Prisoner, 29, who was in jail over brawl linked to murder of S Club 7 star Bradley McIntosh’s cousin ‘used phone from cell to threaten woman with rape after befriending her on Instagram’
- Jerral Johnson-Lowe was jailed over three years for threatening a single mother
- Johnson-Lowe, 29, connected with the woman on Instagram while incarcerated
- He was controlling and she blocked him, prompting his rape and death threats
- Johnson-Lowe has involved in the brawl that killed university student Andre Bent
- Mr Bent was the cousin of S Club 7 star Bradley McIntosh
A prisoner who used an illegal mobile phone in his cell to threaten a woman with rape and death has been jailed for more than three years.
Jerral Johnson-Lowe, 29, befriended the victim, a single mother, on Instagram just a few months into his jail term at Elmley Prison in Sheppey, Kent.
The pair – who reportedly shared an ’emotionally invested’ relationship until he became abusive and controlling – connected while Johnson-Lowe was serving a two-year sentence for violent disorder following the murder of university student Andre Bent, the cousin of S Club 7’s Bradley McIntosh.
The victim blocked him after he become obsessed with her, Maidstone Crown Court was told. She alleged he threatened to kill her and her young child, as well as warned he would get ‘random crackheads’ to rape her.
He also made death threats towards her family members and forwarded sexually explicit photos the woman had sent to him in prison – at his request – to her brother and a male Facebook friend.
Johnson-Lowe pleaded guilty to two offences of making a threat to kill, sending a malicious communication and disclosing private, sexual photographs. On Monday he was sentenced to three years, four months behind bars with a 10-year restraining order also imposed.
The criminal, once a member of a grime rap star Mostack’s entourage, had 13 previous convictions including offences of battery, harassment and causing grievous bodily harm with intent. All were committed against partners.
Jerral Johnson-Lowe, 29, (left) has been jailed three years, four months after using an illegal mobile phone in his prison cell to threaten a woman with rape and death. He connected with the victim while serving a two-year sentence for violent disorder following the murder of university student Andre Bent (right)
Johnson-Lowe and the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, connected after he requested to follow her on Instagram just a few months into his jail term. He then contacted her on Snapchat.
Despite being a serving prisoner and with a history of violence against women, she gave him her personal details, including her home address and contact details for family members.
However, three months after meeting online, Johnson-Lowe became controlling, ‘always wanting to know where she was and expecting immediate responses to his messages,’ said prosecutor Dominic Connolly.
‘He started to make vague threats…and during one argument he referred to the reason why he was in prison, saying ‘That’s what happens if people are taken for a d***head’, Mr Connolly told the court.
Then, on November 4, 2020, Johnson-Lowe sent a message saying ‘Done talking now. All action’, followed up two days later with ‘I will put hands on you when I’m out’.
In another he sinisterly told her ‘I’m going to f*** you up when I’m out. I’m coming for you and your loved ones.’
He also sent a death threat to her mother on Christmas Day 2020 when she had refused to phone him because she was visiting family.
The message Johnson-Lowe sent the victim’s mother read: ‘I’m going to kill (name)’.
Mr Bent was the cousin of S Club 7’s Bradley McIntosh (pictured in 2021)
Mr Connolly said Johnson-Lowe would also threatened to post the intimate photos of her online when he was not happy with the speed at which she replied to him.
He then sent her screenshots of his phone revealing he had forwarded the images to her brother and another man on Facebook, saying he had done so because he was angry.
The threats continued and when she mentioned contacting police he appeared ‘amused’, the court heard.
By December last year she was in a new relationship but maintained contact with Johnson-Lowe out of fear.
However, following one telephone call in which he threatened to kill her and her child, the woman broke down in tears and alerted the prison to him having a phone in his cell. A search failed to uncover the device.
‘It was never found and he continued to send abusive messages, calling her a snitch,’ said Mr Connolly.
‘Then on January 6 this year, her mother received a message from the defendant which was a voice recording of the victim crying. It was at this point that she decided she needed to tell police.’
While reporting his threats at the police station in January this year, an officer noticed her phone receiving constant calls from him despite still being in prison.
She told police she was so scared that she subsequently moved house and changed her child’s school.
‘In her statement she said she ‘100 per cent’ believed the threats and said why else would she have gone to police, moved home and changed school,’ Mr Connolly said.
Asma Khan, defending, said Johnson-Lowe was ‘not thinking straight and became obsessed to a certain degree’ with the victim.
Mr Bent was stabbed in the chest with a Rambo-style knife by then 16-year-old Vasilios Ofogeli outside Gallery nightclub in Maidstone, Kent. Pictured: Police cordoning off Maidstone town centre after the fatal stabbing on August 25, 2019
Vasilios Ofogeli (left) was found guilty of Mr Bent’s murder in March 2020 (right, bodycam footage showing his arrest at Stanstead Airport)
Ofogeli was a friend of rapper MoStack (pictured above) and was an aspiring rapper himself
Johnson-Lowe, of Boyton Close, Hornsey, north London, was arrested by police after his release on January 28. He later pleaded guilty to making a threat to kill, sending a malicious communication and disclosing private, sexual photographs.
But having been remanded in custody to await sentence, the court heard his flouting of prison rules regarding mobile phones continued, with devices found in his cell on two occasions in April and June.
Judge Robert Lazarus, at his sentencing on Monday, told Johnson-Lowe that although his ‘attacks’ on the victim were not physical, they had been ’emotional and psychological with intent to maximise fear and distress’.
‘She was offering you love, care and affection in circumstances where others would wish to have nothing to do with you,’ said the judge.
‘You were a long-term prisoner with a long history of violence, although it’s not clear whether she knew much about your antecedents.
‘You exerted your dominance over her in a continuous campaign of degradation and humiliation.’
Judge Lazarus added that a letter the dad of one had written to the court apologising for his behaviour was ‘not a true reflection’ of him.
‘You have the ability to turn on the charm when it suits you and then change your demeanour quite significantly,’ he said.
The judge sentenced him to a more than three year prison term and imposed a restraining order.
Johnson-Lowe was one of nine men jailed in April 2020 following the brutal death of Mr Bent. Pictured: Yusuf Aweys (left), Rheo Lawrence (centre) and Mohamed Gelani (right)
Pictured: Ryan Lowe-White (left), Darien Thompson (centre) and Kaline Riley (right)
Pictured: Ali Aziz (left) and Nathaniel Small (right)
Johnson-Lowe was one of nine men jailed in April 2020 following the brutal death of Mr Bent, who was stabbed in the chest with a Rambo-style knife by then 16-year-old Vasilios Ofogeli outside Gallery nightclub in Maidstone, Kent, in the early hours of August 25, 2019.
Many of those involved in the general violence that broke out were part of the official entourage for Mostack.
Mr Bent, a 21-year-old business studies student and dad-to-be from Lambeth, south London, collapsed from the 21 centimetre-deep chest wound and died at the scene.
Singer Bradley paid tribute to his cousin during a festival performance that same day, asking the crowd to join him in a minute’s silence in his memory.
Over the course of 73 seconds, Ofogeli stabbed four men. The first was Lucas Baker, who was stabbed through the shoulder from behind.
Next Patrick Silva- Conceicao was knifed three times in his back, fracturing his spine and puncturing his lung. Ofogeli then plunged the 23cm long blade into the thigh and buttock of Joshua Robinson, who was lying on the ground.
Some of those who were stabbed were assaulted by other people during the melee.
Finally, Ofogeli stabbed Mr Bent, who he had earlier been seen facing while holding the knife behind his back, killing him.
Johnson-Lowe and eight others – Ryan Lowe-White, Ali Aziz, Nathaniel Small, Mohamed Gelani, Darien Thompson, Yusuf Aweys, Kaline Riley and Rheo Lawrence – were all jailed after having admitted violent disorder in the incident.
Johnson-Lowe played no part in any of the stabbings.
Source: Read Full Article
