Hunt for killer - 10 years on

Aug 15 2007 By Mark Cowan, Birmingham Mail

MURDER squad detectives today made a fresh appeal for help to trace the prime suspect in the killing of a Birmingham teenager.

Joel Nubie, 18, was shot in the head at point blank range in a row over a mobile phone in Handsworth, ten years ago this Saturday.

The suspected gunman, Richard Henry, fled to Jamaica via Holland the following day and has never been traced.

Police have been told that Henry, now 41, may have travelled back to Birmingham since then, possibly under an assumed name or on a false passport. Det Insp Simon Richards, who is leading the murder inquiry, said the hunt continued and he urged Henry to hand himself in.

"This is unfinished business for West Midlands Police and it's unfinished business for the family of Joel," said Det Insp Richards.

"They have not been able to move on and still have to live with the fact that the killer of their son and brother is still out there and still has his liberty.

"Richard Clifton Henry is the man that we want to speak to. I am quite convinced that he was the man holding the gun when Joel was shot in the head.

"I'm convinced somebody in Handsworth must know where he is-  if he's still in Jamaica, if he has returned to this country or gone somewhere else - and I would appeal for them to come forward.

Joel was killed by a single shot to the forehead from a 9mm semi-automatic pistol in Crompton Road on August 18 1997.

Two men were charged with murder but were later cleared at Birmingham Crown Court due to a lack of evidence.