EncroChat: Nana Oppong refused permission to appeal in murder case
The Court of Appeal refused Nana Oppong’s renewed applications on 24 July 2026. The arguments included the previous conviction put before the jury after his allegations about manipulated evidence.
Oppong had been convicted of murdering Robert Powell, known as Fox, who was shot after a party in Essex in June 2020 and died the next day. He received life imprisonment with a minimum term of 36 years and 111 days after remand credit. Other sentences concerned firearms, injury to a bystander and a cocaine conspiracy to which he had already pleaded guilty.
EncroChat messages formed part of the evidence alongside telephone records, CCTV and vehicle movements. A separate firearms conviction concerned a Glock that was never recovered; Oppong described the messages about it as boasting. The data also played an important role in the drugs case he had admitted.
The conviction application challenged the admission of his earlier conviction for perverting the course of justice. At trial he had alleged that documents and chats were deliberately edited or withheld to incriminate him. The court found that the judge carefully limited the previous-conviction evidence and adequately directed the jury. It found the conviction safe and no arguable basis for calling the sentence manifestly excessive. It refused the renewed applications for permission to appeal against conviction and sentence.
