Three men who brutally murdered an innocent criminology student in a tragic case of mistaken identity were today jailed for a total of 71 years.
Dean Winston, 20, Kyle Sober-Froud, 19, and Calvin Jerelle Collins, 19, were caught on CCTV punching, kicking and knifing 20-year-old Mohamed Abdullahi after luring him out of a takeaway in York Way on June 29 last year.
Mr Abdullahi was left lying on the pavement bleeding to death from a fatal wound to the heart and two deep cuts to his buttocks after the bungled revenge attack.
They wrongly believed Mr Abdullahi, from Montpelier Grove, Kentish Town, was behind a shooting two hours earlier at the windows of Winston’s family home in Torriano Avenue, Kentish Town. No-one had been injured in that incident.
Following their convictions for murder, they were sentenced to life imprisonment with combined minimum jail terms of 71-and-a-half years at the Old Bailey today.
Judge Richard Hone said: “All three of you were engaged in a revenge attack for the incident of revolver shots that were fired into Winston’s mother’s home.
“You selected the wrong man and it is plain he was indeed an innocent victim aged only 20.
“The impact statement shows the devastating effect your disproportionate and misdirected actions have had in the family who have lost their only son.
“This was a brutal attack executed in a matter of seconds.
“In those few seconds I have no doubt that there was an intention to kill.
“Winston you were the prime mover because it was your property that had been attacked.
“You were the leader of a group attack of three armed men on one unarmed man in a crowded street to the terror of passers-by and residents.”
Winston, of Torriano Avenue, Kentish Town, and Collins, both of Bloomsbury Street, Bloomsbury, denied but were convicted of murder and were each sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 24 years.
Sober-Froud, of Bloomsbury Street, Bloomsbury, admitted murder and was sentenced to life with a minimum of 23-and-a-half years.
They all have a number of previous convictions including drugs offences and possession of knives in public.
Winston was also given a suspended sentence in March 2013 for taking part in the London riots.
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