Jail for student who torched getaway car used in gun slaying

A student who torched a getaway car used in an execution was jailed for six years today (mon).

Khalid Abdi Farah, 26, was sitting behind the wheel of a hired Ford Focus on Lady Margaret Road, Southall, when a hooded gunman crept up to his window on 11 November last year.

The shooter peered in to check he had the right target before ‘calmly and coldly’ blasting him in the chest with a shotgun.

Malique Thompson-Hill, 22, and Jermaine Paul, 23, were in the stolen black VW Tiguan fitted with false plates which parked in front of the victim before one of them approached on foot.

Mukul Chawla QC, prosecuting, said only one of them pulled the trigger, but they were both clearly involved in carrying out the ‘cold-blooded execution’.

Police and paramedics attended along with the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) who performed on-street heart surgery and blood transplants.

But Mr Farah died in hospital two hours later due to blood loss from his devastating wounds.

The stolen Tiguan was driven to a quiet car park close to Paul’s home in West Drayton where it was torched the following evening by Joshua Folorunso, 27.

Thompson-Hill and Paul were convicted of murder at the Old Bailey last month.

Judge Sarah Munro QC jailed each of them for life and ordered they serve minimum terms of 30 years.

Folorunso was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and today (mon) Judge Sarah Munro QC jailed Folorunso for six years.

Judge Munro told Foloronso: ‘You clearly acted for gain.

‘You arranged to collect petrol.

‘You kept in contact with the killers on the phone as they directed you to the Tiguan.

‘You were seen walking to the car with petrol on cctv.

‘You then went back to your ford focus and left the scene.

‘You and your associates fulfilled your aim of setting the Tiguan alight, destroying evidence that could have been used in a police investigation.

‘It was only through the work of the police that the killers were brought to justice.

‘Although I note your educational achievement, achieving a first class honours degree in economics, it makes it all the more puzzling that you would offend again.

In a victim impact statement read to the court on behalf of the family, Hamda Farah described how ‘life will never be the same’ after losing Khalid.

‘Khalid was an amazing son, brother and nephew, a kind and loving soul who made an impression on everyone he would meet,’ she wrote.

‘He would always be there for his family financially, emotionally and physically, especially to our mother.

‘He was a hard-working, educated and determined young man who had his whole life ahead of him and never relied on handouts.’

She said that the family have been left ‘lonely and isolated’ after the Somali community with which they were previously so integrated have ‘jumped to their own conclusions and suspicions’ about why Khalid was gunned down.

‘We as a family will never, ever come to terms with this,’ Hamda added.

‘It has destroyed us that he was taken away in such a senseless way.’

Mr Chawla earlier told jurors: ‘On 11 November last year, the target of this murder, Khalid Farah, a young man aged 26 at the time, was sitting in the driver’s seat of a hire car on a slip road in front of a parade of shops in Southall, on Lady Margaret Road.

‘Mr Thompson-Hill and Mr Paul drove up to that scene in a stolen black Volkswagen Tiguan 4×4 which had been fitted with false plates.

‘They drove up to that slip road and stopped just in front of Mr Farah’s car.

‘There is CCTV which captures the scene which shows the stolen black Tiguan pull up in front of Mr Farah’s car.

‘A male in a hooded top can be seen to get out of the front passenger seat in the stolen Tiguan and approach Mr Farah’s car on foot.

‘That male was carrying a shotgun.

‘He bent down to look through the front passenger window of Mr Farah’s car and, having satisfied himself that he had the right target, he aimed the shotgun through the open window and calmly and coldly proceeded to execute Mr Farah by firing a shot at virtually point-blank range at him in the driver’s seat.

‘The front passenger sat in the car opened his door and, having initially stood in front of the gunman, fled on foot.

‘The gunman had the opportunity to shoot him before he fled, but clearly the passenger was not an intended target.

‘Thereafter, the passenger having left the car, the gunman fired another shot at Mr Farah’s chest before returning to the Tiguan which unsurprisingly drove off at speed.’

Mr Chawla said the stolen SUV was driven four miles away to a quiet car park outside a block of flats in West Drayton, close enough to Paul’s home at the time close enough that he could walk.

Later that day three men, including Folorunso, were spotted returning to the dumped getaway vehicle and pouring petrol over the interior to set it alight.

Thompson-Hill, of Attlee Road, Hayes, and Paul, of no fixed address, were each handed life sentences with minimum terms of 30 years.

Folorunso, of Coldharbour Lane, Hayes, denied but was convicted of perverting the course of justice. He was sentenced to six years imprisonment.
ends