through an alleyway before being cornered and attacked.
Detective Chief Inspector Kate Blackburn, who led the inquiry, said the killing was carried out “by a group acting together” and described the circumstances as brutal. “Giovanny was chased and killed in brutal circumstances,” she said, “and today’s convictions reflect the strength of the evidence and the determination of the investigation team.” Her thoughts, she added, remained with the family, who had conducted themselves with “immense dignity” throughout proceedings.
How the case was built
Bryan Villada Hernandez, 20, of Langdale Close, was detained at the scene. Forensic work on his tracksuit later identified the victim’s blood, along with damage consistent with knife contact. Messages retrieved from his phone showed conversations about destroying evidence and unease about the police response.
Detectives trawled more than 1,500 hours of CCTV, including footage from premises near the scene that helped them identify a property on Langdale Close being used as a squat. After the attack, Angel Gonzalez Angulo, 19, of Camberwell Church Street, and Zozoro Mohamed Olivier Boizo, 21, of Lorrimore Square, fled the address by taxi to a friend’s home. CCTV captured Angulo changing his clothes and leaving with a bin bag — which prosecutors said contained blood-stained items and weapons.
Two of the defendants left the country or the capital in the days that followed. Christian Batista Gonzalez, 22, of Moyers Road, E10, fled to Spain and was arrested near Barcelona on 19 May 2025 before being extradited. Joseph Jimenez, 22, of no fixed address, was tracked down to Chichester.
A statement on London’s streets
For the Met, the verdicts are being framed as evidence of its push against serious violence in the capital. DCI Blackburn said such brutality “has no place on our streets” and “rips families and communities apart”, arguing the force was doing “everything it can to target dangerous offenders and prevent senseless violence”.
All five men — Jimenez, Angulo, Hernandez, Boizo and Batista Gonzalez — will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on 20 May.
