Pair convicted of Coventry drive-by murder

Abdul Wahid Xasan, from Foleshill, Coventry, was shot twice in the back

A gunman and his 15-year-old getaway driver have been convicted of murder after their electronic tags placed them at the scene of a drive-by shooting.

Abdul Wahid Xasan, 19, from Foleshill, Coventry, was shot twice in the back as he walked in the Hillfields area of the city on 13 March.

A 20-year-old and his accomplice, now aged 16, were convicted at Birmingham Crown Court. Neither can be named for legal reasons.

They will be sentenced on 22 December.

The trial was told Mr Xasan was killed by shots fired from a stolen Volkswagen Golf R as he left Friday prayers at a mosque and was walking home.

Both defendants were caught after police, tipped off by members of the public, ran their names through a computer system and discovered both were on electronic tags.

Their ankle-worn tags showed them at the murder scene at the time of the shooting.

The stolen car used in the drive-by shooting was found burned out

CCTV evidence and mobile phone cell-site data were also used to track the pair's movements.

Officers believe both defendants were members of Coventry's C2 gang, which has been engaged in a long-running series of violent clashes with a rival group.

The shooting was described as a "horrendous" offence by detectives, unfolding as parents waited to pick up their children from a nearby nursery.

Det Ch Insp Scott Griffiths, of West Midlands Police, said tensions between both gangs in the lead-up to the drive-by had included other shootings.

He said: "It is broad daylight, the middle of the afternoon, and a number of witnesses to this event were actually there waiting to pick up their young children.

"The people responsible had no respect in relation to anybody else's safety. It was just a horrendous incident."