Burngreave: Men and teenager shot and stabbed to death remembered in heartbreaking playground memorial

Their names have been emblazoned on a playground shelter, with the moving quote “Time passes but memories never fade”.

The tribute is well known in Burngreave, where it takes pride of place in the Nottingham Cliff recreation ground.

Tragically, all the murder victims featured had a link to the Sheffield suburb.

Elsewhere at the ‘rec,’ more street art on what was once a blank wall bears the message “Put down the knives, put down the guns. Stop the violence”.

The recreation ground was the place where 16-year-old Jonathan Matondo was shot dead in what police believe was a deadly feud between two between two warring postcode gangs – known as S3 and S4 – operating in Burngreave and neighbouring Pitsmoor at that time.

Jonathan was an S3 gang member and known to have carried a gun and a blade. He was known as ‘Venomous’ on the streets.

Although nobody is behind bars for Jonathan’s murder, detectives revealed what they believed happened to him when they charged a suspect soon after the killing and he was prosecuted.

He stood trial twice, with the jury unable to reach a verdict after the first trial and finding him not guilty after a second.

One the day he was killed, there had been another attempt to kill Jonathan a few hours earlier when shots were fired at him as he visited a friend’s flat.

Detectives said they believed that Jonathan’s murderer did not act alone and was that the teen was killed as part of a pre-planned plot. Police chiefs said Jonathan was ‘targeted and ruthlessly killed’ in an ‘organised and planned attack’ and that officers would ‘relentlessly pursue’ those involved.

Forensic work established that the gun used to kill Jonathan had been used to fire at another S3 member's home two months earlier.

Detectives believe the teen was targeted in retaliation for a shooting at a house belonging to relatives of an S4 member the night before the murder.

Who were the others named on the tribute?

Lester Divers:

Twenty years ago, Sheffield was shocked by a gangland execution which led to an outpouring of grief for the well known victim, Lester Divers.

The 32-year-old, originally from the Burngreave area, was shot dead at point blank range as he sat in his Lexus car outside his home in Freedom Road, Walkley, on New Year’s Day 2003.

During the trial of suspects accused of involvement in his death, it was claimed that Lester was killed in a ‘well planned and cold blooded execution’ as a result of a turf war between rival drug gangs.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how charismatic and popular Mr Divers was a music promoter and well known Sheffield United fan but also part of a gang responsible for a series of sickening crimes against other drug dealers and criminals at that time.

Gunman Michael Ullah, formerly of Honeysuckle Road, Wincobank, was jailed for life over the shooting and ordered to serve a minimum of 16 years behind bars.

Lamar Griffiths:

Lamar, aged 21, was shot while he was sat inside a friend’s car at the Diamond Hand Car Wash on Burngreave Road last March.”

Lamar’s mum, Monique Bate, said he was on his way to visit his grandmother on the day of the attack and was not the intended target of the bullet which claimed his life.

Since her son’s death, Monique has channelled her time and efforts into ‘Lamar’s Legacy’, an initiative she hopes will help reduce street violence and give hope and a better future to young people.

Nobody has yet been charged over the killing.

Brett Blake:

Brett, aged 23, was stabbed to death in a city nightclub in an attack which involved two of his life-long friends.

A gang-related feud was said to have been the motive for the stabbing in Uniq on Carver Street in June 2008.

Danny Hockenhull, of Grimesthorpe, and Curtis Goring, of Firth Park, both in their 20s at the time, were convicted of murder and both ordered to serve at least 21 years before being considered for parole.

Police said the death was the result of in-fighting between members of the city's S3 postcode gang.

Joshua Green:

Joshua, aged 27, was killed in an attack on January 1, 2012 but to date nobody has been charged with his murder.

The dad-of-two was on a night out at a R 'n' B party at the Stars and Mayfair venue on Queens Road when he was stabbed to death.

Friends, relatives, fellow revellers and staff battled to revive him but Joshua’s life could not be saved.

Joshua, from Manor Park, was stabbed once in his neck and twice in his back during the attack.

During an inquest into Joshua's death, it was revealed that in the chaos afterwards as party-goers fled, they trampled through the crime scene - making it difficult for forensic evidence to be recovered, which hindered the investigation into the murder.

Jordan Thomas:

Jordan, aged 22, was shot in a car at a set of traffic lights on Derek Dooley Way in December 2014.

He was shot through the window of a car he was travelling in, with detectives believing the assassination to be a revenge attack in a feud between two gangs.

A man was jailed for 36 years for Jordan's murder but it could never be proven that he was the gunman who pulled the trigger and he was convicted on the basis that he was part of a pre-planned plot to kill.

Four others believed to hold vital information – Mohammed Ali, Ahmed Warsame, Saeed Hussein, and Jamal Ali were named afterwards as people of interest – but police are yet to track them down.

Gerald Smith:

Gerald, aged 42, was shot in a case of mistaken identity.

The dad-of-seven was leaving the Afro-Caribbean Club on Spital Hill in December 2003 when he was killed in a drive-by shooting.Nine men were found guilty of murder because nobody was prepared to admit who it was who pulled the trigger, so they were convicted on the basis that they were all involved and therefore responsible.The shooting followed a robbery outside a Sheffield takeaway in which four of the men had phones and chains taken from them by members of a gang. The men, from Nottingham, returned home and then drove back to Sheffield with five others to seek revenge.They drove around in cars looking for those responsible and shot Gerald who police said ‘wasn’t the target’.