The horror of the crimes of Joshua Jacques, who murdered his girlfriend and three members of her family in south London while high on drugs, is made all the worse because Jacques should never have been free to kill. The 29-year-old, who was jailed for life last week for the brutal murder of his partner Samantha Drummonds, her mother Tanysha, her grandmother Dolet, and her grandmother’s partner, Denton, in April 2022, had a string of convictions, including for drug offences and robbery. At the time of the murders, Jacques had been out of prison for less than six months. He was considered high risk, yet nothing was done to stop Jacques from destroying three generations of a family.
Jacques was left free to roam the streets
A report published today by the probation watchdog exposes the litany of failures leading to these senseless killings. It reveals that Jacques had, from the age of 17, when he first appeared in court, been a prolific offender. Over the next eight years, he was convicted of possession of an offensive weapon, robbery, multiple counts of criminal damage, possession of cannabis and driving offences. For these crimes, Jacques received just two prison sentences, one of twenty months (for the robbery) and one of eight weeks (for public order offences and criminal damage).
In April 2018, Jacques was sectioned under the Mental Health Act for six months. Whatever treatment he received, by November 2019 he was back in court, where he was sentenced to 51 months for supplying heroin and crack cocaine, and for possession of cannabis. Jacques was sent to prison. Before his release, he was allocated a probation officer who would be responsible for supervising him in the community. This probation officer prepared two Offender Assessments, between August and October 2021. Both concluded that Jacques ‘posed a high risk of serious harm to the public’.
The catalogue of errors that left Joshua Jacques free to kill
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07.03.2024
The horror of the crimes of Joshua Jacques, who murdered his girlfriend and three members of her family in south London while high on drugs, is made all the worse because Jacques should never have been free to kill. The 29-year-old, who was jailed for life last week for the brutal murder of his partner Samantha Drummonds, her mother Tanysha, her grandmother Dolet, and her grandmother’s partner, Denton, in April 2022, had a string of convictions, including for drug........
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