Mohammed Haroon Zeb: Two men convicted over Dudley shooting

Mohammed Haroon Zeb died on his 39th birthday

Two people have been convicted of murdering a father-of-four who was shot on his birthday.

Mohammed Haroon Zeb, 39, was shot in the head in Queen's Cross, Dudley, on 31 January 2021, as the culmination of a feud between two families, police said.

His family described him as "a beautiful son, brother, father".

Eight men denied murder. Five were found not guilty at Loughborough Crown Court and a sixth could face a retrial.

Gurdeep Sandhu, 23, of Blowers Green Road, Dudley; and Hassan Tasleem, 23, from Richmond Road in the town, will be sentenced for murder at a later date.

Hassan Tasleem and Gurdeep Sandhu were convicted of murder

The killing was part of an ongoing feud between families dating back to at least 2018, including men being mown down by cars and a man stabbed to death, West Midlands Police said.

It added a man was jailed over that murder in 2019.

Mr Zeb, a taxi firm manager known as Haroon, was shot at just after 00:30 GMT and died in hospital.

He had been returning to his home in Queen's Cross after work when he was shot, his cousin Shaz Saleem said at the time, adding he had died on the day he turned 39.

Mr Zeb was shot as he returned home from work, his family said

The force said it understood the fatal shot came from a revolver and was one of a number fired by a passenger of a Volkswagen Golf, which was then driven off.

Its evidence was that the gun was in the hands of Hassan Tasleem, while Sandhu was the driver of the car and involved in the plot, police said.

Shamraz Ali was found guilty of perverting the course of justice and will be sentenced at a later date.

Shamraz Ali was convicted of perverting the course of justice

Det Supt Jim Munro, who led the murder investigation, said: "That ongoing dispute within the area... has clearly caused unrest for the community.

"What I'm now urging people to do is to assist us further whilst we try and allow mediators to come in and try to mediate with these groups to prevent any further loss of life and indeed any more issues that [have] blighted the community within that area."

The eight defendants who were on trial for murder:

• Gurdeep Sandhu, 23, of Blowers Green Road was convicted

• Hassan Tasleem, 23, from Richmond Road, was convicted

• Umar Ali, 20 of Blowers Green Road, was cleared

• Shamraz Ali, 21, Tanfield Road, was cleared

• Mohammed Rafiq, 19, of Gammage Street, was cleared

• Akarsh Tasleem, 25, from Shaw Road, was cleared

• Choudhary Naheim Rashid, 47, from Kingswinford Road, was cleared

• The jury failed to reach a verdict on a murder charge against Choudhary Akeel Hussain, 21, from Brook Street, and the CPS is to consider if there will be a retrial

The jury also failed to reach a verdict on a charge of perverting the course of justice against Mohammed Rafiq and a retrial will be considered.

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