Aseel Al-Essaie: 'A daylight execution, a wall of silence and a family living in fear'

What should have been a joyous day for the Al-Essaie family quickly turned into their worst nightmare.

Aseel Al-Essaie, 23, was killed in a drive-by shooting outside his sister’s engagement party in Walkley, Sheffield on February 18 2017. He was sitting inside a stationary vehicle in Daniel Hill, when a long-barrelled revolver was fired from the front seat window of a Volkswagen Golf and ended his life.

South Yorkshire Police believe the daylight execution - witnessed by his brother, Ali, who had been sitting in a separate vehicle just a car’s length away - was the result of a drugs-related dispute. His mother Aneasa Al-Essaie said she had "lost the feeling of happiness" in the wake of her son’s death.

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"I have lost not only my son but also my best friend, my confidant and my hopes and dreams,” she said. "No mother should ever have to bury her son. No mother should have to endure the agony and suffering I have been through. I would not wish it on my worst enemy."

More than seven years later, the details of Aseel’s tragic death and an inside look at how South Yorkshire Police handled the case and captured his killers will be explored on TV, as the 20th episode of TRUE CRIMES’ Secrets of a Murder Detective airs tonight (Wednesday, June 5).

The series, presented by former Scotland Yard Homicide Detective Inspector Steve Keogh, invites viewers “into the intriguing realm of crime solving". With 30 years of experience under his belt, DI Keogh is opening up his contact books for the first time to reveal the secrets of what it really takes to be a murder detective on the frontline.

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The series aims to “set itself apart” from other true crime shows, by focusing on the victim and the story of solving the case, rather than the killer and their motivations.

In the absence of Aseel’s loved ones, this episode focuses solely on the investigation techniques used to track his killers down. Keogh sits down with former South Yorkshire Police Detective Chief Inspector Steve Whittaker, who led the investigation into Aseel’s murder.

Keogh told Yorkshire Live that while he can’t put an exact figure on it, he estimates that he worked over over 100 murder cases throughout his 12-year career as a murder detective. With a wealth of experience and knowledge to draw upon, he says the Sheffield case was “complicated” and “difficult” to solve, due to the reluctance of witnesses to speak and lack of evidence.

Aseel’s brother, Ali, witnessed the shooting and rushed his brother to hospital, but he was sadly pronounced dead by doctors upon arrival. The bullet, shot by a passenger from the inside of a Volkswagen Golf, had punctured his lung, heart, abdomen and caused massive internal bleeding.

The shot was reportedly fired after a conversation between Aseel and the individuals inside the car turned into an argument. Despite witnessing the distressing scenes, and seeing the three men inside the vehicle, Ali was reluctant to speak to the police - even though officers believed he knew who they were.

Ali’s refusal to cooperate eventually led to him being arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to murder - but the investigation saw a major turning point when DCI Whittaker took it upon himself to visit him personally at home.

Keogh explained: “It was a really difficult investigation and I was really impressed with the DCI Whittaker because he was so determined. He took it upon himself to go and visit Ali.

“He used his powers of persuasion and built up trust with him and I think that was the key turning point in the investigation. There’s not many DCI’s I’ve met throughout my career that would go on and do what he did - I was so impressed with him.”

When later asked why he did not help investigators initially Ali said he was "scared and worried he might be next".

Keogh explained that there were other factors which further complicated the case: “Shootings are always more difficult to solve. Every contact, or suspect, leaves a trace but in the case of a shooting, you’ve got that distance and that negates any forensic evidence, so you have to build up evidence in different ways.

“South Yorkshire Police were presented with a really complicated investigation, but there was natural determination from the team to solve the case even though it wasn’t an easy one.”

The perseverance of Whittaker alongside Ali’s evidence were important factors which led to three men being identified and later jailed for life for Aseel’s murder.

In April 2018 Matthew Cohen, 29, Dale Gordon, 33, and Keil Bryan, 32, were all ordered to serve a minimum of 30 years after jurors accepted the prosecution case that the trio had carried out the fatal drive-by shooting as part of a joint enterprise.

The episode also features interviews with Fire Investigation Officer Jason Dean who explains how fire complicates the process of recovering evidence, as well as CCTV expert Ray Evans who provides an insight into the methods used to identify multiple individuals on CCTV in a case like this.

The Volkswagen car from which the fatal shot was fired at Aseel was later found about four miles away in the Grenoside area of Sheffield, where it had been dumped and set alight by accomplice James Good, 29, under the instructions of Cohen, who had been driving the vehicle.

Good had earlier been seen on CCTV at a garage buying a petrol can and four litres of fuel, which was used to torch the vehicle. Good, of Ringstead Crescent, who pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, was jailed for three years and three months.

While the hard work and “dedication” of South Yorkshire Police helped to put Aseel’s killers behind bars, his family will “never be able to resume the life they once had”. His mother Aneasa described Aseel as an "intelligent, funny, loving young man with an enchanting charisma".

She continued: "No sentence will ever reflect the pain and heartache these senseless cowards have inflicted upon my family. We will never come to terms with the loss and we will never be able to resume the life we once had."

keogh believes one of the hardest parts of working as a murder detective is dealing with the emotions of the victim’s families, like those expressed by Aseel’s mother. “How can you get used to being around people when they’re going through the absolute worst moment of their life?,” he explained.

“At least being in that situation as a murder detective, you can walk away and use their emotions to motivate you - you walk away feeling like you can at least try and do something about the devastation the murder has had on the family involved.

“The role doesn’t leave a lot of time for your own life or your own family - but when you get to court and you secure a conviction for those relatives, it makes all that worthwhile.

“But the trauma of the families remains the hardest part of the job. You never get used to being around people when they’re at such a low point in their life.”

Secrets of a Murder Detective airs Wednesdays at 10 pm on TRUE CRIME (formerly CBS Reality) in the UK. Aseel Al-Essaie's episode premieres on June 5.

Steve also shares more insights on his career as a murder detective in his podcast Murder Investigation for Crime Writers which can be found on Spotify.