Met Police
Elyas Moussa was annoyed when Recorda Davey-Ann Clarke, who was known as Ricardo, turned his hat backwards, the court was told
A man who stabbed a Kensington Palace gardener to death after a row about a baseball cap has been jailed for at least 27 years.
Recorda Davey-Ann Clarke, 35, was attacked by Elyas Moussa in Willesden Green, north-west London, while out celebrating his girlfriend’s birthday on 28 December 2024.
Moussa was convicted of murder, a charge he denied, following a two-week trial at the Old Bailey during which it was heard a series of confrontations broke out between the two men after Mr Clarke turned Moussa’s baseball cap backwards.
Moussa, 30, of no fixed address – who called police from a phone box to hand himself in – was jailed for life with a minimum term.
Sentencing him at the Old Bailey, Judge Usha Karu told Moussa he had instigated the violence by chasing Mr Clarke and taking the knife out after he “had either been pushed by you or he tripped and went to the ground”.
“He did not really pose any danger to you at that time, quite the opposite, it made him vulnerable to attack by you,” she said.
The mother of Mr Clarke’s two children, Lori-Jane Forrest, said their lives had been “destroyed” and their home “torn apart” by Moussa’s actions.
Met Police
Mr Clarke was a gardener at Kensington Palace and took “great pride” in his job
Moussa had told the court he did not like Mr Clarke turning his baseball hat backwards as Mr Clarke “did not have permission” to do so.
That then led to an altercation between the pair during which they threw bottles at each other.
The two had gone their separate ways before Moussa returned to the scene.
“Instead of leaving and returning home you were intent upon confronting Ricardo Clarke and attacking him with your knife,” the judge said.
Moussa initially fled the scene but later returned to ask if someone had died. He called 999 that evening to hand himself in.
Mr Clarke had been out celebrating his girlfriend’s birthday when he was stabbed
Mr Clarke died on the way to hospital, the Old Bailey heard.
He was part of a “close-knit, loving family” and worked as a gardener at Kensington Palace and “took great pride in his job”, Judge Karu told the court.
“He had a good sense of humour, was fun-loving, caring, strong and resilient and always there for those he loved.”
Moussa had pleaded guilty to possession of a knife, for which he was handed a concurrent sentence of 12 months in prison.
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