IRVANI: TEENAGER’S KILLERS GET 30 YEARS EACH FOR SHOOTING

Two killers who were part of a gang who shot dead a teenager to settle a petty feud were each jailed for at least 30 years today (Thurs).

Shervin Irvani, 20 and Ithai McPhee, 21, were among an armed group of youths who sought out 17 year-old Marvin Henry.

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.

The identity of the gunman has never been discovered.

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.

Irvani and McPhee were convicted of murder yesterday after a two month trial and were today jailed for life, with a minimum term of 30 years each.

Judge David Paget QC said: ‘You and others went armed with a loaded gun to seek out Marvin Henry, aged only 17 at a place where you knew he was likely to be found.

‘When you found him, you shot at him. Several shots were fired, you hit him and you killed him.

‘It is impossible to say who the gunman was but you Shervin Irvani were the person who had fallen out with him and had been several incidents between you and Marvin Henry.’

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.

During the night before the murder Irvani phoned a friend and warned: ‘We got to end this.’

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, McPhee and others 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.

Irvani was also convicted of false imprisonment and causing grievous bodily harm in relation to the October 9 incident and received concurrent sentences of 12 years and three years respectively, to run concurrently.

McPhee admitted false imprisonment and was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm and was jailed for nine years and three years respectively. The sentences will also run concurrently.

Two others youths are set to face a retrial next year for Marvin’s murder, after the jury failed to agree verdicts.

Prosecutor William Emlyn Jones told the court it was the ‘Crown’s intention’ to pursue a retrial in the cases of Rafik Hamaizia, 18, and Rory Faley, 21.

Hamaizia, of North Hill, Highgate; has already admitted false imprisonment relating to the October 9 incident and was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm.

Faley, of (20) Budd Close, Finchley, north London; was convicted of false imprisonment and causing grievous bodily harm.

They will be sentenced at a later date.

Both deny murder.

A re-trial was provisionally set for February 13 next year.