Murder of Jimmy Mizen

Jimmy Mizen was a 16-year-old schoolboy from Lee Green, south London, who attended St Thomas More Catholic Comprehensive School in Eltham. He was the sixth son and eighth of nine children of Barry and Margaret Mizen. He turned 16 on 9 May 2008 and was killed the following day.

Jake Fahri, then 19, had a history of convictions for robbery and violence, including a 2004 referral order for a gang knife-point robbery, a 2005 supervision order for robbing an adult, and a 2006 supervision order for an unprovoked assault and burglary. Fahri had prior contact with the Mizen family: in 2001 he assaulted Jimmy's brother Harry, then aged 10, demanding money and punching him; in 2003 he confronted Harry again after learning of a complaint made to his school, punching him in the chest. Police gave Fahri a harassment warning over the 2003 incident.

On the morning of 10 May 2008, Jimmy was inside the Three Cooks Bakery on Burnt Ash Hill with his brother Harry when Fahri entered and an altercation began after Jimmy stood up to threats Fahri made against him. Fahri challenged Jimmy to go outside, which Jimmy refused; Fahri then re-entered the shop and struck him with plastic drink bottles. A struggle followed, ending with the three crashing into a glass cake display before Fahri was pushed out of the shop. Fahri returned with a metal-framed advertising sign, poking Jimmy with it, then threw a 12-inch hot glass dish from the counter at him. The dish shattered on Jimmy's chin, and a glass shard pierced his neck, severing his carotid artery and jugular veins. Witnesses said Fahri left the bakery grinning. Jimmy retreated to a rear cupboard, where his elder brother Tommy found him; he collapsed and died. Their mother, Margaret, arrived and fainted upon seeing him; their father, Barry, arrived roughly an hour later to find his son had died.

Fahri surrendered to police three days after the attack, telling officers in a recorded interview, "Someone has died because of me. I didn't mean it, I didn't mean to kill him." He stood trial at the Central Criminal Court from 11 March 2009 before Mr Justice Calvert-Smith, admitting to throwing the glass dish but denying murder. Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC described the incident, which lasted no more than three minutes, as escalating from a "trivial incident" into something "horrific." Pathologist Benjamin Swift testified that Jimmy died from blood loss after the shard severed vessels near his jaw. The jury convicted Fahri of murder, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of fourteen years.

On 2 November 2009, Fahri was stabbed in prison by Sean Mercer, convicted of the killing of Rhys Jones, and survived. Fahri was released on licence in June 2023. In January 2025, Margaret Mizen expressed shock that Fahri had released a rap song referencing her son's murder as part of a drill-artist persona; the Probation Service subsequently announced his recall to prison for breaching licence conditions.

In 2009, the Mizen family founded The Jimmy Mizen Foundation, a charity working with UK schools on youth safety. In 2014, Barry and Margaret Mizen were appointed MBE for services to young people in London.