Video shows police pursuit after Essex car park shooting

Two men involved in a shooting at a shopping centre car park and a high-speed police chase have been jailed.

CCTV captured the moment Rio Burton-Devine fired a gun at two men at Lakeside Retail Park in Thurrock, Essex, on 13 September 2022.

The men were not injured and Burton-Devine was arrested three days later.

The following month, a second man who had been at the scene at Lakeside was spotted in a car in Waltham Abbey, which was pursued by police as it was driven down busy roads and the wrong way around a roundabout. The chase was filmed by a police from the air.

Forrest Bentick got out of the Audi after it hit a member of the public's car and was arrested after a pursuit on foot, when he was found to have a loaded firearm and knife on him.

Officers also arrested Chantel Fowler, who had been driving, though it was believed she and Bentick swapped seats before the end of the pursuit.

They later raided a property in Huntsman Road, at Ilford in east London, where they found drugs, cash, phones, an air-powered weapon and the car used in the shooting incident.

Bentick, 24, of no fixed address, was convicted at Basildon Crown Court of possessing an imitation firearm, a prohibited firearm, ammunition, a bladed article and drugs, and was jailed for 19 years and six months.

Burton-Devine, 24, also of no fixed address, admitted possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and was jailed for three years and six months.

Adam Yildaz, 26, of Huntsman Road, Ilford, who was arrested during the property search, admitted possessing drugs and was jailed for 50 months.

Fowler, 25 of Aldriche Way, Highams Park in east London, was convicted of dangerous driving and acquiring, using or possessing criminal property and was given a two-year suspended jail sentence.

Det Insp Yoni Adler, of Essex Police, said "To call Rio Burton-Devine and Forrest Bentick's actions anything other than dangerous and reckless would be an understatement."

22 August 2023