The boss of a hitman and driver has been found guilty of murdering Aya Hachem.

A jury of 12 has found Junior Louis Otway, 42, guilty of murdering the 19-year-old law student and guilty of attempting to murder Pachah Khan on May 17, 2020.

Otway has been on trial at Preston Crown Court alongside co-defendant Suhayl Suleman.

The jury found Suleman, brother of Feroz Suleman, not guilty of the murder of Ms Hachem or attempted murder of Pachah Khan. He was told by the judge he could leave the dock from the front.

The prosecution argued Otway, of Clitheroe Road, Manchester, was involved in organising and arranging the shooting on May 17, he was the link between Ayaz Hussain and ‘his boys’, gunman Zamir Raja and the driver Anthony Ennis.

Before the shooting, the prosecution said Raja and Ennis had no real connection to Blackburn and the contact came through Otway’s friendship with Ayaz Hussain.

Lancashire Telegraph:

In the weeks leading up to the hit, Otway went to Blackburn to meet up with Hussain, with Raja later joining them.

On the day of the shooting, Otway was not in Blackburn but was one of the first people Hussain called after the plan went wrong.

Otway immediately called Raja and Ennis while travelling to Birmingham which the prosecution said was so he could get out of the way.

Otway told the jury he had nothing to do with the botched murder plot which was supposed to kill the owner of rival tyre shop QuickShine, but they did not believe him.

Feroz Suleman, Zamir Raja, Anthony Ennis, Ayaz Hussain, Abubakr Satia, Uthman Satia and Kashif Manzoor were all jailed after being found guilty of murder and attempted murder in a trial last year.

Uthman Satia's girlfriend, Judy Chapman, was also jailed after being convicted of manslaughter.

Otway, will be jailed for life when he next appears in court in five and half weeks' time on May 5.

It will then be for the Honourable Justice Jacobs to decide what the minimum term will be that he must serve before he can be considered for release.