Two men have been jailed for the murder of an imam in Acton after a dispute over a mosque.
Khalid Rashad, 63, of Monks Park, Wembley enlisted Leslie Cooper, 38, of Nightingale Road, Brent, to kill Abdul Hadi Arwani, who was murdered on April 7, 2015.
It followed a falling out with him over ownership of the An Noor Cultural and Community Centre in Church Road, Acton.
Rashad and 48-year-old builder Mr Arwani both contributed money to purchase the centre.
The pair were set to settle their dispute over its ownership at a court case in July last year, but by this time Rashad had already enlisted Cooper to kill the imam.
Mr Arwani was lured to the scene of the murder by Cooper after he posed as a man called "John" who wanted to employ him for building services.
They met in Havenwood, Wembley, at around 10am on April 7, 2015 when Mr Arwani picked Cooper up in his car and drove to Greenhill where he parked.
But Cooper then opened fire on the dad-of-six, shooting him in the car repeatedly. Cooper's girlfriend picked him up near to the scene of the crime.
The victim's body was found by a member of the public around an hour later but paramedics who attended declared him dead at the scene.
The jailed duo will now face 32 years each behind bars for the murder.
Cooper was arrested on April 12, 2015 and officers searching his home found a MAC-10 sub-machine gun, live ammunition and a silencer covered with foam and hidden in a wicker picnic basket.
A connection between Cooper and Rashad was then established, with the latter arrested at his home on April 14 that year.
After detectives had seized Rashad's phone, they discovered deleted Whatsapp messages where he had instructed Cooper how to find Mr Arwani online.
In other messages, he told Cooper "mi want that ting deil with", to which Cooper replied "Yeah mon, mi a go mek it happen" two months before the murder.
The duo were convicted of the murder at Kingston Crown Court in February earlier this year, and Cooper was also found guilty of three counts of possession of a firearm.
Cooper was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for possession of the MAC-10, two-and-a-half years for possession of the silencer and two years' imprisonment for possession of ammunition - all to run concurrently with his sentence for murder.
Today (Wednesday, October 19) Rashad was also found guilty of one count of possession of an explosive substance for an unlawful purpose and two counts of possession of ammunition for a firearm without a certificate at the Old Bailey.
He was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment to run concurrently with the murder sentence.
Detectives investigating Mr Arwani's murder recovered the quantity of plastic explosives, detonation cord and bullets in Rashad's shed when executing a search warrant the day after his arrest.
Mr Arwani's family said in a statement: "Abdul Hadi Arwani was a loving husband, father and friend to the community.
"He was motivated by the desire to help others, no matter their race, religion or status. He was an inspiration to all and without a doubt one of the kindest people you could ever hope to know.
"When we were told of Abdul's death last year, we were absolutely devastated and time has done nothing to reduce the sheer pain of losing him in such a brutal and calculated way.
"To this day, we cannot comprehend why anyone would wish harm to such a peaceful, well-loved person.
"While Abdul is no longer with us, we will never forget his smile, his positive outlook or the fantastic things that he did for us and the community. He will remain in our hearts, inspiring us to embrace others in the way that he did so wonderfully."
