The family of a man who died 13 years after he was shot outside a Shoreditch club have renewed their desperate appeal to find the "cowards" who killed him.
On what would have been Marvin Couson's 40th birthday, his mother and sister spoke of how their relative was "imprisoned" in hospital with brain injuries for more than a decade after he was found with gunshot wounds near the Lime in London bar in east London on May 12, 2002. He died on August 8 this year.
Shots were fired inside the venue, now the Queen of Hoxton pub, with some 600 people inside. Mr Couson was fatally injured after being run down by a car and shot in the chest as the violence spilled on to the street.
The then-26-year-old was rushed to hospital, where he spent the next 13 years unable to look after himself or communicate.
On Thursday, his mother Emily said: "For 13 years Marvin was imprisoned and we visited him every day in hospital. Today we should have been celebrating Marvin's 40th birthday and he should be here celebrating with us.
She added: "I will never forget that day [I was told he was shot]. Marvin was my son, a brother and a father. To whoever killed Marvin, my little boy, you tried to kill our family.
"No-one should suffer like this. I would like those young boys who take guns and knives to look at the consequences of their actions. There are real people behind your cowardly actions."
His sister Margaret said she struggled to remember her brother before he was shot.
"What I do remember is the projectile vomit, the bed sores, the trauma that the person who shot Marvin has caused, and the loss of my brother Marvin's life," she said.
The Metropolitan Police launched a murder investigation following Mr Couson's death.
Det Ch Insp Noel McHugh said he was concerned witnesses were protecting his killers out of a "misguided sense of loyalty".
Contact the incident room on 020 8785 8099 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 with any information.
