Brixton Academy crush victims’ families still seek justice

Exactly six months ago, a crush brought a concert at the Brixton Academy to an abrupt halt.

Two of those who went to the South London venue that night never came home, and their families are still waiting for answers about what happened.

Social media footage showed long queues of people, many thought to be ticketless, trying to gain entry to the sold-out gig by Afrobeats artist Asake on 15 December.

Nursing graduate Rebecca Ikumelo, 33, from Newham in east London, and security dog-handler Gaby Hutchinson, 23, from Gravesend in Kent, both died from the injuries they sustained in the crush. A third person, a 21-year-old woman, remains in a serious condition in hospital.

“She was stunning, so, so beautiful,” says Rebecca’s aunt Mary Ikumelo. “Such a beautiful individual, not only on the outside but also inside.”

“Rebecca was a bubbly person,” says her mother Yetunde Olodo, 59. “She was very outgoing, caring, loving. She was an amazing mother.”

Her children, aged seven and five, face growing up without her. “She’s got two young kids, they’re missing their mom,” says Yetunde.

“They don’t really know what actually happened to their mom. We really want justice.”

(L-R) Rebecca’s dad Anthony, aunt Mary and mother Yetunde

Speaking to Rebecca’s family, their pride at the work she did to support parents of autistic children shines through.

“A lot of women that reached out said the most amazing things about her, how she selflessly always had time for them,” Mary adds.

“She would give them routines, she would just give them little gems on how to help their children with autism.

“That’s strangers reaching out to say how amazing an individual was so you can imagine how blessed the people to have her in their lives constantly were.”

Like Rebecca’s family, Gaby’s relatives have photographs and memories on social media to help remember Gaby.

“I feel that if you ever met Gaby while she was alive, you would never forget her,” her mum Christine told the BBC. “She would make a really big impression on you, hopefully a good one.

“My heart feels like it’s broken. It’s never going to mend again. I wish it had been me rather than her because she had a life to live and at least I’ve lived 60 years.”

Christine says she cannot believe Gaby is gone

Gaby’s sister Nina described her sibling as “a great soul”. The 32-year-old said: “She had a lot of passion in there. She was a real laugh. She was just so loving and caring.”

Half a year on, Christine and Nina say it still does not “feel real”. They both paid tribute to Gaby’s selflessness.

“She never would have walked out there knowing someone else was in danger or needed help,” Nina adds. “She would have stayed and that’s what she did. She’s a hero, she really is.

“Maybe a stupid one, but she’s our hero and we’re grateful that we did get the time that we had with her.”

Nina says Gaby was “one of a kind”

Both families want anyone with any information or footage to share it with police, who say they have spoken to hundreds of people who were there.

“We’re angry that there are things that haven’t gone right that has led to people dying or being seriously injured and we just want those people to have justice,” Nina says.

“We want to know how it happened, we want to know why it happened,” adds Mary, “and then we just want to know how are we moving forward going to prevent this from happening to somebody else’s daughter, mum, sister, niece.

“All we want is justice, for people to come forward and help us. Whatever they know, they should come and tell the police.

“It’s really, really important for all of us as a community to stand together and to just make sure that this type of thing doesn’t happen again.”

Brixton Academy’s operator the Academy Music Group, which hopes the venue can reopen despite the Met’s opposition, previously said it was “devastated” about the deaths and that it had “engaged collaboratively” with both Lambeth Council and the Metropolitan Police since the crush.

Det Ch Insp Nigel Penney, the senior investigating officer, said a criminal investigation is being conducted involving a range of potential offences such as “corporate manslaughter, criminal negligence manslaughter, unlawful act manslaughter and health and safety at work offences, along with violent disorder and offences against the person or assaults”.

He said he was “extremely confident” police would get to the bottom of what happened – but explained that he needed more witnesses to “help me piece together the puzzle as to how that crush ever happened in the first place”.

He told the BBC hundreds of statements had already been taken but “there were thousands of people there, so there’s still a lot to do”.

The detective said his message was a simple one: “Come forward with anything you know, even if it’s something you’ve heard. Come forward if you have material on your phone. Come forward.”