IRVANI: PAIR FACE LIFE SENTENCES FOR SHOOTING

Two young men are facing life sentences today (Weds) for shooting dead a teenager whose family have been torn apart by two murders.

Shervin Irvani, 20 and Ithai McPhee, 21, gunned down 17 year-old Marvin Henry to settle a petty feud.

He died from a single bullet wound to the chest as he ran for cover on a housing estate, at a former RAF base in north London, which was being demolished for redevelopment.

Marvin was killed in the early hours of October 27 last year, almost three years to the day that his brother and half-brother were convicted of killing a 19 year-old in a street fight.

Andre Campbell, 27, Marvin’s half-brother, was later jailed for life with a minimum term of 15 years for Ian Page’s murder in November 2006.

Marvin’s older brother Lloyd Henry, 23, was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years after a trial at the Old Bailey. A third brother Philip Campbell, 22, was cleared of all charges.

His family looked on today as Irvani and McPhee were convicted of Marvin’s murder at the same court, by a jury majority of 10 to one (CORR).

Judge David Paget QC was forced to clear the public gallery as supporters shouted and screamed.

He is set to sentence the pair at 2pm tomorrow. They both face life sentences with minimum starting points of 30 years.

Rafik Hamaizia, 18, and Rory Faley, 21, may face a retrial after the jury failed to agree verdicts in their cases.

The court heard Marvin, known by the nickname Spooky, was targeted by rival youths after ‘denting the ego’ of former friend Irvani in a previous confrontation.

Prosecutor Crispin Aylett QC said the pair had ‘fallen out badly’ and Irvani had been humiliated by Henry outside a party at a Finchley nightclub, when he had been dumped in a bin and pushed down the road.

In the early hours of October 27 Irvani, McPhee and others went looking for Marvin on the Inglis Barracks housing estate in Mill Hill, where he was known to meet up with friends.

They tracked him down to an empty house and were spotted approaching the property by one of Marvin’s friends, known only as Witness A.

Fearing trouble, Marvin and his friends left via a back door and took refuge in an alleyway which ran alongside a row of four houses.

‘They heard the sound of bangs,’ said the prosecutor. ‘At first they thought someone was letting off fireworks but when a bullet ricocheted off of a wall of an adjoining house they realised it was something serious.

‘Several of them, including Marvin, ran to the other end of the alley. As they ran more shots were fired and Marvin, having got to the end of the alleyway, decided to make a run for it across some open ground which, once he covered it, would lead to a sharp dip downwards and put him out of range.

‘But he never got that far – as he ran he was shot in the chest.’

Marvin was pronounced dead at 1.30am after being rushed to hospital.

‘That 17-year-old boy declared dead, and why?’ said Mr Aylett. ‘For no other reason than he had ruffled the feathers of Irvani. He had dented his ego.’

Two weeks earlier on October 9 last year Irvani and his friends kidnapped Marvin’s 17-year-old friend and subjected him to a beating in an empty north London flat in a failed attempt to lure Marvin there.

The jury was told the case involved young men with time on their hands, who spent their days and nights on Facebook, ‘drinking, taking drugs, committing crime and above all pursuing their feuds and vendettas’.

McPhee was a known cannabis dealer and only a week before the shooting had been arrested in connection with dealing 17 ounces of weed, worth £4,000.

He was also on a 16-month licence having only been released from a prison term in May last year.

McPhee told the court Marvin was himself a dealer,  who used ‘youngers’ to help him sell drugs, and had links to the Thug Fam (TF) and 300 Block gangs and had previously been affiliated with the Stick’em Up Kids (SUK).

McPhee, of Abbots Road, Edgware; and Irvani, of St Albans, Herts; were convicted of murder.

Hamaizia, of North Hill, Highgate, north London; and Faley, of (20) Budd Close, Finchley, north London; deny the charge.

Hamaizia and McPhee had previously admitted false imprisonment relating to the October 9 incident.

Faley and Irvani denied the charge but were convicted.

All four were conviction of causing grievous bodily harm with intent in relation to the October 9 incident.

ENDS