By SCM Reporter I Wednesday, 20 May 2026
THREE ruthless killers are facing life behind bars today after a loving dad was hacked to death in a savage 5am street attack.
Tragic Gregory Catillo Volquez, 36, was butchered with a machete and a crutch during a “violent and frenzied” ambush in north London.
Today, a jury at Southwark Crown Court found the three thugs guilty of his murder following an intensive eight-week trial.
The convictions mark the end of a breathtaking, continent-spanning manhunt by Scotland Yard detectives who tracked the fleeing killers across Europe.
The horror unfolded in the early hours of Monday, 13 January 2025. Gregory had been enjoying a night out with friends in south London before travelling to Tiverton Road in Haringey.
But his night out turned into a living nightmare when he was set upon by a pack of killers he knew.
Emergency services rushed to the scene at around 05:00hrs, but Gregory was tragically pronounced dead in the middle of the cold north London street.
A grim post-mortem examination later revealed the sheer brutality of the attack. Gregory had suffered a staggering 22 stab wounds, mostly inflicted by a terrifyingly long knife. His body was also covered in horrific bruises caused by a blunt object.
Following the slaughter, the killers scrambled to evade justice—triggering a massive international manhunt by the Met Police’s Specialist Crime Unit.
Benito Ramirez Kones, 20, fled to Wales but was tracked down and detained in Swansea just five days after the murder. Cops seized his trainers, which matched CCTV from the scene, and forensic experts found they were stained with Gregory’s blood.
Carlos Akum Metumbe, 22, and Italian national Luiggi Perelli Santana, 22, successfully slipped out of the UK and fled to Spain.
But they couldn’t hide forever. Met detectives launched a international dragnet, tracking the pair down to Spain. Metumbe was extradited back to Britain in August 2025, followed by Santana in October 2025.
The breakthroughs came after digital and forensic experts painstakingly analyzed hours of CCTV footage.
Cameras caught Metumbe and Santana red-handed as they rained down a volley of fatal blows on Gregory using a machete and a crutch.
To seal their fate, forensic teams found Santana’s bloody fingerprints plastered all over both the murder weapon and the crutch used in the beating.
Speaking after the verdicts, Detective Inspector Jim Barry, who led the investigation, praised his team’s relentless pursuit of the killers.
“Our skilled team of officers showed huge tenacity to build a solid case with undisputable forensic evidence which resulted in three violent men being taken off our streets.
“It’s this hard work that is enabling the force to secure a positive outcome from 95 per cent of our murder investigations. I hope that this result offers a morsel of justice and closure to Gregory’s family, who have been left without a much-loved dad, brother and son.”
The three convicted murderers are:
Benito Ramirez Kones, 20, of De Beauvoir Estate, Hackney.
Carlos Akum Metumbe, 22, of Lower Clapton Road, Hackney.
Luiggi Perelli Santana, 22, of Brixton Hill, Lambeth.
A fourth man, Gabriel Pineda Gonzales, 21, was found not guilty during the trial.
Kones, Metumbe, and Santana have been remanded in custody and will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, 10 July, where they face lengthy life sentences.