A man has been jailed for organising a drive-by shooting which left the victim for dead – the latest episode of violence between two warring traveller families.
Edward Dooley, 25, of St Edwards Way, Romford, was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment at Chelmsford Crown Court today, for ordering the retribution hit.
He had previously been convicted of conspiracy to murder, with Kacey Adams, 34, of Covert Road, Hainault, and Daniel Wallace, 33, of St Mary’s, Barking – who carried out the shooting.
Adams and Wallace pulled up in a Mercedes next to the victim, who was waiting in a van at a road junction in Stanford-Le-Hope, Essex, on May 10 last year.
Adams blasted him with a shotgun, leaving the 54-year-old for dead.
He survived but was left with serious injuries to his face and a lung, and lost sight in one eye.
The court heard how Dooley had organised the hit in retribution for a brutal machete attack on him, by one of the victim’s relatives in November 2015.
Paul Saunders, 30, was one of three masked men who set upon Dooley in Loughton, almost entirely severing his hand.
Dooley also suffered deep wounds to both legs, a fractured skull, and cuts to his head, back and neck.
Sauders, of Biggin Lane, Chadwell St Mary, was jailed for eight years for the attack in May last year, and the court at the time heard how the two traveller families had been warring for years.
A shotgun was fired six or seven times at Saunders’ home, while his mother was sleeping with her children, prior to the attack.
The court also heard how in other incidents, one of Saunders’ brothers’ ears was severed in an attack and his brother and a cousin had been slashed across their stomachs.
Speaking about the most recent incident, Judge Charles Gratwicke said that while Dooley was “not involved in the shooting” he had organised the attack.
Dooley must serve at least half of his sentence before being considered for release on licence.
Adams and Wallace were each handed three life sentences.
They were also jailed at the same time for a brutal burglary in Kent, where they tortured and elderly couple with boiling water before making off with £50,000.
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