"Gangster" killer is jailed for life

Gary Oxley, 48, from Bexhill, blasted Joseph Oliffe, 35, twice in the back of the head with a .455 calibre Webley Mk I revolver as he sat drinking coffee.

Oxley then calmly dialled 999, and told an operator: "I have just shot someone. I fear for my life and my family."

The Old Bailey heard Oxley owed Mr Oliffe, a father-of-two from Bromley, Kent, and his associates 6,000 in drugs money. Oxley claimed the "gangsters" had threatened the lives of his wife and parents.

Prosecutor Oliver Glasgow told the court Mr Oliffe and friend Perry Hunt had arrived at the DA Sandwich Cafe in Court Road, Mottingham, Kent, on March 4 this year.

"They ordered two coffees and a chocolate bar before taking a seat at the window."

Cafe owner Ali Gezer sent his employee Mahmut Akin out to get coffee from the shop next door.

Shortly after he served the men Oxley walked in.

"He greeted them and they were seen to say hello back to him," the prosecutor said.

"Oxley walked up to the counter as if he was about to place an order, but rather than doing so, he stepped through the gate that separated the cafe and the kitchen.

"To the horror of Mr Gezer, he removed a gun from the waistband of his trousers and initially pointed it at the cafe owner."

Fearing he would be shot or robbed, Mr Gezer asked Oxley if he was alright.

Oxley ran towards the two men and aimed the weapon at Mr Oliffe's head.

Mr Hunt was facing the gunman and ran out of the cafe, but the victim had his back to Oxley and 'was completely unaware of the danger he was in'.

Mr Glasgow said: "Oxley approached him and fired three shots.

"Two struck him in the head and Mr Oliffe collapsed on the table."

Oxley then aimed the gun at the retreating figure of Mr Hunt.

Following him out of the cafe, Oxley bumped into shocked cafe worker Mahmut Akin. "He was still holding the revolver and appeared to be in shock.

"He shouted: 'Call the police, I have killed a man', and then ran back into the cafe."

Mr Gezer stood paralysed with fear behind the counter, but ran out the back of the cafe when the gunman returned.

Mr Glasgow told the court: "The police received a number of calls about the incident, one from Oxley himself.

"He said he had shot someone, said he was scared for his life, and that the people involved were gangsters.

"He said he had no choice because they had threatened his wife, his mum and his dad. He said he had no choice because the problem concerned drugs and he owed them 6,000."

Oxley told the emergency operator the situation was "quite heavy". He also said he had put the gun on the floor and did not want the police to shoot him.

Following his arrest, Oxley refused to tell officers why he had killed Mr Oliffe.

But in his fifth interview he claimed the pair '“ Mr Oliffe and Mr Perry '“ had threatened his wife and family and had been round to his home.

Whilst in custody he was allowed to make a call to his parents and was overheard saying: "I won't have threats to the family. I have tried to go on the straight and narrow but I won't have that."

Oxley, of Hornbeam Avenue, admitted murder. A charge of attempted murder, which he denied, was ordered to lie on the court file.

Locking him up for life, Judge Peter Thornton said: "This was a deliberate, calculated and planned act.

"You killed in cold blood. Whatever the background to this case, whatever the past of the deceased you have taken a life, deprived a family of a loved one and deprived a mother of her only child.

"Friends and family now mourn their loss."

The judge said it was accepted Oxley was being blackmailed over a drugs debt.

"The aggravating features of this case are the cold and calculated killing, shooting your victim in the head from behind, clearly intending to kill him.

"Secondly, however bad the background of the case you abandoned the help of the police, took the law into your own hands and killed with a firearm which you acquired and took to the scene.

"There was clearly substantial premeditation in your actions."

The court heard Oxley has a number of previous convictions, and served six years in 2001 for blackmailing a cousin for 8,000.

In January this year he attended Plumstead police station to report he was being threatened but then refused to answer any follow-up calls or attend pre-arranged appointments.

Courtenay Griffiths QC, defending Oxley, said: "Where at first sight this attack looks like a gangland execution, there is a background story." Mr Griffiths told the court Oxley had been visited at his flat by Mr Hunt and Mr Oliffe, who told him "this ain't going away".

The day before the shooting, on March 3, Mr Oliffe, who is said to have been acting for a man in prison, "cranked up the pressure".

Oxley, who must serve at least 21 years, also admitted a charge of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.