By Ashley Young-
A woman who drove the gunman who fatally shot Salford student Aya Hachem in a botched hit has been jailed.
Judy Chapman was jailed for 15 years after being convicted of manslaughter for her role in the conspiracy. She claimed to be acting under pressure from rival business owner Feroz Suleman – who was “the driving force behind the conspiracy”.
Aya, 19, was caught in the crossfire of a plot to shoot Pasha Khan, the proprietor of Quickshine Tyres, at his business in Blackburn on May 17 last year.
The law student nurtured dreams of becoming a solicitor, but was “in the wrong place at the wrong time” when she was hit by a bullet as she walked to a local shop, LancsLive reports.
Preston Crown Court heard Chapman and her then partner Uthman Satia drove gunman Zamir Raja and getaway driver Anthony Ennis from Bolton to Blackburn, where they collected the Toyota Avensis which was used in the shooting.
“The help that you provided to this enterprise was significant, and given in the full knowledge that the gunman would fire a gun with live ammunition in the course of a drive-by shooting in full daylight in a public place”, Mr Justice Turner, sentencing, said.
After the shooting, Chapman tried to deflect attention from herself by calling police to report her car had been stolen.
She also researched the location of ANPR cameras to provide a false account of her movements on May 17.
However, presiding judge Mr Justice Turner, saw through her lies and concluded that ‘feisty’ texts sent from Chapman to Suleman in the aftermath of the killing suggested she had exaggerated the level of dominance he had over her.
He said: “It was obvious that many people either on the forecourt of Quickshine or like Aya, walking past, would be put at risk of death or serious injury.”
Previously, seven man have been jailed over Aya’s death, they include:
It became known at the trial of the men that there had been an on-going rivalry between Pacha Khan, 31, the owner of the Quick Shine Car Wash, and Suleman, the owner of R1 Tyres next door.
The rivalry began when Khan started to sell tyres at his car wash – becoming a direct competitor to Suleman.
Suleman had hired hitman Zamir Raja, 33, to kill Mr Khan but the plan failed when Aya stepped out of the way of two oncoming cyclists and into the path of the bullet.
Two shots were fired – the first captured hitting the building of Quick Shine. Tragically, the second shit killed the