Second woman dies following Brixton Academy incident

A third woman, aged 21, remains in a critical condition in hospital

A second woman has died from injuries sustained during the incident at Brixton Academy last week, the Metropolitan Police have said.

Gabrielle Hutchinson, aged 23, died in hospital this morning (December 19). The Metropolitan Police said that she was working as one of the contracted security providers for an Asake concert at the venue.

Chief Superintendent Colin Wingrove, policing commander for Lambeth and Southwark, said in a statement: “It is devastating news that a second person has lost their life following the events on Thursday. I wish to express my heartfelt condolences to Gabrielle’s family at this unimaginably difficult time.”

Rebecca Ikumelo, aged 33, died in hospital on Saturday morning (December 17). A third woman, aged 21, remains in hospital in a critical condition.

The investigation into an incident on Thursday night (December 15) in which fans breached the doors of the South London venue is ongoing. Detectives from the Met’s Specialist Crime Command are currently in the process of reviewing CCTV and phone footage and they are also speaking to witnesses and conducting forensic examinations.

Brixton
Brixton Academy cordoned off by police on December 16, 2022, the morning after a crowd crush during an Asake gig. Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.

They have, however, established that Hutchinson, Ikumelo and the third woman who was critically injured, were all in the foyer of the 5,000 capacity venue.

The police cordons outside the venue have now been removed, but cordons remain inside the building while officers continue to examine the scene.

The police have also called for anyone with information that could potentially help the case to come forward. They estimate that there were around 4,000 witnesses present at the time of the incident.

Asake published a statement to his social media accounts on Saturday in response to the news of Ikumelo’s death, in which he said he had spoken to her family and “will continue to do so”.

“I am overwhelmed with grief and could never have imagined anything like this happening,” he wrote.

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