Hitman disguised as Deliveroo rider when he shot eight-year-old woman on her birthday as she sat in automobile with mother and father and little sister is jailed for 38 years

A callous hitman who shot a little girl on her birthday while disguised as a Deliveroo rider has been jailed for 38 years.

Bungling assassin Jazz Reid fired almost a dozen shots at the eight-year-old girl and her father as they sat in a car in Ladbroke Grove, west London, on 24 November 2024.

The schoolgirl and her 34-year-old father – who cannot be named for legal reasons – had just returned from a local trampoline park to celebrate her birthday when they were both shot.

The pair miraculously survived, alongside the girl’s mother and two-year-old sister in the back seats, who were unharmed.

Reid was sentenced by judge Sarah Whitehouse at the Old Bailey today, who raised the possibility of ‘contract killings’, given there was no evidence he knew his victims.

The girl suffered life-changing injuries and is showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, suffering ‘flashbacks of what they call “the bad man”,’ the court heard.

The Metropolitan Police said one of the bullets remains inside her body, while her father requires round-the-clock care and may never walk again.

In a victim impact statement read before the court, the girl’s mother said: ‘That night shattered my family’s life. I have flashbacks every day, and nightmares. 

‘I carry huge guilt from not protecting them. Every time I see a Deliveroo bike I shudder, even though I know it is not him.

‘My kids have been robbed of the version of their dad who can run with them, chase them. It makes me sick that there is a bullet inside my baby.’

Reid, 33, denied attempted murder and three counts of wounding with intent, telling jurors he was in the area as a drug dealer, but was convicted of all offences following the trial.

It means police have never been able to find a motive for the attacks. 

Delivering his sentence, the judge said: ‘You are a dangerous offender. You have a disregard for innocent members of the public.’

He claimed the gun – a counterfeit semi-automatic HS Produkt XD9 – was planted under the patio at his home in Uxbridge, West London to set him up because he owed a £10,000 drug debt.

The court heard Reid also carried out two other shootings earlier in the year, including on the same father.

He used an e-bike to get around and disguised himself as a Deliveroo driver, carrying the distinctive green box used by the takeaway service. Police do not believe he worked for the company.

Reid was arrested on November 26 while driving a hire car. He then gave a series of no-comment interviews.

The court heard Reid’s intended target for the car shooting was too terrified to give evidence.

Detective Inspector Richard Scott, who led the investigation, told the Daily Mail: ‘This was about as bad as it can get without actually being a murder.

‘It was 5pm in a residential area, there would have been lots of people about, and Reid would have had no control over where any stray bullets went.

‘It’s an unbelievably traumatic event for anyone to go through, let alone an eight-year-old child.

‘I know that it’s been extremely difficult, not only for her, but for her mother to support her, to look after her and to help her through all the difficulties that she is now experiencing as a result.

‘(The father) was unarmed, going about his day. They’d been to a trampolining party. They had a great day, and were just arriving home.’

DI Scott said he had never experienced a case like this during his 22-year career, where a suspect has gone incognito as a delivery driver.

‘Obviously his intention was to make himself part of the furniture,’ he said, ‘and someone that members of the public going about their business would not take a second look at.’

Police reviewed hundreds of hours of CCTV footage, as well as mobile phone and car number plate recognition data to track down and arrest Reid within 48 hours of the final shooting.

They were able to track Reid’s movements before, during and after all three incidents to build a conclusive case against him.

The court heard that during after one of the earlier shootings, a neighbour had phoned the police telling them that they had heard shots and seen a young boy fleeing and screaming.

Prosecutor Michael Goodwin KC said of Reid: ‘He played a leading role, acting alone in a pre-meditated and planned way.

‘This offence marks a very substantial escalation in offending from his previous convictions and demonstrates the hallmarks of a lifestyle related to drug dealing, where criminal activity has become an entrenched part of his life.’

Reid was sentenced the week that crime figures showed London’s homicide rate had fallen to historic lows, with officers carrying out a series of coordinated raids to disrupt crime gangs linked to drink and drugs.

DI Scott said: ‘The community of Ladbroke Grove was terrorised by this guy for weeks.

‘We will try from the outset to push for the most serious charges that the evidence will support, and that’s to ensure that people like Jazz Reid are locked up for the longest sentence that is applicable in law for the appropriate offence.’

Reid performed under the rap name Chaos.

Police later discovered some raps on his phone, apparently recorded after the first shooting, which they said described what happened.

They said the lyrics: ‘Knock the door, see the target, then I pressed it. Two got sent in, both went in and out, hit the wall, left a dent in,’ was a reference to two bullets being fired at his victim.

The trial heard other lyrics about a ‘pocket rocket’ and ‘nine times 19 on the bells’ were references to a hand gun and the type of cartridges used, respectively.

The court heard Reid has previous convictions for drugs offences and assault, serving a five-year jail term in 2013 for conspiracy to supply cocaine.