Police reveal negotiators sent into Dudley to help resolve family feud after taxi boss murder

West Midlands Police confirmed the contact has been made with both groups.

Two men have now been found guilty of murdering taxi firm boss Mohammed Haroon Zeb at Leicester Crown Court after a previous mistrial in Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Hassan Tasleem, 24, of Richmond Road, and Gurdeep Sandhu, 24, of Blowers Green Road, were both found guilty of murdering the father-of-four in unanimous verdicts after the trial held at Leicester Court sitting at Loughborough. Both were also found guilty of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and perverting the course of justice.

The blood feud dates back years and was ratcheted up when Yasir Hussain, 34, was stabbed to death in Lower Gornal, in 2018. Tensions rose as the man found guilty of the murder Nabeel Choudhary appealed his conviction at the Court of Appeal only to ultimately fail.

Days before Mr Zeb was fatally gunned down, Choudhary Akeel Hussain was run over by a car.

Senior investigating officer, Superintendent Jim Munro, told the Express & Star: “This feud has to stop to prevent any more bloodshed in Dudley. Trained negotiators are working with the groups to prevent another death, this is an unusual step but one which is needed with this level of violence between two sides.

“The community were very upset about the murder of Mr Zeb and we needed to ensure the people of Dudley knew we were on their side and they could feel safe.”

Superintendent Munroe confirmed the constant tit for tat reprisals and large number of local men involved has taken up valuable resources of West Midlands Police. This was one of the biggest murder investigations in the force's history.

“We started with over 50 detectives and then continued to work with a team of 16.

“The mistrial meant the family and the community had to wait for an extra year for justice. This was not ideal but was unavoidable. This was a very complex case to prosecute due to the number of defendants. Building cases against nine people took a lot of hard work and time from our dedicated team of detectives.” Superintendent Munroe believes it will never be known whether Mr Zeb was the intended target of the shooting.

He said: “Zeb was a hardworking family man, we do not know if he was the intended victim but his death really affected the community as he was very well known. The community in Dudley really were affected by this murder because he was so well-known in the area.

“This murder was down to a long-running feud between two groups in Dudley and hopefully this verdict will save further lives.”