Teen who shot mum dead as she tried to protect her children jailed for 29 years

A 17-year-old gangster who bragged about shooting a woman dead while she tried to protect her children has been jailed for 29 years.

Lianne Gordon, 42, died after being shot through the front door at her home in Vine Close, Hackney, on December 5 last year, while her two children were in the house at the time.

Neighbours who heard the gunshots thought they might be fireworks, until Ms Gordon’s daughter ran outside screaming: ‘Someone has killed my mum’.

The shooter, Joshua Alexander, 17, had previously tried to murder a rival gang member at Hackney train station on March 1, 2023 and  had been barred from entering the area.

Although Alexander, who was a member of Hackney’s Pempury gang, does not turn 18 for another two months, Judge David Aubrey KC said it was in the public interest to name him.

He was previously involved in an ‘escalating dispute’ with local rivals, which saw the victim of the attack stabbed five times in the chest and shot point blank in the leg in what was described as ‘a meticulously arranged hit.’

But while on bail for that attack Alexander breached conditions by returning to the area on three occasions, twice armed with a firearm.

Addressing the court, Ms Gordon’s mother Ella Leatham said in a victim impact statement the night of the attack will stay with her for ‘the rest of her days’.

‘I now know how other families who have had a family member killed feel,’ she told the court. ‘I am angry and upset at losing Lianne, this is no joke.’

Elsewhere in the statement, Ms Leatham said she thinks the teenager should be ‘hanged’.

She said: ‘I hope he rots in jail for the rest of his days. It has still not sunk in that I will never see Lianne again.

‘There were hundreds of people who attended Lianne’s funeral and that is a testament to the person she was. Lianne, I pray you rest in eternal peace.’

Ms Gordon’s twin sister, Louise, described her as ‘a force of nature’ and said ‘everything has been destroyed, shattered and broken’ since her death.
In a victim impact statement, she told the court: ‘I feel like I have lost my other half.

‘She had nothing but love for me, as she did for everyone who was lucky enough to be in her circle.’

Ms Gordon’s sister added: ‘I feel like I’m underwater most days trying to stay afloat. My mind is still in constant turmoil.’

She said her twin was ‘shot like a gangster’ in her own home, adding: ‘This gun crime has ripped a hole in my family and there is nothing we can do about it.’

Judge Aubrey told the killer: ‘The background to your case is sadly all too familiar, it is one of turf wars, territory between gangs and consequential tragedy and grief.

‘You are now 17 years of age, at the time of the commission of the offences you were 16 years and 10 months.

‘She (Lianne Gordon) as I say was not the target in this pre-planned attack, of which I am satisfied, having resided over the trial, was in truth a determined attack by you with a firearm to execute members of a rival gang.’

The judge said he was satisfied that Alexander had been on a mission to ‘execute members of a rival gang’ on the night of the shooting.

He added:’After your arrest on 8 December, I am satisfied you have shown no remorse whatsoever, notwithstanding that you have murdered an innocent person in her own home.

Family members in court cheered and said ‘yes’ as the sentence was passed down by the judge, while another person in the public gallery shouted ‘rot in hell’.