THE neat street of bay-fronted Edwardian houses where Santre Sanchez Gayle
grew up is not a picture of inner-city squalor.
The rows of lace-curtained homes in west London echo to the footsteps of
hard-working young families.
But the footsteps Gayle followed in were imprinted with blood.
The teenage hitman was this week jailed for a minimum of 20 years for the
cold-blooded contract shooting of young mum Gulistan Subasi — carried out
when he was just 15.
His older half-brother, Lloywen Carty, is already four years into a life
sentence for a separate murder.
He was jailed two weeks after another half-brother, Donnel Carty, was caged
for life for HIS part in another brutal killing.
Family ties. Three murderers.
Which begs the question: Were the violent destinies of these three young
men written in their genes?
Some academics believe that some people are just “born bad” — and that these
three illustrate that fact.
Yet in America, Kevin Beaver, associate professor at the College of
Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University, has published
a study of a gene resulting in a deficiency of brain enzyme monoamine
oxidase, MAOA, which has been linked to a propensity for violent criminal
and anti-social behaviour.
He said: “What I found was that a variance of this particular gene predicted,
for males, who would use a weapon in a fight and who would join a gang.
“So, if you had this particular genetic variant, you were more likely to join
a gang and, if you had this particular genetic variant, you were more likely
to use a weapon in a fight.
Criminal
“In terms of genetic research, it was increasing the likelihood of violence
among gang members by about 400 per cent!”
But experts are divided, and it is not known how common the defective MAOA
gene is.
Sanchez Gayle from the Kensal Green Boys” version=”a” align=”left” alttext=”Mum Gulistan Subasi … shot by Santre Sanchez Gayle from the Kensal Green Boys” refid=”1318879″>
Steve Jones, Professor of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University
College London, finds it hard to believe one gene can be such a predictor of
criminal behaviour.
Referring to gunman Gayle, he said: “The fact that this little bugger’s
brother and cousin have also done terrible crimes is much more likely to be
due to shared environment than shared genes.”
The truth about what determines a person’s risk of a life of crime could,
however, be a complex combination of nature and nurture.
Terrie Moffitt, Professor of Social Behaviour at the Institute of Psychiatry
in London wrote in 2002 that a bad MAOA gene could be “switched on” by bad
upbringing.
Specifically, she showed that boys with the gene variant who had been treated
badly in childhood were nine times more likely to be antisocial or violent
than boys who had the same gene variant but who had had happier childhoods.
The Reverend Les Isaac, whose Street Pastors initiative has workers helping
youngsters in the area where Gayle lived, does not believe Gayle’s family is
evil either.
He thinks there is bad in any young man, which can be brought out by the wrong
influence.
Carty from the Mus Luv Crew” version=”a” align=”left” alttext=”Lee Subaran … was shot by Lloywen Carty from the Mus Luv Crew” refid=”1318878″>
He said: “The fact that other members of his family have been involved in
crimes should have us asking the question, ‘Who has been influencing those
young men?’
“We have got to understand that in their world it is all about aggression,
that life is cheap.” Rev Isaac maintains there are plenty of young men, from
otherwise respectable families, who get dragged into gang crime.
He said: “When they come home they are good as angels, they adhere to all the
rules and cultural norms. But when they are out with their friends, and in
their world, they are as vicious as anything.
“There are people seeking to influence them. If you are not on your toes you
could lose your child from right under your nose.”
Gayle lived with his mother Hyacinth in a semi-detached house in Kensal Green,
north west London, in a street where similar homes fetch £500,000.
His parents had split up when he was young, however, and detectives say he was
frequently unsupervised while growing up.
Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, of the Metropolitan Police’s Homicide
and Serious Crime Command, said: “His mum had personal problems and he was
left to look after himself.
“He ended up running with a gang but these street boys can be very easily
manipulated.”
Gangs
With his family connections it was almost inevitable that Gayle, left to his
own devices, would be drawn to street gangs.
He joined the Kensal Green Boys (KGB) which had evolved from the Kensal Green
Tribe gang to which his murderer cousin Donnel had belonged. The sadistic
KGB are responsible for carrying out hundreds of robberies and have even
written a Good Mugging Guide for recruits.
Gayle became a gang “younger” when he was 13 and, using the street name Riot,
was desperate to prove himself.
by Donnel Carty from Armani KG Tribe” version=”a” align=”left” alttext=”Lawyer Tom ap Rhys Pryce … stabbed by Donnel Carty from Armani KG Tribe” refid=”1318876″>
Detective Inspector Andy Chalmers said of him: “He was a bit of a wannabe.”
Gayle was just 14 when he was expelled from the Capital City Academy in
Willesden in 2008 for violent behaviour towards staff and fellow pupils.
He was sent to a special exclusion unit in Harlesden — Brent Pupil Referral
Unit — but police said he rarely attended. Gayle seemed to be already set on
imitating the murderous examples of his relatives. Mum Hyacinth had an older
son, Lloywen Carty, by former husband Geoff Carty.
Lloywen was 24 when, after the Notting Hill Carnival in August 2004, he was
part of the Mus Luv Crew drug-dealing mob which gunned down Lee Subaran, 27,
in revenge for showing “disrespect” to a gang leader.
Lloywen, whose part in the slaying initially went unpunished, was living at
the time with his God-fearing, Caribbean-born grandparents in a pleasant
terraced home in Kensal Rise, close to the home of his already errant
half-brother Santre Sanchez Gayle. Grandfather Lebert Carty knew nothing of
his grandson’s crime.
A year later, another grandson, Donnel Carty, 18, was also living under his
roof while following his own life of crime.
Donnel was the younger son of Lebert’s son Geoff Carty and community worker
Barbara Prince, born after Geoff split from wife Hyacinth.
Robber
By the age of 18, Donnel had become a ruthlessly efficient violent robber and
key member of the Kensal Green G Tribe.
In January, 2006, he and 17-year-old cousin Delano Brown notoriously targeted
31-year-old lawyer Tom ap Rhys Pryce as he walked from Kensal Green Tube to
the home he shared with his fiancée Adele Eastman — just a few streets away
from where the Carty family lived.
When Tom bravely resisted he was stabbed to death for his phone, Oyster
travelcard and just £20 in cash.
By the time of Donnel Carty’s trial, his half-brother Lloywen had been
arrested for the murder of Lee Subaran.
Within two weeks of each other, in December 2006, both youths were each jailed
for life.
Now Santre Sanchez Gayle, 16, has made it three murderers with family ties.