Life sentence for man behind drive-by UK shooting of 9-year-old Kerala girl

A man convicted of orchestrating a drive-by motorbike shooting in north-east London, which left a nine-year-old Kerala girl with life-changing injuries, was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 34 years behind bars before being considered for parole.

A judge delivered the sentence to 33-year-old Javon Riley at the Old Bailey court in London after a jury had found him guilty of the attempted murder of three men and causing grievous bodily harm to the girl, who has a stray bullet lodged in her head after being caught in the crossfire.

The sentence follows a trial at the same court, which was told how Riley did not shoot the gun but played a key role in implementing a plan intended to end the lives of rival gang members of an organised crime network on May 29, 2024.

“Riley will face the consequences of his actions behind bars, actions that traumatically derailed the life of a little girl,” said Metropolitan Police Detective Chief Inspector Joanna Yorke, who led the investigation.

“While this outcome is a reminder that justice can be served, it will never undo the suffering caused to her or her family. The dangerous man responsible for pulling the trigger is walking free, and it is imperative we find him,” she said.

DCI Yorke renewed a police appeal to hear from anyone who can assist with their investigation, which remains ongoing.

“Please reconsider your decision to stay silent and share what you know. Anything you say will be treated with the utmost care and confidentiality and you will be playing a huge part in securing justice for a young girl and her family,” she added.

During the trial, prosecutors said the Tottenham Turks gang had ordered the planned assassination of members of the rival Hackney Turks, who were sitting at a table outside the restaurant in Dalston.

The first bullet missed, hitting the little girl in the head while she was enjoying an ice cream on a day out with her family.

“In a single moment, the future we had imagined for our daughter was torn away. She was once an energetic, adventurous child — everything that celebrated movement, energy, and life,” the girl’s mother said in a statement released through Met Police.

“Now, weakness on her left side means she can only watch from the sidelines, living with a titanium plate in her skull and a bullet still in her brain. As parents, we are shattered — emotionally, physically, mentally, and financially.

“Each day brings new challenges, from her slower growth on one side to the emotional and mental scars that cannot be seen,” she said, adding that the family was living in “pain every day”.

The girl, who cannot be identified as she is a minor, narrowly escaped with her life but had to have her skull rebuilt with titanium and spent more than three months in hospital.

While she has made a good recovery, the bullet still being lodged in her brain means she is expected to have physical and cognitive difficulties for the rest of her life.

The trial, which concluded last month, heard how Met Police detectives discovered that Jamaican-born Riley had prior convictions. Evidence showed that he had scoped out the area and studied the flow of traffic in Kingsland Road to calculate what was needed for the gunman to successfully carry out the gangland shooting.