Men given life terms after woman shot dead at wake

Two men have been jailed for life for murdering a woman who was shot in a drive-by attack outside a wake in north-west London.

Mother-of-two Michelle Sadio had been at the River of Life Pentecostal Church in Willesden on 14 December 2024 when a car approached and four shots were fired at a group of mourners.

At the Old Bailey, Perry Allen-Thomas, 27, was handed a minimum term of 38 years and 20-year-old Amir Salem was given 26 years.

Sadio, 44, was caught in the crossfire and died at the scene. Two men were also injured: Kenneth Amoah was left paralysed below the waist and Kadeem Francis received a foot injury.

During sentencing, Mrs Justice McGowan said "a murder was intended and planned" and that the men had been part of a "terrifying tragedy".

In a victim impact statement read out in court, the murder victim's widower Jean Marie Sadio described her as "the pillar" of his family who had the "biggest and loudest laugh".

"She was the friend and partner you wished to have in your life. I know that half of me has gone. I am broken and will never be the same man again."

He also said that their two children reminded him of "the best" of Michelle and that they "ask for her perfume so they can still smell her".