Brother of drive-by killer jailed for helping him flee abroad and escape justice after Wolverhampton shooting

Elie Mey, aged 25, of Inkerman Street, Heath Town, was not involved in the brazen drive-by shooting of Neo Graham on the afternoon of March 4 last year, in Eastfield Road, Eastfield. However, he helped to organise ferry bookings and flights for his brother Israel Mey, who pulled the trigger, and the car driver Koketso Ximba.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard on Friday (July 17) that Israel Mey was still at large, but co-defendant Ximba, aged 25, was put behind bars for Mr Graham’s manslaughter last month.

Sentencing Elie Mey, Judge Michael Chambers said: “There has to be an accounting for the damage done to the interest of justice in relation to Israel Mey, who is still at large.

“I am satisfied so as to be sure that you knew your brother was responsible for a shooting and that Koketso Ximba was involved in some way.”

The judge said the shooting appeared to relate to a dispute between rival gangs operating in the city.

Mr Graham was in a group of three standing in the street in broad daylight near a primary school at about 3.19pm, when six shots rang out from a passing red Renault driven by Ximba with gunman Israel Mey the front passenger. A bullet struck the victim in the head while another man suffered a wound to his arm but survived the attack.

The court heard that the Mey brothers were involved in a drug supply operation which had branches in Wolverhampton and Birmingham, and that Elie Mey looked after the Birmingham branch.

He was in Erdington at the time of the attack and there was no prosecution evidence that he was involved in the shooting in any way. But in the aftermath he travelled to Kipling Road, in Bushbury, where he was handed a yellow sports bag which was later found to contain the murder weapon.

He was later arrested in a Nissan Juke in Birmingham along with co-defendants Fabio Bandarrinha, Derrick Da Silva Ferreira, and Aaron Osei. Inside the car was the bag with the loaded 9mm Glock murder weapon, cash totalling £7,430 and 80 heroin wraps and 54 crack cocaine wraps valued at £1,340.

Ahead of the trial he pleaded guilty to offences of assisting his brother to escape the country, assisting Ximba, possession of a prohibited firearm, possession of ammunition, possession with intent to supply crack cocaine, possession with intent to supply heroin and possession of criminal property, relating to the cash.

Amy Jackson, defending, said the brothers came from a family of seven siblings and Elie Mey had arrived from Congo in 2002. She said his parents did not support his criminal lifestyle and that Elie May had GSCEs and A-levels. She said his electrical engineering studies came to an end after he spent a spell in hospital after sustaining an injury and he subsequently started selling drugs.

For the offences the former student was jailed for a total of 11 years on Friday.

West Midlands Police murder detectives tracked Israel Mey and Ximba to an address in Wester Hailes, Edinburgh, where they stayed briefly before travelling by taxi to Glasgow where the pair then caught a ferry to Belfast, from where Mey caught a flight to Amsterdam.

Ximba, for reasons unknown to the police, changed his mind about joining him and was arrested at Liverpool ferry terminal on his return to England.

Ximba, aged 23, of Montano Drive, Low Hill, was cleared of murder following a trial, but found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. For manslaughter, dangerous driving relating to a separate matter, possession of the gun, possession with intent to supply cocaine and heroin Ximba was jailed for a total of 20 years.

Co-defendant Fabio Bandarrinha, aged 22, of Powell Street, Park Village, was found guilty of possession of a firearm, possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and possession of criminal property and was jailed for 10 years.

Da Silva Ferreira, aged 20, of Fifth Avenue, Low Hill, was found guilty of possession with intent to supply crack cocaine and possession of criminal property and was given four years’ youth detention.

Aaron Osei, aged 23, of South Road, Northfield, Birmingham, was found guilty of possession with intent to supply crack cocaine, assisting an offender and possession of criminal property and was jailed for seven years.