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Life for gunman who killed boxer

Pa
Thursday 09 October 2008 11:05 BST

A gunman who shot dead a former British boxing champion in a row over smoking was jailed for life today.

Kanyanya Mulenga, 23, was told he must spend at least 28 years in jail after being convicted of the "senseless" murder of father-of-three James Oyebola.

He gunned down Mr Oyebola with a converted replica automatic pistol three weeks after the ban on lighting up in public places came into force in July last year.

The 46-year-old was shot through the back of the neck at the Chateau 6 bar in Fulham Broadway, west London, after asking a group of men to stop smoking.

Mr Oyebola, a former British heavyweight title holder who won a bronze medal in the 1986 Commonwealth Games, was enjoying a quiet drink when trouble erupted.

Many of the 50 partygoers inside the bar were left diving for cover, then rushing for the exit, as Mulenga fired off four shots, one going into the roof and two hitting Mr Oyebola.

Judge Peter Rook told the killer: "This was nothing short of a brutal killing carried out for the most trivial of reasons."

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