Teenage hit man gets life for contract killing

Photo: Met Police

16 year old Santre Sanchez Gayle, of Kensal Rise, has been jailed for life after gunning down a woman as she answered the door to her mother’s flat in Homerton in March 2010.

At the Old Bailey Judge Stephen Kramer said: “It was an efficient, ruthless and calculated execution.”

He also imposed a life term on Izak Billy with a recommendation he serve at least twenty two years for murder.

The 16 year old gunman denied all allegations but was convicted of shooting Gulistan Subasi in the chest. It is alleged that Gayle, who was only 15 at the time of the shooting, was paid just £200 to carry out the killing.

On the night of the murder, Gayle was driven to the flat in Hackney, where Ms Subasi was staying, visiting relatives for her son’s Birthday. He then knocked on the door, the court was told. CCTV images then show the youth, with a hoodie pulled over his head, resting a sawn-off shotgun on the security grille gate to the maisonette, before firing a single shot when Ms Subasi answered the door.

The teenager then got into a waiting taxi, which made off down Homerton Road. Gayle’s state of calm left the taxi driver with no idea of the crime that had just been committed.

Gulistan Subasi

Recruited to carry out the hit because he had no apparent connection with the Turkish community in Tottenham, Gayle had been charged with several petty crimes in the past. He was known by the street name “Riot” and related to two other convicted killers.

He was caught after boasting of the hit to a friend. Despite being arrested, he apparently remained unfazed, writing in a note to a fellow prisoner that: “the evidence they have on me is circumstantial, nothing forensic.” While the situation remained “sticky”, he added, “My barrister should be able to rip it open.”

The youth, who listed his interests as including girls, football and playing on his X-box, was convicted of murder.

Among the seven men standing trial for murder and conspiracy to kill, only the gunman and Izak Billy, 22, of Willesden have been convicted. Billy is said to have acted as an intermediary in hiring the youth to commit the offence for those who ordered the hit.

The gun man flees the scene. Photo: Met Police

Billy is believed to have been paid “thousands” for his role and the teenager just £200.

The prosecution had alleged that Ms Subasi’s former partner, Serdar Ozbek, had taken out the contract to stop the victim taking the couple’s son back to Turkey. However, Mr Ozbek, 28, of Wood Green, was found not guilty of murder, after the jury heard that he was in Turkey when the shooting took place.

Dondu Subasi, the victim’s mother, was the first on the scene after the shooting, and discovered her daughter’s body, and in an impact statement to the court said:

I was asked by the police what impact this incident has caused to my life.

Firstly I was heartbroken. Anyone who has not lost a child would not try to understand my feelings. I lost my child when she was very young. If you compare life with seasons then I lost her at the beginning of spring.

If I do not take a sleeping pill I have nightmares. The day of the incident especially never leaves me alone and is always before my eyes.

Santre Sanchez Gayle. Photo: Met Police

The case was investigated by the Homicide and Serious Crime Command of the Metropolitan Police.

Detective Chief Inspector Jackie Sebire, said:

This has been a particularly harrowing and difficult investigation. Firstly in terms of the way that Gulistan Subasi was so callously killed as she simply answered the front door. She had only been in

the country for two days, visiting her family prior to her wedding.

The CCTV footage is truly frightening and shows the youth exhibiting no doubt or hesitation as he approached the flat, rang the bell and then shot Gulistan as she opened the door. Since his arrest he

has shown no sign of remorse or comprehension for the devastation he has brought to the Subasi family.

I would like to thank Gulistan’s family for their support of the investigation and the dignity they have exhibited throughout the trial. I would also like to pay tribute to the witnesses from the community who bravely gave evidence. This has been a year of painstaking and complex enquiries, leading to today’s convictions.

Reporting at the Old Bailey by Jo Barratt.

One Response

  1. Grant May 24, 2011

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