Five people have been jailed for a total of 64 years for throwing a hand grenade and firing bullets at a man’s home near Ongar in an attempt to prevent him giving evidence in court.

Shots from a handgun were fired through the front door at the rural property on April 30, 2014.

No-one was injured in the attack.

A hand grenade exploded near the front of the house three days later, smashing windows and causing damage to a parked car.

The attacks were planned by Walid Habib, who at the time was on bail and on trial at Chelmsford Crown Court for a conspiracy involving stolen vehicles, drugs and firearms, and his brother-in-law Nigo Habib, also known as Claudio Mohamed, whose son Suleman was also on trial for the same offences.

A trial at Woolwich Crown Court heard that Walid and Nigo Habib wanted to frighten a key prosecution witness into staying away from court and plotted to intimidate him.

Gang members, Walid Habib, Anna Ibrahim (right), one of Walid Habib’s wives, and Jahzeiah Francois carried out a reconnaissance of the witness’s rural home in a hamlet near Ongar and plotted to attack his home before he was due to give evidence.

On the day of the attack Francois, 24, fired the shots at the house while Kirtharan Thuraisingam, 33, was his driver.

Francois fired two shots from a 9mm automatic pistol at the front door of the house.

No-one was injured as the residents were in bed.

The Habibs then planned to attack the witness at his work office in London and although suspicious phone calls were made to the office and gang members were proved to be in the area, nothing happened.

Walid Habib then demanded a further attack on the man’s home and the gang obtained an eastern European-made hand grenade which was thrown at the house on May 3, 2014. No-one was injured.

Thuraisingam drove other members of the gang to carry out the grenade attack.

Another live hand grenade was later found hidden in bushes near Thuraisingam’s home in Ilford, following a police investigation into a separate incident.

He was also found guilty of possessing that grenade.

The court heard that Ibrahim was involved in planning the attacks, she also made phone calls to the victim’s office during the conspiracy.

The original trial at Chelmsford Crown Court concluded with Walid Habib being sentenced to 15 years in prison. The other gang members also received long sentences.

Officers used advanced technology in mobile phone cell site analysis and conducted hundreds of hours of investigation and arrested eight people for conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Three were found not guilty, one pleaded guilty and four were found guilty after a seven-week trial at Woolwich Crown Court.

At the court today, Walid Habib, 37, unemployed, of Sevenoaks Road, Romford, was jailed for 18 years. He must serve half of his original 15-year sentence before starting the 18-year term handed out today.

Jahzeiah Francois, 24, an entertainer of Cranbrook Road, Ilford, was jailed for 14 years for conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Kirtharan Thuraisingam, 33, unemployed of Perth Road, Ilford, who was found guilty of conspiring to pervert the course of justice and possessing explosives, was jailed for 13 years for the conspiracy charge and five years for the possession of explosives, to run concurrently.

Anna Ibrahim, 32, unemployed, of Somerford Street, London E1, was jailed for ten years for conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Nigo Habib, 45, a cleaner, of Kingston Road, Ilford, pleaded guilty to conspiring to pervert the course of justice and was jailed for nine years last week.

DI Andy Waldie, of the Kent and Essex Serious and Organised Crime Unit, who led the investigation said: “Walid Habib was the mastermind behind a gang operating from an industrial unit near Ongar that supplied Class A drugs, firearms and stripped or changed the identity of cars stolen in the area.

"These were serious and violent criminals with access to an arsenal of weapons, mainly from eastern Europe.

“The operation was smashed after only a few months after stolen vehicle equipped with a tracker led Essex police to the unit.

“Walid Habib was charged and bailed but was determined to avoid going to jail for his crimes. His brother-in-law was also determined to prevent his son going to jail so the pair of them plotted to intimidate an important witness.

“They brought in Francois, a friend of Walid Habib, who had previous convictions for violence. Thuraisingam was another associate of Walid Habib and another important member of the team was Anna Ibrahim, who was an organiser.

"When the Habibs gave out the orders she made sure they were carried out.

“We also discovered during the Woolwich trial that a small mobile phone was smuggled to Walid Habib in his prison cell after he whilst serving his sentence for the original trial at Chelmsford for the first offences.

“He used this phone part way through the second trial at Woolwich before it was discovered by prison officers."

“This was a serious and dangerous organised crime gang that moved into Essex after they were investigated in east London by the Met Police.

"Thanks to the painstaking and thorough investigation carried out by my officers with assistance from Met colleagues they have been brought to justice and now face long prison sentences.

"They thought they were above the law today shows how wrong they were."