Romford man convicted of murdering Imran Isat in Ilford

Dwain Morrison, 34, of Chudleigh Road in Romford and four others reportedly broke into 30-year-old Imran Isat’s house on Springfield Drive in Ilford on March 19, 2022 with knives and machetes.

His accomplices were identified as 28-year-old Salah’din Kerbouba of Sandringham Gardens in Ilford, 32-year-old Ronnie Haydon of Grafton Crescent in Camden, 36-year-old Paul Higgins of Fanshawe Crescent in Hornchurch and 33-year-old Dominic Diop of Cranfield Park Avenue in Basildon.

A Met Police press release has revealed that the gang had been “scoping out the house prior to the assault and the cars they used were on false plates”.

Imran, it said, was in his living room watching TV with some friends when the attack happened at around 1:15am.

CCTV footage from the incident showed that two of the men, after entering through the front door, proceeded to break down the door of Imran’s flatmate.

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The other three meanwhile went upstairs to the living room when Imran tried to keep them out by closing the door. He was however stabbed through the gap in the door by one of the men who was holding a large knife.

The robbers eventually forced their way in search of something as they were found shouting “where’s the stuff?”.

Imran, at this point, did not seem to offer resistance and had said “don’t hurt me – take what you want”.

Imran Isat, 30, of Ilford was killed in the attack (Image: Met Police)

One of the robbers, ignoring Imran’s plea, went on to stab him while another struck one of Imran’s friends on the head with a flat blade of a knife.

Before they ran from the scene, the CCTV revealed that one of the robbers shouted “We’ve found it” and “let’s go”.

One of the men was seen leaving with a bag and a suitcase and then going back inside to get a second suitcase. Another had also left carrying a bag. The police were unable to uncover what the bags contained as none of the defendants revealed it.

Medics from London Ambulance Service tried hard to save Imran, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

A postmortem report later found that he had been stabbed five times and one of the wounds was fatal having gone into his chest and penetrated his heart.

A murder investigation was launched by detectives of Met’s Specialist Crime and it soon became apparent to them that the robbery had been planned.

The detectives found out through CCTV and doorbell cameras that some members of the gang had arrived outside the house earlier to survey it.

The five men were later traced through their phone records that showed their movements and were arrested in July 2022.

They were charged with robbery and murder and three- Diop, Higgins and Morrison - pleaded guilty to robbery but not guilty to murder.

Haydon had admitted he was at the scene, but had denied robbery as he stated he did not use or threaten violence. Kerbouba pleaded not guilty to both the robbery and murder.

The jury after hearing all the evidence, however, found all five guilty of their role in the attack.

They have now been convicted on Tuesday (July 11) after a hearing at the Old Bailey. Dwain Morrison was found guilty of murder and the other four were convicted of Imran’s manslaughter.

Kerbouba and Haydon were also found guilty of robbery while Higgins and Diop had pleaded guilty to robbery at an earlier hearing.

Detective Chief Inspector Joanna Yorke from the Met’s Specialist Crime, said in a statement that this killing was “pointless” and the fatal stab wound that probably killed Imran was inflicted when he was on the floor.

He added: “It was a callous act of brutality that took his life. We may never know what the gang stole, but it was surely not worth killing a man while he was helpless on the ground.”