A man has been found guilty of murder after shooting a man in the back in West Norwood.
Police said Ramane Wiggan, 25, was shot dead at a block in Friar Mews, West Norwood, in March 2019, after he ‘travelled to the area to collect a drugs debt of £10,000’.
Kaine Gilead, 26, of Grove Road, Surbition, was convicted at the Old Bailey on Wednesday, July 19. He will be sentenced at the same court on August 4.
Police were called to the block after a neighbour heard a gunshot on March 27, 2019.
Officers attended along with London Ambulance Service and found Ramane wounded on a balcony walkway.
Emergency services carried out first aid at the scene but, tragically, Ramane died a short while later.
Detectives would later establish he’d been shot from behind with a Glock pistol, with one of the bullets passing through his chest.
Police launched a murder investigation and identified Gilead as a prime suspect through analysis of mobile phone data and other intelligence.
Gilead took a minicab to Liverpool the day after the murder but police arrested him back in London, on May 2, 2019, as he visited his mum’s address in West Norwood.
Police seized one of Gilead’s mobile phones and learned it was used in the area of the murder shortly before the shooting.
It had also been used to make several calls between Gilead and Ramane in the hour before the shooting.
Gilead was further arrested on September 2, 2020, and charged by the Crown Prosecution Service the next day. He made no comment during interviews with officers.
Detective Chief Inspector Kate Kieran, who worked on the investigation, said: “Today is not a day to celebrate but I do hope this verdict provides some comfort to Ramane’s family and allows them to begin to move forward after their tragic loss.
“The evidence we collected against Gilead was overwhelming and showed him to have played a key part in the deliberate, planned and cold-blooded murder of Ramane.
“This case is also a tragic reminder of the misery drugs cause within communities and demonstrates how they can often act as a catalyst to more serious crimes.”
