Pair jailed for drive-by shooting murder at party

Two men have been jailed for murdering a man in a drive-by shooting outside a house party.

Robert Powell, 50, had just left the property in Roydon, near Harlow, Essex, when he was gunned down in June 2020.

Prosecutors said Nana Oppong, 44, co-ordinated the shooting and he deployed Israar Shah, 39, as a spotter.

Oppong was jailed at Woolwich Crown Court to a minimum of 38 years and Shah to a minimum term of 26 years.

Oppong, of West Road, Stratford, east London, and Shah, of Ongar Road, Kelvedon Hatch, Essex, were found guilty of murder following a trial.

Mr Powell was shot in front of his two adult sons as they left the party and one of them tried to save his life.

Judge Joel Bennathan KC described Oppong as “extraordinarily dangerous”.

“It’s clear you were the leader of the plan to kill Robert Powell,” said Mr Justice Bennathan.

“You had access to a frightening array of firearms.”

The trial was told Mr Powell suffered 15 bullet wounds when he was shot at about 04:45 BST in Water Lane on 13 June.

A gunman exited a Ford Kuga, which had Oppong inside, and opened fire.

Mr Powell died in hospital the next day.

Two female bystanders were injured in the shooting.

Prosecutor Justin Rouse KC said Oppong “slipped out of the country” after the murder but was caught entering Morocco hiding in the back of a lorry in September 2022.

Shah was extradited from Spain in March 2023.

Police placed the defendants at the scene by tracing three different vehicles and by analysing CCTV and mobile phone data.

Mr Rouse said it was unclear whether Oppong or another suspect still at large pulled the trigger, but said: “He was the instigator, protagonist and principal organiser of this killing.”

The defendants had a grievance with Mr Powell, but what that grievance was “doesn’t matter”, Mr Rouse said.

Mr Justice Bennathan said Shah may have been brought into the conspiracy only a "few hours" before the assassination and "possibly" played the role of a "useful idiot".

Giving evidence, Shah denied his involvement and said he was at the scene that night "to simply sell drugs".

Oppong denied he was there.

In a victim impact statement read by Mr Powell’s older sister, Jennifer Johnson, she described how their mother still listened to his old voicemails.

“This has fractured my family; we are not whole anymore,” she said.

A joint statement from his three children, Storm, Cody and Kai, read: “We suffer every day because of the cruel way he was taken from us.”

Oppong was also given separate prison sentences for possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life, conspiracy to supply cocaine, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of a prohibited weapon.

Shah received a separate jail term for possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.

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