Gunman admitted charges last month

A GUNMAN who shot a partygoer in the head following a row at a New Year’s Eve party has been jailed for 11 years.

Kirk Franklin, 23, fired a converted pistol at 22-year-old Jermaine McDougall, at point blank range in the car park of Asda in Forty Lane, Wembley, in the early hours of New Year’s Day this year.

The Old Bailey heard Mr McDougall miraculously survived after the bullet fragmented on impact with his forehead and did not pass through the skull.

Franklin initially claimed he thought he was only firing a blank but later insisted he was wrongly identified.

Today (Friday), Franklin, from Stanmore, Middlesex, was sentenced to 11 years for grievous bodily harm with intent and eight years for possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life. The sentences will run concurrently.

Last month when he admitted the charges, the prosecution drop a charge of attempted murder.

At his trial, jurors heard Franklin and Mr McDougall had argued at a party which took place in the Chalkhill Estate in Wembley, hours before the shooting.

Franklin stormed off threatening to return with a gun and when Mr McDougall left the party with a group of friends at around 5am they were confronted in the car park by the gunman who was brandishing his weapon.

Prosecutor Sarah Whitehouse said: “Kirk Franklin then walked up to Jermaine, pointed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger.

“Immediately after firing the shot he ran back to the car and drove off.”

The gun has never been found.

DI Mick Millar from Operation Trident, the Met’s specialist team that investigates gun crime, told the Times Mr McDougall was still suffering physically and mentally.

He added: “I would like to thank the victim and his family for being so courageous.

“I would also like to thank the witnesses who came forward and gave evidence alongside the victim.

“If it was not for their evidence a very dangerous individual would still be on the streets.”

Andrew Rock, 24, of no fixed address, who was accused of assisting Franklin by driving him away from the scene after the shooting was acquitted last month.