UK Rapper Marcus La-Croix Acquitted In Teen’s 2018 Murder Case

UK rapper Marcus La-Croix was acquitted of murder and a firearms charge after a retrial over the 2018 drive-by shooting that killed 17-year-old Tanesha Melbourne-Blake in north London.

La-Croix, 38, had denied murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Michael Clarke, 37, faced the same charges in a separate retrial. Prosecutors offered no further evidence against Clarke on Friday, November 6, and Judge Mark Dennis KC directed jurors to return not guilty verdicts.

The decisions ended a prosecution that had moved through four trials and repeated setbacks at the Old Bailey. La-Croix’s first trial was abandoned in April 2025 after questions arose about evidence from a prison witness.

Judge Dennis said those issues needed to be “bottomed out” before the case could continue.

La-Croix was acquitted after a retrial this summer. Clarke’s second jury was discharged on October 30 after it could not reach a verdict. Judge Dennis told those jurors, “In those circumstances, I have no other option but to discharge the jury, so I discharge you.”

Tanesha was spending Easter Monday with friends on Chalgrove Road in Tottenham on April 2, 2018 when someone opened fire from a silver Vauxhall Meriva. A bullet struck her in the chest and she died at the scene. The vehicle was found burned in Barnet five days later.

Prosecutors alleged La-Croix was part of a group that traveled into rival territory before the shooting.

The case against him relied in part on a prisoner’s account of an alleged confession. La-Croix denied making that admission.

The Times reported that the first trial exposed concerns about similarities between the witness statement and an undisclosed prison intelligence report. The Metropolitan Police acknowledged disclosure failures but denied that officers had acted improperly.

Police said the gun used to kill Tanesha had also been used in the March 2018 killing of 20-year-old Joseph Williams-Torres in Walthamstow. Investigators said the weapon appeared to have circulated in north London, but they did not claim the two killings were otherwise connected.

La-Croix and Clarke were charged in July 2024, more than six years after Tanesha’s death. Both men maintained their innocence. With La-Croix acquitted and not guilty verdicts entered for Clarke, the shooting has ended without a murder conviction.