Trio jailed for drive-by murder of ‘much-loved young man’

A JUDGE has jailed three men for a total of 90 years for murdering a “much-loved young man” in a daylight drive-by shooting in Sheffield.

Matthew Cohen, 29, Dale Gordon, 33, and Keil Bryan, 32, will each serve a minimum of 30 years for the murder of Aseel Al-Essaie.

Mr Al-Essaie was just 23 when he was shot dead with a single bullet fired from the front window of a VW Golf as he sat in a Mercedes in Daniel Hill, Upperthorpe at 1.35pm on February 18 last year.

The trio were found unanimously guilty on the basis Mr AlEssaie’s murder was carried out as part of a ‘joint enterprise,’ with Cohen driving the VW Golf, Gordon as the front-seat passenger, and Bryan as the back-seat passenger.

Judge Stephen Males told them: “I see no reason to distinguish between you. You committed this murder together, and will receive the same sentence.”

The court was told Mr Al-Essaie and his brother Saleh were street dealers in Class A drugs, and there had been previous incidents in which Cohen either subjected them to, or threatened them with, violence.

“It is not entirely clear why you decided Aseel had to be shot, we may never know precisely,” said Judge Males, adding: “It is overwhelmingly probable that whatever the precise reason, it had to do with a dispute over the supply of such drugs.

“Whatever may be said about the way in which Aseel earned his living, he was a young man, only 23, much loved by his family, who did not deserve to be shot down in cold blood,”

In the hours following Mr AlEssaie’s murder, James Good, 30, burnt out Cohen’s VW Golf, at Cohen’s request, in a bid to destroy a vital piece of evidence. It was later found abandoned in Rough Lane, Ecclesfield.

Cohen and Good were both charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to this, and both admitted the offence during the trial.

Judge Males sentenced Good, of Ringstead Crescent, Crosspool to three years, three months for the offence and Cohen to three years, 11 months, which will run concurrently with his 30-year minimum life sentence.

Cohen, of Clough View Road, Oughtibridge, appeared for the hearing at Sheffield Crown Court via video link at HMP Wakefield, while Bryan, of Brackley Street, Burngreave, and Good were present in court. Gordon, of Benty Lane, Crosspool, did not attend the sentencing.