Jail for Wycombe gunman who travelled to Derby to carry out shooting

Andre Bushay, 35, of Suffield Road in High Wycombe, told his pal he’d ‘fed’ the intended victim ‘four through the [car] window and door’, describing the .357 calibre bullets he’d used as a ‘lovely bit’.

The shooting was compared to 'something from a Western' by prosecutor Michelle Heeley QC. 

Bushay was one of five men recruited from Oxford by Ismail Hussain to travel up to Derby to carry out the shooting. Prosecutors allege Hussain wanted to scare Pirisad Hashmi, who he believed had been threatening his mum. The background to the dispute was an alleged drugs debt, it was said.

The Wycombe shooter has been sentenced to seven years and eight months behind bars.

Andre Bushay's custody shot Picture: DERBYSHIRE CONSTABULARY

The Oxford group travelled north in separate cars on May 11 and May 12, 2020, Hussain having come down to the university city on May 5. Arrangements had already been made to collected a ‘clean’ VW Golf from Bradford to be used in the shooting.

On the day of the shooting, May 12, Hussain spoke to Mr Hasmi and arranged to meet him outside a secondary school in Moorway Lane, Derby, later that day.

At 5.26pm, the Golf containing Hussain and Oxford stooges Daniyal Riasat, Abdullah Mohammed and Andre Bushay parked up in wait in Moorway Lane, where the shooting later took place.

Little more than 20 minutes later, Mr Hashmi arrived for the meeting. He said he was guided towards bushes by Hussain then confronted by balaclava-clad gunmen. His driver shouted a warning and he returned to his car. Five gunshots were heard. 

A passerby was said to have heard a man with a Derbyshire accent say ‘there was no need for it’ after the shooting. Lawyers for Ismail Hussain said that was their client, who claimed he’d not thought the guns would be fired.

Ismail Hussain's custody shot Picture: DERBYSHIRE CONSTABULARY

Michelle Heeley QC, prosecuting, told Derby Crown Court on Friday: “There were civilians, dog walkers, parents in that area, bullets were being fired like something from a Western, it’s a miracle no one was hurt or killed.”

She added of the men in the white VW Golf, which was driven on false plates: “[They] were not there to talk, they were there to terrify Pirisad Hashmi.”

In the wake of the shooting, getaway driver Nuuman Hussain drove Ismail from the scene. Mohammed Zen and Hamza Qamar arranged for the VW Golf used in the shooting to be collected.  Omar Ali and Zain Riasat were said to have been there to assist with disposing of evidence; they were not present for the shooting.

Ms Heeley said: “The Crown cannot prove that these men knew that a shooting had taken place, but by their own pleas they knew or suspected that the named offence, or another arrestable offence had taken place. Certainly they were trusted to assist the gunmen.”

Two days after the shooting, on May 14, Bushay managed to give armed police the slip in Oxford. They tried to pull his BMW over. He sped down a pavement at 30mph while the armed officers trained their guns on his car, making good his escape.

He was arrested the next day. His iPad showed he had looked at a local newspaper web story about the shooting.

Timeline of the shooting

Preparation

April 2020: Ismail Hussain becomes involved in a dispute with Pirisad Hashmi in Derbyshire. He claims Hashmi threw a brick through his window to intimidate him and, although the damage was reported to the police no one was ever identified or arrested. Ismail Hussain began to recruit family in Oxford, agreeing to act as part of a group to threaten Hashmi with at least two guns.

May 4 – May 5, 2020: Ismail Hussain drives down to Oxford with Hamza Qamar, Numaan Hussain and Mohammed Zen. They arrive just before midnight and stay little more than five minutes, leaving Ismail Hussain in Oxford while the other three return to Derby.

May 5, 2020: Oxford man Andre Bushay, later involved in the shooting, texts a friend: “Um going Derby soon with a little team, we got some things going on up there so will start needing more shortly.” Prosecutors say ‘more’ means more guns.

May 7, 2020: Mohammed Zen contacts a Bradford man and asks to borrow a VW Golf, then sends Hamza Qamar north in a taxi to collect the vehicle. The car will later be used in the drive-by shooting.

May 8, 2020: Numaan Hussain hires a Mercedes, also later used in the shooting on May 12.

May 11, 2020: The Oxford group, made up of Andre Bushay, Daniyal Riasat and Abdullah Mohammed prepare to travel to Derby. They are seen coming in and out of an apartment block in London Road, Risinghurst. Riasat, Ismail Hussain’s cousin, messages a friend explaining he is ‘ready to go North’.

Cranley Road, Oxford Picture: GOOGLE

By 4-5pm, the men leave Cranley Road, Barton (Oxford), with Ismail Hussain, and travel to Derby in a convoy.

Riasat headed north in a white BMW and reached Elvaston Drive, Derby, at 7.32pm, Bushay and Abdullah Mohammed went in a Toyota RAV-4, while Ismail Hussain travelled in a taxi and reached Wilfred Street, Derby, shortly before 6.30pm.

Just before 7pm, Hamza Qamar was in Elvaston Drive, Derby, in the VW Golf collected a few days earlier. He parked the Golf then left in his own car. Another white BMW, also associated with Ismail Hussain, parked behind the Golf.

Within two minutes of the Oxford trio’s arrival, the whole group left in the Golf for a ‘safe house’ in Sale Street, where they spent the night.

Sale Street, Derby Picture: GOOGLE

May 12, 2020 – Day of the shooting

Ismail Hussain speaks to Pirisad Hashmi, the intended victim of the shooting, arranging to meet him later that afternoon at Derby Moor School.

Two other Oxford men, Zain Riasat (Daniyal’s brother) and Omar Ali, travel to Derby together. Omar Ali messaged a friend: “Have to go out of town, mission quick long.”

5pm: The VW Golf, now on false plates, returns to Elvaston Drive in Derby.

5.26pm: The Golf – containing Ismail Hussain and Oxford stooges Daniyal Riasat, Abdullah Mohammed and Andre Bushay - leaves Elvaston Drive and takes up a position in Moorway Lane, where the shooting later took place.

5.48pm: Pirisad Hashmi arrives in Moorway Lane, expecting a face to face meeting with Ismail Hussain

5.49pm: Five gun shots are heard.

Mr Hashmi would later tell police that Ismail Hussain tried to guide him towards bushes where the Golf was parked, saying he wanted to talk. Bushay, Daniyal Riasat and Abdullah Mohammed, wearing masks and balaclavas, jumped out. Mr Hashmi heard a warning shout from his driver and returned to the car.

Moorway Lane, Derby Picture: GOOGLE

After the shooting

Immediately after the shooting: Golf returns to Elvaston Drive, where the getaway drivers are waiting. Ismail Hussain speaks to Hamza Qamar to ensure the Golf is dealt with; Qamar and Mohammed Zen arrange for it to be taken back to Bradford the following day.

Ismail Hussain drives off in Numaan Hussain’s Mercedes. Andre Bushay goes with Abdullah Mohammed in the RAV-4, Daniyal Riasat in the white BMW, and Omar Ali and Zain Riasat in a Passat. They return to Oxford. The RAV-4 is found burnt out in Oxford on May 15.

Elvaston Drive, Derby Picture: GOOGLE

8.25pm: Bushay boasts of being involved in the shooting. Using his heavily-encrypted Encrochat phone, Bushay – who has the Encro username ‘Tequilahuman’ - messages a friend: “We been in Derby pal, just done some firm…Slapped off four into their car.” Explaining the background to the dispute between the intended victim and Ismail Hussain, he adds: “They been threatening his mum, knocking the door, crashed in to his car, smashed his mum’s window. Set them up for a meet and fed them four through the window and door. 357 [calibre bullet] a lovely bit pal.” He also boasts about switching cars and burning his clothing.

May 14: Armed police in Oxford try to stop the white BMW used as a getaway car on May 12. The officers attempted to box the car, which was being driven by Andre Bushay, in. He pushed one of the panda cars out the way, squeezed the BMW in a gap between vehicles and a fence, drove along a pavement at 30mph while the armed police officers trained their guns on him but managed to get away.

May 15: Andre Bushay is finally apprehended. His BMW and flat was searched. Police found Bushay’s iPad, which showed he’d been looking at a story on the Derby Telegraph website about the shooting.

Pleas and sentence

All the defendants pleaded guilty to counts of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent or assisting an offender in October, five days into their three-month trial at Derby Crown Court.

Jailing the ringleaders of the shooting for more than 22 years, Judge Nirmal Shant QC said: “What is clear from all of it was that you had planned a revenge ambush. It was carefully organised, pre-meditated and involved the obtaining of firearms.

“I sentence you all on the basis that those of you who were in the car pleaded to count three knowing that the plan was to discharge the firearm in order to frighten Mr Hashmi and anyone else that came with him.

“It was planned, that your plan - a joint plan – was intended to convey the message to Mr Hashmi that you were not to be messed with.”

She added: “It is a small miracle that nobody was hurt.”

Ismail Hussain, 24, of Moorway Lane, Derby, Daniyal Riasat, 24, of no fixed address, Andre Bushay, 35, of Suffield Road, High Wycombe, and Abdullah Mohammed, 25, of HMP Bullingdon, Oxfordshire, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to cause a fear of violence.

Ismail Hussain, Andre Bushay and, Abdullah Mohammed's custody shots Pictures: DERBYSHIRE CONSTABULARY/THAMES VALLEY POLICE

In a letter to the judge, Ismail Hussain said he was ‘deeply regretful and disgusted’ with himself, his defence barrister told the crown court on Friday.

Jailing him for seven years and two months, Judge Shant said: “You put this together, this was your battle, you led from the front, you got the group together, you got the firearms and it was your grudge and you were at the heart of this.”

Howard Godfrey QC, for shooter Bushay, said: “He, through me, expresses his regret and remorse for his involvement in this matter.” He was close to his two children, aged 15 and four, and was described as a ‘marvellous carer’ by an uncle.

Bushay, who also admitted dangerous driving and associated offences, was sentenced to seven years and eight months’ imprisonment and banned from driving for 15 months with an extended period to cover his jail time.

Pieter Briegel, mitigating for Abdullah Mohammed, said his client had spent the bulk of the pandemic in custody after being recalled in 2020 and had had only two in person visits and three video calls with his family. He asked the judge to consider that by pleading guilty shortly into the trial had saved three months of court time.

In 2015, Mohammed was jailed for 75 months for possession of an imitation firearm with intent after robbing Stan James bookmakers’ in Headington at gunpoint.

He was sentenced to seven years and two months’ imprisonment by Judge Shant.

Daniyal Riasat will be sentenced later this year after the judge agreed to an adjournment for psychiatric and pre-sentence reports.

Omar Ali, 23, of Saunders Road, Oxford, Zain Riasat, 25, of Outram Road, Oxford, Numaan Hussain Khan, 27, of Crewe Street, Normanton, Mohammed Zen, 27, of Stone Hill Road, Normanton, and Hamza Shahzad, 24, of Chestnut Avenue, Derby, pleaded guilty to assisting an offender.

They will be sentenced on at a later date.