Five people have been jailed for a total of 64 years for throwing a hand grenade and firing bullets at a man’s home near Ongar, in an attempt to prevent him giving evidence in court.

Two bullets from a handgun were fired through the front door of the rural property on April 30, 2014, although no-one was injured.

A grenade exploded near the front of the house three days later, smashing windows and causing damage to a parked car.

The attacks were planned by Walid Habib, who at the time was on bail and on trial at Chelmsford Crown Court for a conspiracy involving stolen vehicles, drugs and firearms, and his brother-in-law Nigo Habib, also known as Claudio Mohamed, whose son Suleman was also on trial for the same offences.

A trial at Woolwich Crown Court heard that Walid and Nigo Habib wanted to frighten a key prosecution witness into staying away from court and plotted to intimidate him.

Gang members Walid, Anna Ibrahim, one of Walid’s wives, and Jahzeiah Francois carried out reconnaissance at the witness’ home and plotted to attack the property days before he was due to give evidence.

On the day of the attack Kirtharan Thuraisingam, 33, drove Francois, 24, to the house.

Francois fired two shots from a 9mm automatic pistol through the door, but the people inside were in bed and uninjured.

The Habibs then planned to attack the witness at his work office in London.

Although suspicious phone calls were made to the office and gang members were proven to be in the area, no attack was made.

Walid then demanded another attack on the man’s home, so the gang bought an eastern European grenade.

On May 3 2014, Thuraisingam drove gang members to Ongar and the grenade was thrown at the house, although no-one was injured in the incident.

Thuraisingam was found guilty of possessing another live grenade after one was found in bushes near his home in Ilford, following a police investigation into a separate incident.

The trial for the conspiracy ended with Walid being sentenced to 15 years in prison, with other gang members receiving long sentences.

Detectives from the Kent and Essex Police Serious Organised Crime Unit then investigated the witness intimidation.

Officers used mobile phone analysis, investigated for hundreds of hours and arrested eight people for conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Three were found not guilty, one pleaded guilty and four were found guilty after a seven week trial at Woolwich Crown Court.

At the court today (July 31), Walid Habib, 37, unemployed, of Sevenoaks Road, Romford, was jailed for 18 years.

He must serve half of his original 15 year sentence before starting the term given today.

Jahzeiah Francois, 24, an entertainer of Cranbrook Road, Ilford, was jailed for 14 years for conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Kirtharan Thuraisingam, 33, unemployed of Perth Road, Ilford, who was found guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice and possessing explosives, was jailed for 13 years for the conspiracy charge and five years for the possession of explosives, to run concurrently.

Anna Ibrahim, 32, unemployed, of Somerford Street, London E1, was jailed for ten years for conspiring to pervert the course of justice, after the court heard she helped plan the attacks and phoned the victim’s office.

Nigo Habib, 45, a cleaner, of Kingston Road, Ilford, pleaded guilty to conspiring to pervert the course of justice and was jailed for nine years last week.

Investigation leader DI Andy Waldie said: “Walid Habib was the mastermind behind a gang operating from an industrial unit near Ongar that supplied Class A drugs, firearms and stripped or changed the identity of cars stolen in the area.

“These were serious and violent criminals with access to an arsenal of weapons, mainly from eastern Europe.”

He added: “This was a serious and dangerous organised crime gang… they thought they were above the law, today shows how wrong they were."

Epping Forest Guardian:

A bullet hole in the front door

Epping Forest Guardian:

Grenade damage to a car