TWO men who murdered an imam from Acton have each been jailed for 32 years. 

Khalid Rashad, 63, (19.08.53) of Monks Park, Wembley enlisted Leslie Cooper, 38 (15.08.78), of Nightingale Road, Brent, to kill Abdul Hadi Arwani after falling out with him over ownership of the An Noor Cultural and Community Centre on Church Road in Acton.

Mr Arwani's body was discovered in his car on a Wembley street on April, 7 2015. He had been shot several times. 

Rashad and Mr Arwani - a 48-year-old builder and imam - both contributed money to purchase the An Noor Cultural and Community Centre. Their dispute over its ownership was due to be settled at court in July 2015, but Rashad had already enlisted Cooper to kill the imam.

Cooper lured Mr Arwani to the scene of the murder by posing as a man called "John" who was interested in employing him for building services.

They arranged to meet in Havenwood, Wembley at approximately 10:00hrs on 7 April 2015. 

Mr Arwani picked Cooper up in his car and drove on to Greenhill, Wembley, where he parked up before Cooper opened fire on the father-of-six shooting him repeatedly in the car.

Soon after, Cooper's girlfriend picked him up near to the scene of the crime.

Mr Arwani's body was found by a member of public around an hour later at 11:10hrs. She rang 999 and paramedics attended who formally declared Mr Arwani deceased.

Detectives launched an investigation and arrested Cooper on 12 April 2015. They searched his home, finding a MAC-10 sub-machine gun, live ammunition and a silencer covered with foam, hidden in a wicker picnic basket. Forensic analysis of these items revealed Cooper's fingerprints and DNA on them.

A digital forensic analysis of Cooper's Blackberry was also carried out and detectives found that Cooper had sent a picture of the items to a second girlfriend in Jamaica a month earlier, on 13 February 2015.

Experts also carried out a forensic analysis of his girlfriend's car, detecting traces of gunshot residue on the front passenger seat. 

Detectives established that Cooper had been in contact with Rashad in the lead up to Mr Arwani's murder and subsequently arrested the latter at his home on 14 April 2015.

When detectives seized Rashad's phone, they retrieved deleted Whatsapp messages in which he instructed Cooper how to find details of Mr Arwani online. 

In others, he told Cooper "mi want that ting deil with", to which Cooper replied "Yeah mon, mi a go mek it happen." Two months later, Cooper killed Mr Arwani.

Both men were convicted of murder at Kingston Crown Court on Thursday, 4 February. Cooper was also found guilty of three counts of possession of a firearm. 

Rashad was sentenced to life in prison, and must serve a minimum of 32 years.

Cooper also received a life sentence, and must serve a minimum of 32 years' imprisonment for the murder of Mr Arwani. 

He was sentenced to five years ' imprisonment for possession of the MAC-10, two-and-a-half years' imprisonment for possession of the silencer and two years' imprisonment for possession of ammunition - all to run concurrent with his sentence for murder.

Restrictions on reporting their convictions in February this year were lifted today, Wednesday, 19 October, after a separate trial finished.

An Noor Cultural and Community Centre "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."

An Noor Cultural and Community Centre "Thanks to the hard work and dedication of the investigating team, Mr Arwani's family will, I hope, have some comfort from seeing his killers sentenced to life in prison.

"I thank the community for working with us, showing patience and supporting the investigation throughout, leading to the successful conviction we have seen at court."

Ealing Borough commander, Chief Superintendent Paul Martin, said: "Mr Arwani was a respected man in the local community. The impact of his death and the resulting investigation had the full support of the local community and we are grateful for their help throughout this investigation."

On Wednesday, 19 October, 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. 

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. 

He was sentenced yesterday, October 19 to ten years imprisonment to run concurrently with the murder sentence.