Brother of Boney M singer ordered contract killing of Muslim preacher

Khalid Rashad recruited Iraqi War veteran Leslie Cooper to gun down Abdul Hadi Arwani with a MAC-10 machine pistol. 

Rashad, brother of Boney M star Liz Mitchell, wanted Mr Arwani dead following a bitter dispute with him over the running of a mosque.

Former soldier Cooper lured the preacher to his death by arranging to meet him in Wembley, north London, in April last year.

Mr Arwani, 48, was sitting in his car as Cooper pumped bullets into his chest at close range.

Rashad, 62, and Cooper, 37, denied murder but were found guilty by an jury earlier this year.

They were later jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years before either can be considered for parole.

The case can be reported for the first time after Rashad was found guilty yesterday of possessing a stick of plastic explosive and ammunition in his garden shed.

Rashad, of Wembley, claimed police planted the PE4 explosive and a handful of bullets.

He claimed he had been approached by MI5 to spy on his fellow Muslims and insisted he had no idea how the material got into his shed.

But an Old Bailey jury found him guilty. He was sentenced to 10 years to run concurrently with his life term.

Muslim convert Rashad, born Brunel Mitchell, had been involved in a legal battle with Mr Arwani over the running of the An-Noor mosque, Acton, west London. 

The two men had once worked together to run the £1 million centre, the court heard.

But Rashad, who called himself Emir or ruler, fell out with the preacher who was locked out of the building in 2011.

He launched legal proceedings in 2012 seeking a court order to reinstate him as a director of the company which ran the mosque.

Cooper, who nicknamed his MAC-10 Big Dog, served with the Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment in Iraq in August 2004.

The ex-soldier, of Harlesden, north London, was involved in “multiple fire fights”.

Formed in 1976, Boney M’s biggest hits included By the Rivers of Babylon, Brown girl in the Ring and Rasputin.

Scotland Yard Commander Mak Chishty said: “With the help of the community we have got justice for Mr Awani, justice for the family and justice for the community. 

“Without the community support I am not sure we would have got to the stage that we did in the time that we had.”

He said the force had no idea what Rashad had intended to do with the explosives and the Yard’s counter terrorism command had found no links to terrorist organisations. 

“We were really careful to stick to the facts an follow the evidence and we quickly established the was a straight forward, although brutal, murder.

“This was a straight forward dispute over a community centre, it was a horrible cold blooded murder but nevertheless it was a dispute over a community centre.’ 

“The victim was held in high esteem in the community - many people, particularly his family, will miss him.

“This was a brutal and cold blooded murder in the middle of the day and that’s absolutely extreme.

“I think 32 years is a fitting sentence for this crime.”