LISTED: The Sheffield criminals serving the longest sentences ever handed out in the city

With three men preparing to be jailed for life on Friday, The Star takes a look at cases where Sheffield judges handed out some of the city's longest ever prison sentences.
Three men are to be sentenced this week for murder (L-R: Cohen, Gordon and Bryan)Three men are to be sentenced this week for murder (L-R: Cohen, Gordon and Bryan)
Three men are to be sentenced this week for murder (L-R: Cohen, Gordon and Bryan)

Dale Gordon, aged 33, Matthew Cohen, 29 and Keil Bryan, 32, are to be sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court over the ‘cold blooded murder’ of 23-year-old Aseel Al-Essaie, who was shot dead last February.

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The trio were convicted of the killing on a joint enterprise basis, in that it was never proven who pulled the trigger but they were all found guilty of being involved in a plot to kill.

Aseel was shot in Daniel Hill, Upperthorpe, when he pulled up for a family party to celebrate his twin sister’s engagement.

The prosecution case was that Cohen was driving the car from which the gun was fired and that Gordon is believed to have been the gunman while Bryan was a back seat passenger.

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Jurors heard that the shooting was the result of rising tensions between Cohen and the Al-Essaie family.

Cohen had previously slashed Aseel’s brother, Saleh, across the face with a pair of scissors.

Cohen, of Clough Wood Road, Oughtibridge; Gordon, of Benty Lane, Crosspool and Bryan, of Brackley Street, Burngreave, are set to receive mandatory life sentences but will have individual tariffs set on Friday, when the judge will decide the minimum number of years the men must spend behind bars before they can be considered for parole.

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Among the Sheffield criminals serving currently serving the longest prison sentences are four members of a postcode gang in Sheffield were jailed for 110 years between them after a teenager was shot dead in broad daylight.

The killers were jailed in July 2009 after being found guilty of murdering 17-year-old Tarek Chaiboub, who was shot dead near a city barber’s on Spital Street, Burngreave, in 2008.

Also handed long sentences are a man convicted of the murder of 22-year-old Jordan Thomas, who was shot dead in December 2014 and two brothers convicted of the killing of Sheffield taxi driver in 2007.

The leader of a child sex grooming gang was jailed for 35 years in 2016 and a murderous couple who killed a defenceless Sheffield man by attacking him with knives and a screwdriver are serving 53 years between them.