Cakes and Shakes gunman wept in dock after attempted murder conviction

Temidire Owolabi, 21, of Chafford Hundred, Essex, was found guilty of attempted murder and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life at the Old Bailey today.

The court heard that Owolabi stormed into the Cakes and Shakes milkshake parlour in High Road on November 14 and shot James Bryant, 24, in the face with a pistol.

Mr Bryant, who no longer owns the café, spent two months in hospital.

Owolabi was cleared of possession of a firearm related to another hit on Mr Bryant’s business on November 12.

After 27 hours of deliberation, the jury failed to reach a verdict on whether Owolabi plotted the attack with 23-year-old Romain Arthur of Hazel Way, Chingford.

Arthur was cleared of two counts of perverting the course of justice.

Both will face a retrial on a single charge of conspiracy to murder at a date to be fixed, after which Owolabi will be sentenced.

Arthur was said to have ordered the shooting after his two-year-old son was seen with Mr Bryant during a trip to the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford on November 12.

Owolabi’s car was traced and he was arrested in Southampton on November 17.

Mobile phone records placed him near Cakes and Shakes at the time Mr Bryant was shot but Owolabi said he was visiting a friend in St Patrick’s Court to retrieve a borrowed jacket.

On hearing the verdict, he gestured angrily at the public gallery and had to be restrained by six security guards.

A female juror was left in tears following his outburst.

Both men denied all charges.