COVENTRY’S Otis Collier has been jailed for four years after torching a VW Golf that was used in a fatal shooting hours earlier.
West Midlands Police has issued a video of the moment the car exploded, with the CCTV from Charterhouse Drive showing Collier and an accomplice running away after setting the car alight.
Collier hoped the fire would hinder the investigation into the drive-by killing of Abdul Xasan in Coventry on March 13 2020 but police found shotgun cartridges in the car which ballistics experts matched to the ones recovered from the murder scene on Adelaide Street.
Child getaway driver Riaz Ahmed and 19-year-old Carren Monga, who fired the fatal shots through the Golfs window, were both jailed for life in November 2020.
Enquiries revealed that Collier agreed to meet Ahmed shortly after the shooting and drove him home in a blue Ford Focus, and police found phone calls between the two before the car was set on fire.
Police believe they were arranging for the car to be torched even though it was claimed the conversation was regarding a bike sale.
Images were found in a folder on Collier’s phone called ‘for my eyes only’ of two men in balaclavas inside the stolen Golf that were taken minutes before it was destroyed.
Collier denied assisting offenders but was found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court on June 29 and was jailed the following day.
The 20-year-old’s four year sentence will run consecutively to the nine years he’s currently serving for unrelated matters.
Detective Sergeant Steve Parkes, who ran the investigation, said: “Collier was trying to help two gang members get away with murder.
“He plotted to try and destroy vital evidence but ultimately he failed.
“Despite the destruction of important forensic evidence, police scientists were able to link the remnants of shotgun cartridges from the Golf to those recovered at the scene.
“And through painstaking CCTV enquiries, we were able to piece together the movements of both the Golf and the Ford Focus throughout that fateful day.
“We put a compelling case to a jury that led to Ahmed and Monga being jailed for life, and now Collier will also spend several years behind bars.
“Anyone who associates themselves with gangs risks being killed or seriously injured, or spending much of their life behind bars.
“We work with partners to offer young people better life choices and help to exit gang affiliation – but for anyone intent on causing harm in our communities we will take firm action.”
