Harlesden drug dealer loses appeal bid against Hayes murder conviction

Published: 2:42 PM July 30, 2014 Updated: 9:21 PM October 15, 2020

Anthony Small has lost his appeal - Credit: Archant

A Harlesden drug dealer who was jailed for life for the machine gun murder of an addict failed in a Court of Appeal bid to clear his name.

Anthony Small, 34, of High Street, Harlesden, gunned down Anthony Dickson with a Mac-10 in Hayes because the 33-year-old had stolen drugs from one of his runners.

Small, who ran a supply racket in Hayes and Uxbridge, lured him to a park and blasted him on Christmas Eve 2010.

He was convicted and jailed for life in November 2011.

Earlier this month, he took his case before three senior judges at the Court of Appeal in a bid to clear his name.

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Lord Justice Davis reserved judgment, but returned to court this week to dismiss Small’s appeal and condemn him to serve his punishment.

The court heard Mr Dickson had stolen drugs and a small amount of cash from one of Small’s dealers on December 8, 2010.

Prosecutors alleged that his death was a planned execution.

At his appeal, Small’s barrister, Bernard Tetlow QC, criticised the admission at the trial of material which was said to be “hearsay”.

He said the evidence was “extremely damaging”, as it purported to give Small a motive for the killing and the trial judge, Judge John Bevan QC, had been wrong not to have instructed the jury to consider a charge of manslaughter as an alternative.

Giving judgment, Lord Justice Davis, who heard the appeal with Mr Justice Stuart-Smith and Judge Martyn Zeidman QC, rejected the arguments.

The prosecution case was based on a “firm foundation” of mobile phone data, with a “very significant amount” of other evidence supporting it.

“The jury had the opportunity to assess Small’s own evidence on all of the issues.

“We see no reason to conclude that the conviction was unsafe.”