Sutton United striker accused of threats to murder trial witness

Ex-England youth international and Chelsea FC schoolboy Bradley Woods-Garness, 25, is accused of intimidating a witness who gave evidence crucial to the convictions of men involved in the murder of an innocent teenager in a pizza shop in Hackney last year.

Leon Dunkley, 22, and Mohammed Smoured, 21, were each jailed for 32 years in April for shooting dead Agnes Sina-Inakoju, 16, with a sub-machine gun.

Two teenage boys, aged 16 and 17, were also convicted of firearms offences for holding weapons on behalf of older members of the London Fields gang.

The witness who helped secure convictions was put into a protection programme and relocated outside London.

But six men – including Mr Woods-Garness, who is being held in Wandsworth prison – have been charged with making threats to the witness.

It is understood the charges relate to an incident in a nightclub earlier this summer.

Mr Woods-Garness, of Upper Handa Walk, Islington, was a key member of the Sutton United team last season, scoring 17 goals.

He was arrested on June 9 by officers from Trident, the specialist Metropolitan Police unit that deals with gun crime in the black community.

He appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 10, charged with witness intimidation and denied the offence after appearing at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, August 12, with five other defendants.

He was remanded in custody to face trial on January 24 next year.

The club’s manager Paul Doswell, who had previously cited “personal reasons” for Mr Woods-Garness’s absence, said the club would be sticking by the player.

He said: “We are convinced he is innocent and has been caught up in something out of his control. We are 100 per cent behind him and there will be a place for him at this club when this is over.”

Agnes Sina-Inakoju, who was planning to study at Oxford University, was shot by a gunman on a bicycle who fired indiscriminately into the fast food shop to try to hit a gang rival.