Sabrina Moss killers jailed for 37 years
- Published
Three drug dealers have each been jailed for a minimum of 37 years for murdering nursery school teacher Sabrina Moss on her 24th birthday.
Miss Moss was killed in Kilburn, north-west London, in August last year.
She and a friend were shot from near point-blank range but were not the intended targets, jurors were told.
Hassan Hussain, 29, from Willesden, Martell Warren, 22, of Kensal Green, and Yassin James, 20, from Wembley, were given life sentences.
The Old Bailey heard Miss Moss, mother to a four-year-old boy, and Sabrina Gachette, 25, were outside a takeaway shop, the Woody Grill, with other people when they were shot by two hooded men armed with a sub-machine gun and a shotgun.
'Lying scumbag'
Miss Moss was shot in the heart and died in hospital. Miss Gachette was hit in the back by more than 50 pellets but survived.
A victim impact statement read out in court on behalf of Miss Gachette said the men had "crept into my life" and carried out a "heinous crime" which had left her "mentally and physically scarred for the rest of my existence".
BBC reporter Nick Beake said there were tears in the public gallery as the court was told she now described herself as a "broken woman", forced to wear a mask to hide her anxiety and pain.
She suffers panic attacks and is frightened to go out of the front door, the Old Bailey heard.
The court heard the gunmen had wanted to hit members of the south Kilburn Gang who were also outside the shop.
Hussain discharged the Mac 10 "spray and pray" machine gun six times on the crowd and James fired both barrels of the shotgun, at near point-blank range, before fleeing in a car driven by Warren.
During the court case security had to be increased when Warren gave evidence after he implicated Hussain and James in the shooting but denied his own involvement, saying he was just there to do a drug deal.
In return, Hussain and James said Warren was a "dirty lying scumbag" who had only named them to protect the real killers.
Judge Stephen Kramer QC said the men had set out to commit a "violent execution in which an innocent victim was killed".
"Sabrina Moss was in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said, adding the action had deprived the Moss family of a "much-loved" mother, daughter and sister.
A fourth defendant - Simon Baptiste, 29, from Cricklewood - was convicted of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm, between 22 August and 25 August last year.
- Published18 August 2014
- Published18 August 2014
- Published18 August 2014