Evidence gathered by murder detectives has resulted in three people being convicted of killing a man on his doorstep in Tower Hamlets.
Iron Miah, 40, was attacked on 19 November 2019 in Nelson Street, E1 and died in hospital two days later from a catastrophic brain injury.
Officers carried out painstaking work using cell site data following the discovery of burner phones with key evidence of communication between the killers.
The team also identified a source who inserted himself into the investigation and provided false intelligence, and who later turned out to be one of the men responsible for Iron’s murder.
Detective Chief Inspector David Whellams said: “My team have worked tirelessly over a long period of time to ensure that Iron’s family could receive the justice they deserve.
“This was a deliberate and callous act of violence in a residential area. Nobody deserves to be the victim of such brutality and the three people convicted today will undoubtedly spend a significant time in jail. Our streets are safer without these people at large.
“I would like to pay tribute to Iron’s family, who have been extremely supportive of the investigation in the face of a long road to justice, while living with the trauma of losing their loved one.”
The three were convicted of the murder of Iron Miah at the Old Bailey on Tuesday, 9 January, four years after he was shot on his doorstep in Tower Hamlets.
Mohamed Moshaer Ali, 31 (07.04.92) of Western Avenue, Dagenham; Antonio Afflick-McLeod, 32 (09.03.91) of Mayfair Avenue, Ilford; and Aaron Campbell, 32 (30.08.91) of Star Road, Fulham, will be sentenced on Tuesday, 16 January.
Following Iron’s shooting, detectives immediately began an investigation which led to five people being charged, and unusually, three trials.
Crucially, the murder squad detectives were able to track the communications that linked the defendants to the killing, despite the group’s extensive and deliberate use of disposable ‘burner phones’ to communicate with each other.
In the days after the murder, Ali made a number of calls to police providing false intelligence. Once charged and remanded, he also encouraged a prison officer at HMP Belmarsh to tell police lies in order to implicate one of his co-defendants. It is this that collapsed the second trial in 2022.
In the days leading up to his murder Iron’s family described how he had been receiving a series of messages on his phone that were making him anxious.
On the night of his murder he had returned home at about 22:00hrs and then received a call from Mohammed Ali.
After the call, he went out and got into a Honda Civic on Nelson Street and spoke to the occupants.
Upon leaving the Honda he then sent a message on his phone saying “Viewing done” to Mohammed Ali.
As he was walking back to his house after visiting a local shop, a man got out of the passenger door of a parked Volkswagen Polo and approached Iron from behind.
The gunman fired a single shot and the bullet struck Iron in the head.
The gunman returned to the car and drove off followed by the Honda Civic that Iron had visited; the VW Polo was on false plates and has never been recovered. The police told the court that Antonio Afflick-McLeod and Aaron Campbell were believed to be the men in the Polo.
The gun used was also never recovered, but when Afflick-McLeod was arrested, drugs and a sawn-off-shotgun were found at his home.
The day before Iron’s murder, at around 16:30hrs, a man bought a SIM card from a convenience store on Movers Lane in Barking. Officers seized the CCTV and identified Afflick-McLeod by a tattoo on his neck. The SIM was crucial in the evidence and linked him to communications with Ali.
Evidence such as this, convinced a jury of the group’s guilt.
Wiktoria Bujko, 30 (01.06.93) of Marlborough Road, SE18 appeared in custody at Barkingside Magistrates’ Court on 19 May 2023.
She was a prison guard at HMP Belmarsh at the same time as the three defendants, convicted on Tuesday, 9 January, were remanded and awaiting trial in 2022. She gave false information to police and pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.
