London gangster jailed for attack on innocent Gwent man

A London enforcer who travelled to Gwent to recover a missing drugs stash has been jailed for 18 years and five months after brutally attacking an innocent man at the wrong address.

Michael Dumbuya, 37, of York Street, London, was hired by a Colombian drug lord codenamed ‘Tango’ to find several kilograms of stolen cocaine. Along with two unknown men from Birmingham, he broke into Cody Hudd’s home in Pengam, Blackwood, during the early hours of Tuesday, 20th May.

The trio held a knife to Mr Hudd’s throat and subjected him to a terrifying ordeal, kicking, punching, slapping and hitting him with a hockey stick whilst he was in bed. The attackers recorded a video of the violence, in which a bloodied Mr Hudd is asked: “Where’s the coke? Where’s the f****** coke?”

The victim replied: “I don’t have it.”

Mr Hudd told them: “You’ve got the wrong place, you’ve got the wrong person.”

After the assault, Dumbuya was paid £5,000 for the job. Police spotted him driving an Audi Q3 SUV on false plates on the M4 motorway eastbound at Junction 25 at Caerleon in Newport. Officers attempted to box him in, but he led them on a high-speed chase for 45 miles, reaching speeds of more than 150mph before crashing into a Nissan Juke in Chippenham near Junction 17 of the M4 in Wiltshire.

Police recovered a loaded sawn-off shotgun from the Audi Q3, as well as an imitation Glock pistol and a balaclava in a holdall he’d thrown from the vehicle.

Prosecutor John Ryan told Cardiff Crown Court: “The Crown say that the defendant is a dangerous offender. He had a loaded, cocked sawn-off shotgun and he had it ready for use if the situation required.”

In a victim impact statement, Mr Hudd said: “This has had a profound impact on my life. I was an innocent party. Mud sticks and I don’t think I can clear my name.”

Dumbuya pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, possession of a sawn-off shotgun, possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and dangerous driving. He has a previous conviction for fraud for which he received a two-year suspended prison sentence in 2021.

His barrister, Jeffrey Jones, said that his client, a father-of-two who is a university graduate, had got himself into debt over his gambling addiction and that “he is remorsful”.

The Recorder of Cardiff, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke, told the defendant: “You had been recruited by Tango to use intimidation and terror to recover the drugs. You had been paid as an enforcer acting for an organised crime group. The sawn-off shotgun was loaded and cocked, ready for use.”

Dumbuya was jailed for 18 years and five months and banned from driving for six years following his release from custody. The defendant will have to pass an extended retest and pay a victim surcharge.