- 8 hours ago
Social Media Monsters - Season 1 Episode 9
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Short filmTranscript
00:00Happy birthday to you!
00:05Yay!
00:08James was just full of life.
00:10He didn't like seeing people in vulnerable situations.
00:14He was a protector.
00:16This goes from really unpleasant antisocial behaviour to another level.
00:24He didn't just stab James once, not twice, four times.
00:30In nine seconds.
00:34There is somebody out there who has committed the most serious of crimes.
00:37If we don't find them soon, could they do it again?
00:40There was a Snapchat story, which is titled,
00:44I've just killed a man and I'll do it again.
00:50When you first embark on a murder investigation and you find out
00:53it's technically a child that's responsible, it's always a surprise.
01:00Happy birthday to you!
01:02Happy birthday to you!
01:06Happy birthday to you!
01:24it's the 2nd of may 2021 and james gibbons and his fiancee victoria are enjoying their twin
01:36daughter's birthday we woke up very excited and happy celebrating that the twins were turning two
01:46we had the barbecue we had cake and everything everyone was enjoying the day we had a lot of fun
01:51together that afternoon james was just full of life he just enjoyed everything that he'd done and he
02:06just spending time with him was really fun he had a good sense of humor wicked sense of humor
02:16when james met vicky we knew that that was something special
02:27they adored each other loved each other and they were just a perfect couple
02:35first child come along on christmas day just remember james saying i've got a child from
02:41god born on christmas day i'm blessed
02:48and then along came the second child
02:53james had always wanted twins and had always joked about having twin he wanted twin boys he got twin
02:58girls it is a big family we enjoyed having four children we enjoyed family life as a dad he loved
03:06it he would be up in the night feeds and doing everything he loved being a dad
03:23in the weeks prior to his twin daughter's birthday james victoria and their four children were looking at
03:29moving house he dreamed big and he was very ambitious and he would worked really hard he'd work
03:38all day every day if he could
03:42he was a good plumber he was going to be taking over this company i know that he'd spoken to the
03:48accountant she was getting all the accounts ready for him to apply for a mortgage he wanted a good
03:54future for his children and i think he wanted to be proud of himself that he'd achieved this and provided
04:08whilst the couple were hoping to buy a family home in the near future
04:12in may 2021 james and his family were living on the five links estate in landon essex
04:18the estate was known as alcatraz because it was just synonymous with crime there's no roads that go
04:27through they're all in little squares it's a rat run there was always trouble of some sort
04:36it's a housing estate there's kids that hang around on the housing estate
04:42it's a serious walk through as opposed to roads it wasn't uncommon for children just to be hanging
04:46around on the estate locals would often post online alerting residents to troubling behavior in
04:56the area could be so lovely you know little squares you can imagine that and to be honest
05:03where james and vicky were all the neighbors got on we had no issues we would have street parties
05:12the kids would all play with each other
05:17i didn't feel unsafe living there it was just that we didn't own the house
05:23i've never known james to say i don't want to live here anymore the main reason was
05:29to be in a nicer area and he didn't want to rent anymore
05:40the night before the girl's birthday there was a homeless man staying under the stairs of the flat
05:46we'd given him some blankets and we'd washed his sleeping bag for him
05:54vicky said well there's a homeless man there and james had been helping him out you know giving him
05:59cups of coffee or tea in the flask
06:02we went to bed and then the next day we got up he was still there james would always stop and talk to
06:09people
06:13he always cared didn't like seeing people in vulnerable situations
06:17we was having a little barbecue in the garden and just some very close family were attending
06:33in 2021 james's mum wendy was living in spain and was unable to travel to the uk due to covert
06:40restrictions ordinarily i would have been there absolutely but because we're still in the last
06:46throes of the lockdown there were no flights and there were no ferries to england so we couldn't get
06:53over but sometime in that morning i did a facetime just to see them in their outfits
07:00they were very very happy
07:19whilst james is celebrating his daughter's birthday children from the local area start harassing the
07:25homeless man outside james's house james had taken some food out to the homeless male to give to him
07:31and it was at this point where two of the group had started harassing this male and trying to take
07:36the food off of him so james had had a a verbal confrontation with these two telling them not to
07:42bully this homeless male and then had sent them away i think it was just two used initially who'd been
07:49picking on him throwing stones james had said that there were some teenagers but that was he hadn't
08:00he hadn't said that there was any arguments or discussions or anything so we didn't we didn't know
08:05anything else after this brief confrontation james returned to the barbecue to enjoy the celebrations
08:13happy birthday to you happy birthday my sister's normally the family photographer
08:22and she'd record you just singing happy birthday happy birthday to you
08:27you got blow blow blow blow blow blow blow blow blow yeah as the party continues into the evening
08:44outside the house the youths return and launch a violent attack on the homeless man
08:57the least group of youths that were abusing the homeless man throwing bricks taking the food
09:06making fun of a vulnerable person
09:14it was evening the twins i took them up to bed and james said he was going out to have one last
09:20cigarette with this man and then i said to him could you come in then after that
09:25james said he was going to go out for one last cigarette to check on the homeless male and when
09:32he went out there he was then confronted by a group of eight or nine youths that had come back
09:46in the home of the homeless man and ends up on his own with this group of yogs
10:02among those recently drawn into the confrontation is a 16 year old boy who lives nearby
10:07we believe that there was a house on the estate that was unused and he went to that address on the
10:14night of the incident and retrieved a knife
10:28father of four james gibbons has come to the aid of a homeless man outside his house
10:33who's being assaulted by a gang of youths that told what character james was
10:47he was helping someone like he so often would he was a protector
10:55james's protective personality had developed from an early age
10:59james had a younger sibling called ashley
11:07ashley was born with epilepsy he was having up to 20 seizures a day
11:15if ashley was ever picked upon james would stick up and protect him so that's where the protectiveness
11:24i think stemmed they were very close as close as two of us could get really
11:32in 2015 ashley's seizures were happening nocturnally
11:38and in may of 2015 he just didn't wake up one morning
11:44called james and i said ashley's gone and i can still hear james
11:49james still hear it he he just wowed i'd now like to take a moment to remember our loved ones
12:00who couldn't be with us today and raise a glass in their memory james was never quite the same after ashley
12:06died it hurt him a lot
12:09on the evening of the 2nd of may 2021 james becomes involved in a scuffle with a group of teenagers
12:21who've been picking on a local homeless man as things come to a head james is confronted by a 16
12:27year old who's armed with a knife he made the decision to go off recover a knife that he'd had
12:34hidden on the estate and he returned and at some point during him lashing out must have been when
12:41the injuries were caused to james james was subject to four stab wounds two in the front of his abdomen
12:48and two to the right side after being stabbed multiple times james stumbles the short distance
13:06back to his front door before collapsing
13:08the children were in bed the homeless man banged on the door and said something had happened to james
13:24james was laying on the floor he passed out just to the right of the front door it was right next to
13:31it was quick everything was very fast we made a 999 call
13:39they asked us to start cpr then one of the neighbors was there he's a rugby
13:43coach and he asked if i wanted him to do cpr which because obviously he's trained to first aid
13:48so he started cpr
14:01whilst neighbors battled to save james the ambulance and essex police rushed to the scene
14:06the first 909 call came in around half past nine in the evening
14:12you're always ready for that call obviously you never want it to happen because there's been a
14:19tragedy we have what is called like the golden hour principle it's it's a period of time after
14:27which a crime has been committed where evidence is in its abundance
14:30it's really important to identify any suspects and any apparent witnesses
14:38by the time i arrived the information that we were getting was that james had been involved
14:42in an altercation with some youths and during that altercation he had been stabbed
14:48police arrived first and then the ambulance arrived and then we was asked to go into the house
14:55so we didn't see him being worked on
15:02one of the four wounds that he received caused internal bleeding that would have killed him in
15:09seven minutes
15:13we had the machine stop
15:17which i was you know that wouldn't stop unless they'd stop trying or they'd got a heartbeat
15:21i didn't go to hospital he died at the same
15:43this is a housing estate where families live there's children around
15:47and then all of a sudden there's a murder on your doorstep it just does not make sense whatsoever
15:56i went into shock and just um
16:03the biggest thing i kept thinking was i'm not going to be able to tell the children and i don't
16:07know how to tell wendy so because she'd already lost one son
16:17unable to make the call herself victoria gets someone else to break the bad news to james's mum wendy
16:26my phone rang and it was my ex-husband and um i thought that strange you know that time of night
16:35it's he said wendy james has been stabbed he passed away about half an hour ago um
16:49i dropped the phone
16:54i couldn't comprehend it none of it made sense this is like lightning striking twice
17:00i can't believe any of us have gone through any of this in my head it didn't it didn't it didn't
17:07tally up in my head that this is what happened
17:15with ashley he had the illness it was ever let's see he didn't wake up
17:20and i said
17:31i can't accept james
17:34and i never will
17:40essex police were now starting a murder investigation
17:45the primary thought that goes through your mind is we need to find out who's done this
17:48there is somebody out there who has committed the most serious of crimes
17:51if we don't find them soon could they do it again
18:00but as inquiries commence one of the teenage boys involved in the attack on james
18:05starts a snapchat group conversation with friends
18:10we were able to see those within the group starting to talk about what's happened
18:15and they're all asking of his involvement
18:22a number of the youths were part of a snapchat group where they would exchange messages
18:30the snapchat group even attempts to offer advice to the offender
18:36there was lots of discussion about what had happened the fact that there'd been a stabbing the police were
18:40all around
18:49meanwhile the police's first steps involved gathering local witness statements
18:55neighbors were talking to officers at the scene and identifying children that had been there
19:00when the murder took place
19:02there was general disbelief from the local residents that could happen on the estate
19:11many housing estates have children running around causing low-level anti-social behavior
19:16but i don't think anybody expects for someone to be stabbed and and die on their doorstep
19:23a number of uniformed officers were given a name of a young boy
19:27so from there we were able to then move on to do some intelligence checks and try and establish who
19:31who that who that young lad was
19:34and as a result uniform officers go to his address
19:38and he was arrested in the middle of the night
19:44the arrest of this teenage boy led to further arrests of members of the group that initially
19:49assaulted james from the neighbors at the scene we're aware that the group was made up of a number
19:55of males and females two girls were able to identify their attendance at the scene they're also arrested
20:04with three teenagers in custody police soon identify a prime suspect
20:09her disclosures made that joshua sparks was at the scene
20:17as a result officers go to joshua's address and he is arrested
20:24the police were brilliant they kept us updated and they came to ask quite a lot they were really supportive
20:31to be told there's a murder and then to have four juveniles all in custody
20:37within less than eight hours it's a very fortunate situation to be in for us
20:49as essex police continue their interviews social media activity around the case intensifies
20:56it blew up quick my phone was just going off there were a lot of people messaging on facebook
21:02to us telling us all sorts of things we didn't know what was true and what wasn't
21:08so many people um are talking oh you know about the guy that got killed it was so-and-so that did it
21:14you couldn't manage it so i just shut it down and just shut down social media
21:20it's detrimental you don't need well it may be this or we were told this
21:25until we got hard evidence i just didn't want to be told anything really
21:35back at basildon police station detectives seek to identify which of the youths they
21:40have in custody was responsible for murdering james
21:46it was key that we had to interview these youths as soon as possible
21:49we were aware that there was a weapon outstanding we would want to try and recover that weapon
21:54the first interview would have been a free-flowing what happened why were you there mostly open
21:59questions in his first interview joshua gave a very vague account of he'd been on the estate
22:06hanging out with friends but wouldn't say who those friends were whereabouts exactly he was and he
22:13maintained that he returned home shortly after it got dark he was nonchalant in interview he didn't
22:22come across as animated or overly bothered and answered no comment to questions that were uncomfortable
22:28or challenging
22:34he doesn't seem scared at all seems to take it all in his stride which for a 16 year old is i think
22:43quite unusual
22:46but whilst joshua sparks attempts to appear laid back the other members of the group are providing
22:51police with significant statements that implicate him in james's murder we had the other three
22:57juveniles in custody who had said they weren't necessarily involved in the stabbing
23:02we had two interview pairs so whilst one pair would interview joshua another pair would interview
23:09the children that were probably more likely to talk to us
23:13the other teenagers that were interviewed were fairly forthcoming with the incident and what happened
23:20and it became clear reasonably quickly who was responsible
23:26they were significant witnesses because they'd been there and they were living and breathing
23:33the uh the instant and and i'm sure a good chunk of them would have sinned actually physically sin it
23:39we wanted to bring them on side get their trust and try and get them to give us a witness account
23:47the juveniles told us that josh was there and josh was involved in the stabbing
23:51joshua sparks is now the prime suspect in the murder of james gibbons
24:07the next day we set up the id parade that was carried out by the homeless male who had picked
24:13joshua out as being one of the males at the scene which would ultimately strengthen our case against
24:19joshua despite the eyewitness accounts joshua continues to deny attacking james prompting police
24:27to turn to digital forensics for further evidence at the time of the search of joshua's house we were
24:35able to recover his mobile phone and that was subject of a full download we saw that 12 50 joshua makes
24:45a call to his girlfriend that's some in excess of 40 minutes long and we were able to get an
24:51understanding from talking to girlfriend that he was upset we know that he said someone had been
24:56stabbed and that he was he was involved there was another phone call he made
25:05which was overheard by another one of our youth witnesses at which point he he laughed as he
25:10said he chinged someone 25 times chinged being a reference to stabbing somebody
25:17shortly after the stabbing took place josh googled can i go to prison for accidentally killing somebody
25:24he googled murder in basildon it already shows that he had a guilty knowledge that he was directly involved
25:31when examining joshua's social media activity immediately following the murder investigators
25:39uncover yet more significant evidence one of the biggest breakthroughs in the case certainly came from
25:45the mobile phone side of things there was a snapchat story that joshua creates which is titled
25:55i've just killed a man and i'll do it again
26:1016 year old joshua sparks denies any role in the murder of james gibbons
26:15however police have uncovered significant social media posts made by sparks in the hours after the fatal attack
26:24after the incident josh created a snapchat story saying that i've just killed someone and i will do it again
26:35and then we see the subsequent chat underneath where joshua admits to emming the letter m a man
26:43which we now know to m me to mean murder
26:46and within the chat josh says i it comes across as ducked up but we know that should be the phrase
26:55beginning with f
26:56it's unbelievable unbelievable what mentality have they got it's it's there's just no words
27:14and then we see the subsequent chat well those within the group that think it's not true they're all
27:22asking joshua of his involvement which he confirms we're also able to see that josh says i'm a psychopath
27:33he's described himself as a psychopath he saw this as an opportunity to integrate this element into his
27:39social identity of someone to be feared to be respected that could assert dominance rather than
27:45the awareness of the gravity of what he had done and the seriousness of his situation
28:01one of his friends told him that his life was over
28:05to which his reply was i know i may as well go and kill everybody else i don't like
28:08we had what we believe is tantamount to confessions by josh from from mobile phone evidence
28:20for us as as the family it's hurtful but they can't hurt us anymore because they've taken james away from
28:27us as the investigation gains momentum police search joshua's home for physical evidence to support claims
28:42made in his social media messages
28:46the plan around it was to lock down his house so it could then be searched
28:51forensically hoping that we would recover the knife from the search of josh's address we were able to
28:57recover some clothing which which we believed he was wearing at the time but we never recovered the knife
29:05i remember gav saying we haven't got the knife which was really disappointing
29:10we'd interviewed many times about what happened he refused to tell us
29:13we made other inquiries after that with families to where the knife may have gone and we were never
29:21able to establish where it went despite eyewitness testimony and joshua sparks incriminating social
29:29media posts the absence of a murder weapon means police must continue to gather evidence in order to
29:35charge him time is off the essence so i'm already starting to think what can i use to help me solve this
29:42and get justice for james's family and it was very clear what was going to solve this investigation
29:50with cctv it was deemed necessary to do some quick time house to house inquiries check the cctv
29:59and doorbell footage the local residents i think were as equally appalled we were by what had happened
30:04and they were very amenable for us to come into their houses and actually start downloading their cctv
30:10so it could be used to progress the investigation
30:15we were able very quickly to start to understand what happened the initial altercation of the juveniles
30:24where james tells them to go away joshua was in that group as james approaches an arm comes out grabs
30:35hold of him and then they both move further into the alleyway
30:42the argument that happens which unfortunately isn't covered with cctv within nine seconds we were able
30:49to show josh running back out of the alleyway through the estate
30:53it was evident that only one person could have could have stabbed james and all the evidence was pointing
31:01towards joshua
31:05we put to him the cctv
31:10all of those subsequent interviews josh refused to answer any questions
31:13which i think was telling for the fact he knew the evidence was stacking up against him and he
31:18knew it was best to say nothing rather than get caught out in a lie
31:24the other youth they obviously named him um we had the cctv at the scene and we also had the
31:32positive id parade of the homeless mayor who identified joshua sparks as being at the scene
31:36i was really confident that we had the right person and we were not looking for anyone else hence he was
31:47charged with the murder of james gibbons i was there when he was charged with murder and no reaction
31:55joshua treated his charge like he treated his interviews he was very relaxed and just took it all in his stride
32:14we knew now that the police that they have someone in custody
32:17and it was a 16 year old that killed my son it's beyond belief what is happening in this world
32:30when you embark on a murder investigation then you find out it's technically a child that's
32:34responsible it's always a surprise but unfortunately it's not a rarity anymore it is becoming more and more
32:40prevalent joshua was remanded into youth custody the challenge for us is the short
32:47court timelines that are given for a juvenile held in detention so we were significantly
32:55tight on time to collect all of our evidence the pressure was on us to get trial ready
33:04we were holding on to that like for life because we wanted justice done
33:10five months after james's death the trial of joshua sparks began at chelmsford crown court
33:21joshua pleads not guilty to murder on the grounds of self-defense
33:29when people are charged with murder very rarely will they ever admit it their only chance is to go
33:34down the lines of self-defense to try and suggest that they were provoked into their actions and they had
33:38to do it for their own self-preservation joshua's legal team based their defense on claims that james
33:44was carrying a weapon when he confronted the youths they focused heavily on james being armed
33:52at the time and that's why joshua had to go and find a knife they were saying that james had a weapon and
34:00that he was using it it was just you know oh we think it was a hammer we think it was a wooden pole
34:08before the stabbing took place a neighbor did give the homeless male a piece of wood akin to a broom
34:15handle so he could protect himself because he was being harassed by these youths and then the defense
34:20he's claiming james in possession of that stick and when he went out there he confronted the youths
34:25it's kind of like we were the ones on trial because we had to prove our points
34:34it's hard when you've lost your son but it's like he's being made the one that's
34:39that's the guilty one it's very hard
34:45defendants don't always take the stand however if his defense was going to stand as self-defense
34:53he would have to joshua came across as very meek and very quietly spoken and he said he protected
35:01the children so the image that he portrayed in the box was very different to the cocky joshua
35:08that was at the scene and how he spoke on the snapchat after the incident
35:16joshua said he was worried about the threat james posted his friends so he made the decision to go off
35:22recover a knife that he'd had hidden on the estate and he returned only with the intention of using it
35:29to intimidate james we obviously heard the defense side rationally you know that they've got to do a
35:37job but then emotionally you're very protective over the person that you've lost
35:43especially because they haven't done anything
35:52the defense team obviously are there to get the perpetrator off so they they're going to put
35:58everything in to get this 16 year old youth off to try and convict somebody there has to be no
36:06reasonable doubt that was what was worrying because all you needed was one little bit of doubt
36:18it's october 2021 and joshua sparks is standing trial for the murder of james gibbons
36:24he went not guilty josh's defense team focused heavily on the fact that james was armed at the time
36:35and that's why joshua had to go and find a knife
36:39the defense team when they were doing their case there were times we think we're not going to get him
36:46but he's not going to go down for this with a murder verdict at stake the prosecution hits back
36:53it claims james was armed with a wooden stick in the lead up to the attack
36:59what the cctv was able to show was at no point was james in possession of that stick and at the
37:05time where james was grabbed by joshua anyway he was completely unarmed all james was doing was
37:13raising his hands like this to say go away leave him alone because james knew they were children
37:23the nature of james's injuries also raised doubts as to whether the attack could be justified as
37:30self-defense the defense case statement that we got from joshua's legal team was that he was attacked
37:36by james so he had to lash out from james's autopsy it was noticed that he had four penetrative stab wounds
37:45two were at the front to the chest and abdomen and there were two to his right flank joshua had no
37:51injuries at all which i think was very telling he was attacked so had to defend himself he had no
37:57defensive injuries and james had four penetrative stab wounds he didn't just stab james once not twice
38:06four times in nine seconds
38:09after a month in court the jury and the joshua sparks murder trial began their deliberations
38:26i know we got the right person however we are relying on 12 members of the jury to be sure that
38:35beyond all reasonable doubt joshua sparks intended to kill james gibbons
38:45you're always slightly worried that you might get an adverse jury verdict
38:50you go to court and you've got two professional sides to his character trying to put doubt in the jury's
38:55mind of course we're worried the main reason for the conviction for me was because when telling my
39:03children something bad had happened to their dad you want to follow it up with but it's okay because
39:09this happened not that the person got away with it
39:17despite several days of deliberation the jury still couldn't agree on a unanimous verdict
39:24the longer you sit in the police room and wait for a decision you're trying to live the mind of the
39:28jury and what could they possibly be discussing when the jury retire the judge always tells them he
39:34expects a unanimous guilty or not guilty for the case of josh the judge give them the majority verdict
39:40ruling so as long as 10 of you agree then that will be the verdict of all of you
39:45on the 3rd of november 2021 the jury finally reached their decision
39:59there's not a feeling i've ever felt like it you could hear every sound you know it was quiet
40:07the judge called the jury back into court and it was returned as a guilty for murder on a 10-2 majority
40:18i see gavin wiseman next to me oh
40:28but i looked across at the mum and she broke down
40:32all that tension the whole weight had just gone just we can breathe we've done well for james and
40:44we've got justice the verdict brought relief to james's family but was met with anger and menace
40:52by those supporting joshua sparks
40:55there was an uproar with the youths directing signs to us some of them was very um visual they were
41:07intimidating to be honest with you the perpetrator was as well i believe after josh was told he'd been
41:14found guilty and was was sent down he made a gesture towards his family which caused some
41:20um some annoyance to james's family understandably a month later on the 3rd of december 16-year-old
41:30joshua sparks returned to court to be sentenced for adults knife-related murders can attract up to
41:3725-year minimum sentence that was never going to happen for josh because of his age joshua sparks was
41:44sentenced to 13 years he was a juvenile and there are restrictions that are in place and they're
41:53set you know by legislation and that's really tough for the family it was a relief to have that verdict
42:01come through but the sentencing is not long enough the judge has to consider aggravating and mitigating
42:12factors that can move the sentence around and bringing the knife to the scene did increase the
42:19sentencing i'm really proud of the work my investigation team has carried out in this case
42:28from the moment the first came into our control room every single member of the team worked with a
42:34single-minded focus catching the person responsible however my thoughts today are entirely with james's
42:41family and friends who have conducted themselves with incredible dignity throughout this whole
42:46investigation nothing will bring back james to his family and friends but i hope that today brings
42:52them some comfort and that justice has been served and his killer is facing a custodial sentence for his crime
42:59the main concern i have with the sentencing was that when he's released my children will still be quite
43:12young i'd rather they were adults when i told them i don't want them to be scared but no when they're
43:17still quite young yeah we'll have to have the conversation that the person that took their dad is is free
43:22although joshua was a juvenile the judge took the exceptional step of permitting his name to be made
43:30public i think it's right that the judge did lift the anonymity order it's such a serious crime
43:38it's important for me to say what james was like the loving son father
44:00and if he saw anyone vulnerable he was the person that would be there to help them
44:11that's the type of man he is he was
44:20but look at that cheeky smile
44:24i see him in the children a lot we have pictures everywhere nobody's looking at james
44:28they're so sweet i often think about how would he be with them now at this age
44:35it just makes me sad for the life that we didn't get to have
44:47happy birthday to you
44:50i think social media had a role in playing in terms of offering joshua sparks a platform or a way to
45:04share what he's done to boost his status in his eyes and to be responded to by others
45:10he shouldn't be carrying a knife in the first place
45:20it's just so disappointing and soul-destroying
45:23that innocent members of the public are losing their lives as a result of these mindless people
45:32who are using these weapons in this way there's something wrong in the way that the youths are
45:41growing up today maybe they'll be influenced by social media but something needs to be done
45:47if we can use james's memory for any reason it would be to help save a life
46:02so
46:12so
46:14so
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