Teenage hitman Santre Gayle guilty of Subasi murder
A teenage hitman has been convicted of murdering a woman in east London.
Gulistan Subasi, 26, was shot on her mother's doorstep at a flat in Hackney in March 2010, the Old Bailey heard.
Santre Gayle, now 16, had denied murder. The court he said he had been paid £200 for the crime.
Izak Billy, 22, of Willesden, was also found guilty of murder and making a threat to kill. Three other men were found not guilty of murder.
Serdar Ozbek, 28, of Wood Green; Paul Nicalaou, 29, of Tottenham; and Leigh Bryan, 25, of Hornsey; had also denied the crime.
Gayle was just 15 when he killed the mother.
He was recruited to carry out the attack because he had no connections with the Turkish community, the court heard.
His interests were said to be girls, football and playing on his X-Box.
But jurors were told he was a self-confessed cannabis dealer who was first convicted at 14 for an attempted robbery.
A judge lifted an order granting Gayle anonymity which had originally been put in place because of his age.
It had been alleged Miss Subasi was killed on the orders of ex-partner Mr Ozbek because he feared she would take their nine-year-old son away, although Mr Ozbek was cleared of murder.
Miss Subasi moved to Turkey after her relationship with Mr Ozbek ended but her son remained in north London with his father.
She was due to see her son on his ninth birthday on 23 March last year but was shot dead the night before.
CCTV showed the hooded Gayle rest a sawn-off shotgun on the front gate before pulling the trigger when the door was answered.
Due to marry
Billy was said to have been a middle man between Gayle and the people who took out the contract.
Miss Subasi was due to get married in May in Turkey.
Dondu Subasi found her daughter lying with a tennis-ball sized hole in her chest, the court heard.
In an victim impact statement, she said: "I was devastated when my daughter was killed in front of my eyes and this took its toll on my life and health.
"Firstly I was heartbroken. Anyone who has not lost a child would not try to understand my feelings. I lost my child when she was very young.
"I do not feel that life is worth living anymore."
Outside court, Det Ch Insp Jackie Sebire said: "This was a harrowing and tragic case.
"The frightening thing is his confidence and his lack of remorse. Even though he is only 15, he knew what he was doing.
"Anyone answering the door would have been shot. There were two other women in the flat that night."
Ms Sebire appealed for help in trying to trace two men who fled the UK after the shooting and are thought to be in Turkey.
Gayle and Billy will be sentenced on Tuesday.