BREAKING: Hackney shooting: Thug at heart of drive-by that saw girl, 9, shot is jailed

A getaway driver who picked up a gunman who shot at a nine-year-old girl and three men outside a restaurant has been jailed for life with a minimum of 34 years.

Javon Riley was convicted at the Old Bailey of three charges of attempted murder and a charge of causing grievous bodily harm to the young girl, who made a miraculous recovery, but still has a bullet lodged in her brain for life after getting caught in the crossfire of a gangland attack.

Riley, from Tottenham, north London, was captured on the helmet camera of an off-duty police officer on a bicycle who was forced to swerve around the motorcyclist as he fired six shots. Moments earlier the gunman can be seen coming within feet of pedestrians on the busy road in Dalston, north east London, before looking left at his intended targets and breaking.

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Riley was waiting for him in a getaway car, a stolen Nissan Duke, which the gunman jumps into the passenger seat off after dumping the motorcycle he used in the shooting.

The 33-year-old self-confessed robber admitted to picking up the gunman but claimed he thought it was a "smash and grab". He was found guilty of causing grievous harm with intent to the nine-year-old girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons. The court was told she will suffer "physical and cognitive difficulties throughout her life".

He was also found guilty of attempting to murder Mustafa Kiziltan, 35, Kenan Aydogdu, 45 and Nasser Ali, 44. The three men were said to be affiliated with the Hackney Turks organised crime gang, which was involved in a 16-year war with the Tottenham Turks, with whom Riley had links, the court heard.

The gunman has not been caught, but jurors were told Riley had played a “key role” before, during and after the shooting. They heard he had carried out reconnaissance of the restaurant before the attack, scouted for potential targets and drove the gunman away in a stolen car, which was later burnt out.

Dramatic CCTV showed the gunman only a few feet from a group of Turkish men sitting at a pavement table outside the Evin restaurant when his automatic pistol appears in shot as he raises it in his right hand. He points the 9mm Czech-made weapon at the group but then pauses, apparently realising he needs to move clear of a parked car that is blocking his view.

His bike is still in motion moments later when he raises his right hand again and the blast of the first discharge can clearly be seen coming from the muzzle of the gun. It was this bullet that hit the nine-year-old girl in the right side of her head as she was sitting with her family inside the restaurant.

Wearing a white helmet and two-tone North Face jacket, the gunman has his left hand on the handlebar of the Ducati Monster motorbike. He fires a second shot before finally coming to a stop and planting his left foot on the road. This bullet passed close to the girl and her family.

In total six shots were fired in just two seconds. The gun has not been found. Casings recovered from the scene were manufactured in 2023 by the Czech firm Sellier & Bellot. Unique markings on the bullets revealed the weapon had not been used in any other known shootings, police said.

One was left with a bullet lodged in his back after it passed through his body having shattered two bones in his right arm while the other two were each hit in the leg. A fourth man who was thought to have been an intended target of the attack, Beytullah Gunduz, left the table to walk his dog 17 minutes before the shooting. Gunduz was cleared of recruiting a gunman to murder former Tottenham Turks leader Zafer Eren outside his north London home in April 2013.

They were associated with the Hackney Bombers gang, while the gunman was tied to the Tottenham Turks gang, the Old Bailey was told. The attack in May last year was believed to have been part of an ongoing bloody battle that has raged for over a decade.

In a statement issued after Riley was found guilty, the mother of the nine-year-old said her daughter's future was "torn away" in an instant on the night of the shooting. She said: "In a single moment, the future we had imagined for our daughter was torn away. She was once an energetic, adventurous child — everything that celebrated movement, energy, and life.

"Now, weakness on her left side means she can only watch from the sidelines, living with a titanium plate in her skull and a bullet still in her brain. As parents, we are shattered — emotionally, physically, mentally, and financially. Each day brings new challenges, from her slower growth on one side to the emotional and mental scars that cannot be seen.

"The world we once believed was safe for our child now feels frightening and uncertain. This was not just an accident - even if our daughter was not the intended target, those responsible were still attempting to take lives, it is brutal and inhumane. We live with this pain every day, knowing nothing will ever be the same for our family."

Det Chief Insp Ben Dalloway said that police are offering a £15,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the gunman, who he suspects lives in South London. He said: "This case is still open and our primary focus is identifying the gunman. I understand why people don't want to come forward but I would say when is enough enough?

"There's a young girl who has had a bullet in the head for no reason, a completely innocent individual at what point do we say as a community this is too much, this has gone too far and I need to come forward, whether it be anonymously. We just need a name. There's people out there who clearly know who it is and we just need a name so we can take that forward."