Thugs who shot and stabbed teen jailed for 67 years

Two men have been jailed for a total of 67 years for shooting and stabbing to death an 18-year-old in east London.

Awadh Saleh and Rio Burton-Devine, both aged 25 from east London, were found guilty of the murder of Abubakar ‘Junior’ Jah, 18, at the Old Bailey today.

Judge Mark Dennis KC sentenced the pair to 36 years and 31 years respectively for the ‘brutal and cowardly’ attack in 2021.

Junior was shot with a sawn-off shotgun after being called over to a stolen Land Rover. Saleh stabbed the teenager in the chest as he lay dying on the ground. 

His tragic death came just four years after his brother Ahmed was killed in 2017, also in east London. His attacker has still not been found.

During the trial, the jury heard how Saleh called Junior over to the Land Rover Discovery as he walked along Coolfin Road in Newham on April 26, 2021.

The defendants were scouting the area for members of rival gangs or their associates, the court heard.

Junior Jah was shot with the shotgun and fell backwards to the ground when Saleh jumped out of the car and stabbed him twice in the chest with a large knife.

In the back of the car was Rio Burton-Devine, 25, who was said to have been encouraging Saleh.

Officers and the London Ambulance Service were called to reports of a stabbing but the victim sadly died at the scene.

Judge Dennis said Junior Jah appeared to have been a victim of mistaken identity or ‘selected at random’ in the attack.

‘This was a brutal and cowardly act of wanton violence on a defenceless teenager who was in effect executed as he stood on the pavement of a London street,’ he said.

‘You have chosen, in both your cases a lifestyle that involved the use of lethal violence in pursuit of your aims.’

Saleh was sentenced to 36 years for his involvement, and an additional 18 months for possession of a bladed article.

Burton-Devine was handed 31 years for his involvement.

Both were also given 18-year concurrent sentences for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Saleh and Burton-Devine had both denied murdering Mr Jah. They also denied two counts of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Saleh alone denied possession of a bladed article. 

Ahmed Kassim, 31, along with Zyon Francis, 24, Marcel Burton, 20, and Makhil Osman, 24, were all cleared of assisting an offender after the murder of Mr Jah.

Kassim, of Abbey Lane, Stratford, Francis, of Hollybush Street, Plaistow, Burton, of Hamilton Road, Lambeth and Osman, of John Street, Stratford, had all denied the offence.

Junior Jah’s father, Abubakarr Jah, said in a victim impact statement: ‘I have to live with the fact that my son’s final moments were in abject fear and pain.’

Mr Jah’s mother Hawa Deen Conteh said her son was a talented footballer and hoped to open an academy in her native Sierra Leone.

‘The anguish we feel is indescribable, knowing his life was stolen from us,’ she said.

She added: ‘He was a young man with a bright future of potential and aspirations.

‘The family laughter and joy that once filled our home has been replaced by sorrow and silence.’

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Rogers, the senior investigating officer, said: ‘Junior was murdered just four years after his brother Ahmed and his family have been through unimaginable suffering. 

‘Our thoughts continue to remain with them and we are pleased those responsible for his death have been given lengthy custodial sentences.’

Police managed to identify the killers following analysis of ‘thousands of hours of CCTV’.

Finally the found footage showing defendants in the car, pulling up close to Junior Jah.

‘As he walked toward the car, within seconds, he was shot in the chest,’ a Met statement read.

The car was later found nearby Routemaster Close, where investigators found Junior’s DNA and a fingerprint matching Burton-Devine.

Phone analysis showed the defendants had been in touch with each other before the murder, despite their insistence they had no involvement.

Detectives believe the attackers did not know Junior, and that the murder was motivated by a local gang feud.

‘The true motive may never be known,’ Judge Mark Dennis said.

In an impact statement directed at the killers, Junior’s father said: ‘All I can hope is you die in prison.’

His other son, Ahmed Deen Jah, was stabbed to death in a shop in Freemasons Road, Custom House, in 2017, aged just 24.

He was found fatally wounded after being stabbed through the heart on April 2, 2017, just yards from where Junior died in 2021.

Nobody has ever been charged though police continue their investigations.

In 2022, the Met offered £20,000 for information leading to the identification of a killer.

CCTV showed Ahmed walking into a shop to buy a lighter before leaving.

He then returned, followed by a person in dark clothing with a balaclava and gloves.

Ahmed was chased around the shop by his attacker before he was stabbed.

Det Ch Insp Kelly Allen previously acknowledged the ‘pain and heartbreak’ for Ahmed’s parents, having lost two children ‘in such awful circumstances’. 

Speaking in 2017, Abubakarr Jah said: ‘Ahmed was a beautiful, kind boy. He wanted to do something with his life. Now we have lost him. He didn’t deserve for this to happen.

‘Young people need to put down their knives and stop the violence. It is destroying families and communities.’