The Sad Story Of A Man Who Took 13 Years To Die After Being Shot In A Bar (Photos)

A man has been arrested 17 years after a shooting which left the victim confined to a hospital bed, unable to communicate, until he died more than a decade later.

Detectives have been investigating the murder of Marvin Couson, who died on August 8, 2015, for 13 years, after he was shot at the Lime In London Bar, Shoreditch, east London, on May 12, 2002.

A man, 40, was arrested on Thursday morning on suspicion of possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life, and is being questioned at a west London police station.

Marvin Couson’s family have never found out why he was shot and all his children remember of him is his time in hospital (Picture: Met Police)

Detective Chief Inspector Noel McHugh, from the Metropolitan Police’s Homicide and Major Crime Command, said: ‘We are days away from the 17th anniversary of Marvin’s shooting and this morning we have made a significant arrest.

‘I hope that it will encourage people to take themselves back to the Lime Bar on 12 May 2002. Witnesses have come forward and we are hugely grateful for their help but heartbreakingly some have not or have given incomplete accounts of what happened that night.

‘I understand by the nature of the crime there may be reluctance to get involved or perhaps people just feel they have moved on as it was so long ago.

‘Well, Marvin’s family haven’t, they have endured years of heartache, visiting his hospital bedside every day for 13 years while he lay paralysed before finally succumbing to his injuries.’

A man was arrested close to the anniversary of the shooting that eventually took his life (Picture: Met Police)

Mr Couson’s sister Margaret Couson said after the arrest: ‘On Sunday May 12 it will be the anniversary of Marvin’s shooting.

‘It is remarkable that it is 17 years since Marvin was shot and his killer remains at large, not a day goes by when we don’t think of Marvin.

‘That awful incident has ruined so many lives and each day I wake and go to sleep thinking of Marvin. I ask “why?”. Marvin wasn’t involved in crime, he loved life and his family, he had the best years of his life ahead of him.

‘His two children turn 20 and their only memory is their dad being in hospital and the face of a media campaign. They have been robbed of just having their dad there.

‘I am encouraged that no matter how much time passes by, the police do not give up and we as a family most certainly will not give up our fight for justice. Things do not just move on, we have been in trauma for 17 years.’

Mr Couson was 26 when he was shot in front of 300 people outside the bar, which no longer exists, leaving him in a vegetative state at the Royal London Hospital.

A man was arrested on May 23, 2002, in connection with the shooting but was subsequently released with no further action.

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