Philip Poru was born in Khartoum, Sudan, and moved to England at the age of three. Raised by his single mother alongside four siblings, he grew up in Peckham and was known for his humor, maturity, and determination. He had recently enrolled at Kingston University in South West Londonto pursue a joint honors degree in media and cultural studies with television and new broadcasting media.
At approximately ten p.m. on the night of October 14th, 2007, eighteen-year-old Philip was sitting in the front passenger seat of a silver Ford Fiesta parked in Long Walk, Plumstead, alongside an eighteen-year-old friend. According to reports, two men approached the vehicle, and a confrontation ensued. Witnesses stated that the assailants, described as black males with possible Somalian accents, demanded to know where the occupants were from. When the response was “Peckham,” one of the men produced a handgun, believed to be a Baikal pistol, and opened fire on the car. Philip was struck by multiple bullets in the chest and abdomen, sustaining fatal injuries. His friend was also shot and seriously injured but survived after receiving medical treatment and was reported to be in stable condition under armed guard in the hospital.
A post-mortem examination conducted at Greenwich Mortuary confirmed that Philip died from gunshot wounds to the chest. Either of the two bullets that struck him would have been fatal on their own. The incident was witnessed by local residents, one of whom, thirty-seven-year-old Gabriel Komolafe, attempted to aid Philip by trying to stem the bleeding from his neck before emergency services arrived. Despite these efforts, Philip succumbed to his injuries the following day, October 15th, 2007.
The murder of Philip Poru was not an isolated incident but part of a disturbing wave of youth violence in London during 2007. Philip became the twenty-first or twenty-second teenager (reports vary) to die from knife or gun crime in the capital that year, highlighting the escalating issue of gang-related violence. Police investigations, led by Operation Trident—a Metropolitan Police initiative focused on tackling gun crime within London’s Afro-Caribbean and African communities—suggested that the shooting stemmed from a territorial dispute. Specifically, authorities believed the attack was linked to long-standing rivalries between groups from Peckham and local gangs in Plumstead, possibly involving Somalian youths vying for control over drug and gun activities in the area.
Reports from the time indicated that the Woolwich Common Estate, near the site of the shooting, was considered a “war zone” by some residents due to escalating tit-for-tat violence. The area had seen other violent incidents in the days leading up to Philip’s murder, including the shooting of a nineteen-year-old Somalian man on the nearby Boyard Road estate and the stabbing of three youths on Herbert Road.
These incidents fueled speculation that Philip and his friend were targeted simply for being from Peckham, placing them in “the wrong place at the wrong time.” Despite these associations, Philip’s family and police firmly stated that he was not involved in gang activity. His uncle, El Hag Paul, emphasized at the inquest that Philip was a focused and responsible individual who looked after his younger siblings and had clear ambitions for his future.
Despite a £20,000 reward offered for information leading to the conviction of the perpetrators, the case remains unsolved to this day.
Crime Immemorial 