DNA, telematics and 1,280 hours of CCTV: How police tracked down Wolverhampton shotgun killers
It was a carefully organised targeted hit that took weeks to plan and 18 seconds to execute.
Dwaine Haughton never had a chance when he was ambushed in Wolverhampton at about 9.20pm on July 20 last year.
The 24-year-old was sitting in a stationary car in Valley Road, Park Village, next to his cousin Barrington Clarke who was driving the Peugeot 207.
Then a grey Audi A7 - stolen from an address in Wentworth Road, Bushbury, during a car key burglary the previous day and on false plates - appeared from the other end of the street.
It pulled up alongside the passenger side of the car and two, maybe three, shots were fired at point blank range into the Peugeot hitting Mr Haughton in the head, causing appalling injuries in the targeted execution.
The gang had picked up one, and possibly two, sawn-off shotguns just 35 minutes before the murder and their car entered Valley Road a mere 18 seconds before Mr Clarke accelerated out of the street with his cousin dying alongside him.
He was rushed to New Cross Hospital before being transferred to Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital but his life could not be saved and he was certified dead in the early hours of the following day.
Mr Clarke was able to identify the Audi's driver as 22-year-old Kurrum Guild, who smirked through an open car window, but could not name the three passengers who included the gunman.
1,280 hours of CCTV footage
Detectives collected hundreds of hours of CCTV from 180 different locations, many with multiple cameras and multiple discs, covering the period from July 19 to 22.
A three-strong team spent 1,280 hours painstakingly viewing every second of the footage in minute detail for the next eight months.
The first major breakthrough came when two of the gang - thought to be Guild and 24-year-old Seamus Williams of Oakmont Drive, Wednesfield - bungled the torching of the getaway car the day after the murder.
They made two mistakes: setting light to it within sight of a CCTV camera and forgetting to remove the false plates which confirmed it was the vehicle used in the shooting.
Footage was found of it reversing into the driveway of a house in Hackford Road, Lanesfield, 35 minutes before the attack.
In the video a man could be seen getting out, opening the garage and carrying a dark object to the car before it drove away.
An arms cache of two shotguns and ammunition was found in the same garage during a routine police inquiry on October 24, three months after the shooting.
Telematics
The street had been a favourite spot for Guild to park his BMW because a relative lived nearby.
The car was fitted with telematics that recorded every movement it made and told police which areas to prioritise during the CCTV trawl.
This quickly revealed the gang had dumped the getaway car near Chainmakers Close in Bilston, where 25-year-old father-of-one Dwain Smith lived.
They switched to a silver Nissan Navara bought a few weeks earlier by Smith, who had fixed false plates and advertised it for sale just days earlier. He had also searched the internet for advice on shotguns and their ammunition.
The guns were hidden in a bag which matched a distinctive black holdall carried by Smith when he, Guild and 22-year-old Montell Gray, from Springhill Road, Wednesfield, went to a Bilston motorcycle shop to borrow tools to change the Audi's number plates on the day of the shooting.
The boss of that motorcycle shop has since been jailed for wiping CCTV from the time of that visit.
Forensic checks revealed Smith's DNA on the trigger of one of the shotguns.
City stabbing
Less than six months later he and Guild, of Oakthorpe Gardens, Tividale, were involved in the ruthless stabbing of a man near the Dartmouth Arms in Vicarage Road, All Saints.
The victim was dragged from a Range Rover before being knifed three times by Guild and once by an unidentified man on January 6. CCTV showed Smith getting out of the car armed with a large knife.
Smith and Guild - both on bail following the murder - along with co-accused Aaron Evans, of Chadwick Close, Merry Hill, all pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent over the stabbing.
Evans, who was not involved in the murder, entered his plea on the basis that he took part in the incident but did not stab anybody - when they appeared at Birmingham Crown Court but sentence was delayed because of the outstanding murder case.
The victim of the attack suffered a four-inch gash to his head and other slash wounds.
Det Insp Nick Barnes, who led the investigation, confessed he was still uncertain about the motive for the killing and explained: "The only people who could tell us that are the four defendants who said nothing to us during the inquiry and trial.
"They have taken that secret to the cells.
"This was a very well organised, pre planned execution by ruthless and evil people who have never shown any remorse.
"They have also made it more difficult for the deceased's family to understand by refusing to explain why this happened."
Smith and Guild were each given life sentences with a minimum term of 28 years after being found guilty of Dwaine Haughton's murder. Thye were given a further four years each for the stabbing.
Gray and Williams were both given 15-year sentences after being found guilty of manslaughter.
