- Deportation of Jamaican-born gangster blocked by British Airways passengers
- Lawrence Morgan had a criminal record that included gun crimes and drugs
- Home Secretary James Cleverly attacked ‘do-gooders’ who block deportations
A gun-toting Jamaican gangster who opened fire on a busy street in broad daylight dodged deportation after a mutiny by airline passengers, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
This newspaper first reported the revolt on a British Airways flight at Gatwick in November, but the Home Office refused to disclose the identity of the criminal involved or detail his convictions. However, the MoS can today reveal he is 27-year-old gangster Lawrence Morgan, whose appalling criminal record includes two serious gun crimes and a host of hard drugs convictions.
Last night, Home Secretary James Cleverly furiously lambasted ‘do-gooders’ who attempt to block the deportation of foreign criminals. ‘The vast majority of the British people think convicted, violent thugs should be deported,’ he told the MoS. ‘My mission is to keep the British people safe. We must be able to remove offenders from our country without interference from misguided and ill-informed do-gooders.’
A source close to the Home Secretary indicated the Government is examining new measures to stop passengers blocking deportation flights and to speed up removals. ‘This is an outrageous situation,’ they said. ‘We will be looking at new ways to handle this issue.’
Morgan’s deportation was thwarted after a mutiny led by Cambridge graduate Hannah Gaffey. She boasted online that she and other passengers refused to sit down before take-off and described receiving advice from Detention Action, a Left-wing human rights charity.
As he was led off the plane, the thug thanked the protesters for their intervention.
But former Home Secretary Priti Patel said last night: ‘Foreign national offenders are deported from our country because they have committed serious offences, are dangerous and violent. Our streets are safer without them being here and the overwhelming majority of the public support their removal.
‘Those who intervene to try to stop these criminals being removed are putting the public at risk and they should face consequences for their ill-advised actions.’
The revelation of Morgan’s identity and shocking criminal record come after the MoS revealed how gang rapist Yaqub Ahmed was finally sent back to Somalia last summer – more than five years after his deportation was scuppered by virtue-signalling holidaymakers on the same flight.
An extraordinary three-and-a-half minute video clip showed passengers erupting into applause as Ahmed was hauled off the Turkish Airlines flight at Heathrow in October 2018, with one declaring: ‘You’re free, man!’. The botched deportation was followed by years of legal appeals as Ahmed fought to stay in the country.
Morgan, who arrived in the UK from Jamaica on a visitor’s visa in the early 2000s, was jailed in 2021 after repeatedly firing a handgun during a deadly gangland shootout in Birmingham the previous year.
Shocking CCTV footage showed the thug, clad in black, blasting away at two rival gang members, one of whom had just ‘executed’ his friend Naasir Francis, 22, at point-blank range.
At least 13 shots were fired during the terrifying gun battle on a busy street in Lozells, with a judge later saying it was ‘only by luck’ that no members of the public were hit.
Morgan is understood to be part of a gang affiliated to the fearsome Johnson Crew, whose feud with the rival Burger Bar Boys terrorised inner-city Birmingham in the 1990s and 2000s.
The bloody turf war led to the deaths in 2003 of two innocent young women – Letisha Shakespeare, 17, and Charlene Ellis, 18 – who were caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting outside a New Year party in the city.
Last night Dr Marcia Shakespeare, Letisha’s mother who was awarded an MBE for her tireless anti-gun campaigning, said the Home Office’s use of commercial flights to deport offenders ‘clearly isn’t working’ and should be reviewed.
She said: ‘If you are trying to make a stand to say you are deporting someone, then do it right.
‘If someone has committed a crime they should be punished. If someone is going to open fire in a street, they are a danger and should not be around the public.’
The MoS understands the Government has been attempting to kick Morgan out of the country since 2018, only to be faced with a string of human rights challenges from his lawyers.
In April last year the Home Office issued him with formal notification that he was to be deported, classifying him as a ‘very high harm’ foreign offender due to repeated gun crimes. Morgan’s lawyers, however, suggested he would be at risk from criminal gangs if he was sent back to Jamaica, and was in fear for his life.
Morgan, who lived in Nechells, Birmingham, is also believed to have claimed a ‘right to family life’ under the European Convention on Human Rights because he had fathered a child here. He is even said to have claimed he was a positive role model and was doing voluntary work with troubled teenagers.
Home Office officials resisted his appeals and on November 10 he was finally escorted on board a Boeing 777 British Airways flight to Kingston, Jamaica. But as other passengers took their seats, Morgan began struggling and shouting ‘get off me’.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Ms Gaffey, 26, from Salford, Greater Manchester, described how she and others protested at the ‘injustice’ of his removal – despite not knowing why he was being deported.
‘The BA staff were keen for us to sit down and stop talking about it, she wrote. ‘So we stayed standing. The aircraft is not allowed to take off while people are standing.’ Gaffey and the other passengers eventually sat down but Morgan became increasingly violent and the BA captain abandoned his preparations for take-off and returned the aircraft to the terminal.
Ms Gaffey described how she phoned a case worker at Detention Action both before and after the mutiny. During the second call she was advised that if she found herself on another deportation flight she should ‘refuse to sit’, she claimed. At the time, Detention Action director James Wilson said the charity did not advise Ms Gaffey to stand up. He declined to comment further this weekend.
Morgan was taken to Brook House detention centre near Gatwick and is believed to still be in the UK.
Last night former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith called for Morgan to be ‘fast-tracked’ on to another deportation flight with no further legal appeals.
He added: ‘The Home Office should make sure the public are aware at the time of the deportation that this guy is an offender who is being deported because of his offences – and those passengers who protest should leave the aircraft.’
A Mail on Sunday investigation has established that in February 2016, Morgan, then 19, was caught by police carrying a loaded gun and drugs in his bag.
He was handcuffed but managed to headbutt a police sergeant in a bid to get away. He was jailed for five years and ten months after admitting possession of a firearm and illegal drugs – namely crack, heroin and cocaine.
In February 2017, Morgan received another two-year sentence – to run consecutively – for supplying heroin and crack in what police described as a county lines gang operation in Banbury, Oxfordshire.
While in jail, Morgan was one of 18 men named in a landmark legal ruling believed to be the largest group injunction ever secured against gang members in the UK. The two-year order aimed to disrupt an outbreak of violence between the Burger Bar Boys and Johnson Crew, barring gang members from associating with each other.
Morgan is believed to have been a member of the GMG (Guns and Money Gang), which aligns itself with the Johnson Crew.
By 2020, aged 24, Morgan was back on Birmingham’s streets and once again immersed in gang violence. At lunchtime on August 26 that year, he and fellow GMG member Naasir Francis pulled up outside a row of shops in Lozells in a white Lexus, where they spotted rival gang members Teeko Le, then 17, and Darnell Donovan-Harris, then 22.
Morgan and Francis, who recorded violent ‘drill’ music under the name Crill, jumped into the passing car of an associate, drove to an address where they collected a gun and within minutes returned to the scene, the court heard.
Chilling CCTV footage showed Morgan, arriving by bicycle, firing at his rivals. Le was also armed and shot back, prompting Morgan to cycle off and Francis to leap into the Lexus.
As Le and Donovan-Harris chased Morgan, they spotted Francis sitting in the driver’s seat, opened the door and started punching him.
Le then opened fire again, blasting Francis at ‘point-blank range’ and leaving him with multiple gunshot wounds in the stomach.
The extraordinary video footage then showed Morgan advancing towards Le and Donovan-Harris and shooting – the flash of the gun clearly visible as he held it in both outstretched hands.
Morgan fled with the mortally injured Francis in the Lexus before callously abandoning his dying friend in a nearby street, a jury was later told. Morgan admitted possessing a firearm and received another sentence of five years’ imprisonment. The prosecution blamed him for being liable for Francis’s death, but a jury acquitted him of murder and attempted murder.
Le, who was convicted of murder, attempted murder and possessing a firearm with intent, was jailed for a minimum of 20 years, while Donovan-Harris was jailed for 18 years after being convicted of manslaughter and possessing a firearm.
Sentencing Le, Mr Justice Saini said: ‘This was an execution.
‘It is only by luck that no innocent members of the public in this busy area of Birmingham at lunchtime that day were also not shot.’
Ms Gaffey did not respond to a request for comment last night.
William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
