London dog attack murderer jailed for life

Chrisdian Johnson will serve at least 24 years in prison Murder case solved with dog DNA

A murderer has been jailed for life for using dangerous dogs as a weapon to bring down a boy before he stabbed him six times.

Chrisdian Johnson's dog Tyson and another animal were used in the attack on Oluwaseyi Ogunyemi, 16, in Larkhall Park, Stockwell, south London.

Police used dog DNA profiling to link the murder to the animals used in the attack in April 2009.

Johnson, 22, was found guilty of murder and will serve a minimum of 24 years.

Oluwaseyi and his friend Hurui Hiyabu, 17, were set upon by a large group of youths, the Old Bailey jury heard.

'Fearsome weapons'

Prosecutor Brian Altman QC told jurors the case was unique because the pets were used as weapons.

One witness described the attackers as vicious and said they were acting like a pack of wild animals.

Johnson, of South Lambeth, south London, was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Hurui - said to have been lucky to survive after he was stabbed nine times.

Johnson was sentenced to 20 years in prison, to run concurrently, for attempted murder.

Oluwaseyi Ogunyemi was stabbed in the chest and abdomen in a park Illegal dogs sold on the streets

Judge Christopher Moss told him: "You used two fearsome weapons.

"The first was your pit-bull cross dog, which I have no doubt you had trained to attack and bring down your prey.

"The second was the knife with which you stabbed Seyi Ogunyemi to death."

He added: "This court has not heard any evidence to explain the enmity which obviously existed between you and your victims, save that you were plainly members of rival gangs which each claimed dominion of the south London streets in which you lived."

The jury was told Johnson was arrested as he fled from the scene of the murder bare-chested and covered in blood.

New technology proved by a billion-to-one probability that some of the blood came from his dog, Tyson, which had also been knifed during the attack.

The rest was shown to come from the teenage murder victim.

Jury's mistake

Johnson had been allowed to keep the animal only when a court imposed strict conditions on his ownership in late 2007.

The judge ordered Tyson to be forfeited to the police. The animal faces being put down.

Johnson's brother Shane, 20, was cleared of murder and attempted murder.

A third defendant, 18-year-old Darcy Menezes, of Studley Road, Clapham, south London, was cleared earlier during the trial.

It has emerged the foreman of the trial's jury made a mistake when delivering the verdicts, which did not affect the outcome of the case but did delay Chrisdian Johnson's sentencing.

The foreman had said both verdicts were unanimous, but in fact the jury was not in complete agreement over the charge of attempted murder.

The jurors were ordered back to court to reconsider and delivered a majority guilty verdict of 10 to two.