Bournemouth, Crime | Posted on December 5th, 2025 | return to news

Murder verdict for Bournemouth woman

Zoe Treadwell was found guilty of murder and Jonjay Harrison of attempted murder after 33 hours of deliberations by the jury.

A Bournemouth woman has been found guilty of murder.

Zoe Treadwell, 36, drove her car into motorcyclist 28-year-old Joey Johnstone in April 2025 in West Howe.

Treadwell was also found guilty of attempting to murder a second man and causing grievous bodily harm with intent to a third man, in relation to a second collision in May 2025.

A second defendant, 25-year-old Jonjay Harrison from Bournemouth, was also found guilty of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm with intent in relation to the May collision.

At around 2am on Wednesday 9 April 2025, a serious collision occurred in South Kinson Drive. It involved two electric motorbikes being chased at high speed by a Range Rover, which subsequently struck one of the bikes and knocked the rider from it. The driver of the Range Rover did not stop.

Very sadly, the motorcyclist, 28-year-old Joey Johnstone from Bournemouth, was pronounced dead at the scene having suffered a traumatic head injury.

Three weeks later at around 1pm on Thursday 1 May 2025, another collision occurred in Kinson Road involving a Mercedes and an electric motorbike. The Mercedes was seen to mount the pavement and strike the electric motorbike, knocking the rider and pillion passenger from it. The Mercedes then drove away from the scene.

Emergency services attended and 33-year-old Joshua Lovell, who was riding on the e-bike, was taken to hospital with serious injuries including multiple fractures. The pillion passenger, 30-year-old Free Jenkins, suffered life changing injuries including the amputation of part of his leg.

Separate investigations were launched into both collisions, which included carrying out CCTV trawls, taking numerous witness statements, analysing DNA samples taken from the involved vehicles, and completing vehicle speed analysis using gathered CCTV and ring doorbell footage.

A connection was soon established between the two investigations, seeing them joined together.

Four people were subsequently arrested and charged in connection with the joint investigation:

36-year-old British national Zoe Treadwell, who defines herself as being of white British ethnicity.
18-year-old British national Taylor Warwick, who self-defines his ethnicity as being of any other black background.
25-year-old Jonjay Harrison, who defines himself as being of white British ethnicity.
A 17-year-old boy who cannot be named for legal reasons.

A trial began at Winchester Crown Court on Monday 27 October 2025.

Prosecutors said in both collisions, the young men riding e-bikes were chased by cars through residential roads before being driven into deliberately – a plan engineered by the four defendants as a result of a “long running grudge or feud”.

Warwick and the 17-year-old boy were accused of murder and manslaughter relating to the death of Mr Johnstone but denied being in the Range Rover at the time of the collision and denied assisting or encouraging Treadwell in causing the collision. They were found not guilty.

The jury returned its verdicts on Thursday 4 December 2025 after 33 hours of deliberations.

Treadwell and Harrison will return to court to be sentenced at a later date.

Detective Inspector Mark Jenkins, of Dorset Police’s Major Crime Investigation Team, said: “The sad death of Joey Johnstone came as a result of a deliberate, targeted and senseless attack which occurred during the early hours of Wednesday 9 April 2025.

“Mr Johnstone was pursued by Treadwell in a Range Rover around the streets of West Howe, because of a grievance which had arisen between one group of associates and another.

“This extreme aggression resulted in the tragic death of Joey that night. It then continued the following month, seeing a second deliberate collision occur which resulted in serious injuries for Joshua Lovell and devastating, life-altering injuries for Free Jenkins.

“The investigation team has worked extremely hard since the Joey Johnstone’s death to gather all the evidence available to them so that those responsible could be brought before the courts to face justice for their actions. I would like to thank everyone who worked on the case, as well as the Crown Prosecution Service and the prosecution team for presenting the evidence gathered in the best way possible.

“Finally, our thoughts remain with Joey Johnstone’s partner, three young children and the rest of his family and friends.”

Chief Inspector Barry Gosling, of Dorset Police, said: “We fully understand that this case would have had a significant impact on Bournemouth residents and specifically the West Howe community.

“At the time of the incidents, detectives conducted thorough investigations while officers carried out high visibility patrols in the vicinity to offer public re-assurance.

“We would like to assure people that our measures to protect our communities will not stop. We will continue to do all we can to tackle violent crime and I hope this case demonstrates that we will do everything in our power to ensure offenders are identified and held to account.

“Officers will continue to patrol the area and can be approached by members of the public with any concerns.”