Three individuals have pleaded not guilty to charges of robbing women using CS spray in a gang-related incident at Heathrow Airport, which resulted in over 20 individuals requiring medical attention. Tyrone Richards, aged 31, Anton Clarke-Butcher, aged 24, and Omoneke Whyte, aged 30, allegedly utilized the noxious spray to steal two suitcases from two separate women. They are facing charges of robbery, administering a harmful substance, and affray following the episode on December 7 last year.
After the assault, the Metropolitan Police reported that numerous individuals were impacted by the substance, with five individuals initially taken to the hospital and later discharged. Emergency medical teams attended to 21 people, including a three-year-old child, who were exposed to the noxious spray in a multi-level car park at Terminal 3 of the airport.
CS spray is a synthetic chemical used by UK police forces to temporarily disable individuals, similar to pepper spray. The trio is scheduled to stand trial at Isleworth Crown Court on June 29.
Richards and Clarke-Butcher appeared at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court last month to confirm their personal details. During the hearing, prosecutor Rene De Silva presented identical facts for each defendant, asserting that they were apprehended following a robbery and were believed to have played a significant role in the Heathrow Airport incident on December 7.
De Silva informed the court that the defendants, in collaboration with others, employed CS spray to carry out the robbery of a suitcase, which was suspected to have connections to a gang.
