Man Found Guilty of Earlsfield Murder
Reason Fernando Pope stabbed teenager to death remains unclear
Cheyon Evans
January 7, 2020
A man has been found guilty at the Old Bailey of stabbing a teenager to death in Earlsfield last year.
21-year-old Fernando Pope, of no fixed address, was convicted of the murder of 18-year-old Cheyon Evans in an attack for which the motive has yet to be established.
He will be sentenced the same court on 7 February.
The police were called to Deeside Road at 4.42pm on Friday, 14 June 2019 where they found Cheyon critically injured. Despite the efforts of paramedics, including those from London’s air ambulance, he died at the scene a short time later.
Homicide detectives from Specialist Crime launched an investigation and established that Pope had used a large knife to repeatedly stab Cheyon.
Fernando Pope
He was identified via CCTV from the estate and was arrested on Thursday, 20 June.
Detective Chief Inspector Helen Rance, who led the investigation, said, “Pope is clearly a dangerous man who was intent on causing serious harm that afternoon in broad daylight on a busy residential estate.
“Cheyon’s family have been left completely devastated by their loss and our thoughts remain with them at this time.”
In a statement, Cheyon’s family said, “Cheyon was an amazing son, brother, uncle, nephew, grandson, great grandson, cousin, friend. He played a very important role at home, he was the man of the house. The family can’t find the words to describe how they feel at this time other than complete and utter emptiness.
“Losing Cheyon has affected so many of his family and friends. It has torn their world apart and changed the family dynamic forever. It has truly been the most devastating, traumatic and surreal thing that could’ve happened.”
Cheyon’s mother said, “My heart will forever be broken and I can’t picture a day where I won’t grieve the loss of my son. I have a permanent hole in my heart that can never be filled and will never stop bleeding. My only hope is that Cheyon, like many others that were brutally and horrifically murdered on the streets of London in 2019, will be a name, a story that inspires the government to create change, a better future and better opportunities for the children of yesterday, today and tomorrow.”
18-year-olds Aymen Mansouri of Montacute Road, Merton and Mohammed Nadir Dafallah of Strathdon Drive, Wandsworth, were found not guilty of murder.