Prosecutors have dropped the murder case over the drive-by shooting of a 17-year-old girl in Tottenham, after two juries failed to reach verdicts.
Tanesha Melbourne-Blake, 17, was hit by a bullet from a passing car in Chalgrove Road, Tottenham, north London, on 2 April 2018.
Michael Clarke, 37, a drug dealer from Luton, Bedfordshire, was accused of her murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. On Friday, the Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence and Judge Mark Dennis KC, who presided over the trial, directed not guilty verdicts.
Marcus La-Croix, 38, a rapper from Hackney, east London, was acquitted of murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life after a retrial this summer.
The verdicts can now be reported after several court orders automatically lapsed.
Eight years, two hung juries
The Metropolitan Police made several arrests after the shooting but no one was charged. The trail ran cold until 2021, when police received word of an alleged prison confession that identified the killers.
Clarke stood trial in November 2025 and jurors failed to reach a verdict. He was tried for a second time in October this year, but the jury again could not reach a verdict. Judge Mark Dennis KC discharged the jury and adjourned the case until Friday, 6 November, when the prosecution offered no evidence.
La-Croix’s second trial opened in April 2026. He gave evidence, denied being a gang member and rejected claims about the alleged prison confession. The jury returned not guilty verdicts.
Prosecutors had said Clarke took part in the “ride out” in revenge for the live streamed humiliation of a Wood Green Mob associate at the Tinseltown Restaurant in Farringdon.
The witness evidence
The case turned on evidence from Brentford Hyatt, who was serving a ten-year sentence for armed robbery. Hyatt claimed La-Croix had “boasted” about his involvement in the killing during a conversation at HMP Pentonville in north London.
Two Metropolitan Police officers took a witness statement from Hyatt. He allegedly asked an officer to “help him” with his asylum application, the court heard.
Part way through the case, Judge Mark Dennis KC ruled the defendants could not be tried together because of sensitivities in Hyatt’s evidence.
While giving evidence, a prison intelligence officer produced an “unsanitised” report of Hyatt’s claims. The document had not been disclosed to La-Croix’s legal team.
The judge adjourned the hearing and sent the jury home for the night. He discharged the jury the following day, telling them an issue had arisen during the course of evidence that needed to be “bottomed out”.
What the police said
The Metropolitan Police said: “This was a lengthy and highly complex investigation, which included evidence relating to a prison confession and management of a significant witness, presenting challenges not commonly encountered in homicide investigations.”
A voir dire hearing identified no wrongdoing by Metropolitan Police officers, although it was accepted that there was an error in the process of submitting a disclosure to the defence.
Read our report on the brothers jailed over the King’s Cross attack, and our story on Musa Salih, jailed for 25 years over a murder in north London.
