A VIOLENT offender has been jailed for life for murdering a man with a pick-up truck in Harlow – and his associates face a combined sentence of six years for robbery.

Drug addicts Jeremy Heath, 51, Joe Jones, 38, and Matthew Arnold, 40, were looking to fuel their habits when they set out together in Harlow on the morning of 29 March last year.

An investigation led by our Serious Crime Directorate meticulously pieced together their movements, actions and communications.

Touring the town in a Mitsubishi pick-up truck, they first arranged and staged a knife-point robbery to steal a Ford Fiesta.

They likely believed the car carried drugs or cash.

When a search found neither, they travelled to a nearby pub, where they tried to sell stolen meat.

At around 5pm that day, they encountered 26-year-old Arlind Xhokola in the area of Momples Road.

It is likely a dispute took place and Arlind fled on foot onto a nearby cycle path.

Heath, driving the truck, pursued at speed.

Undeterred and using his vehicle as a weapon, he smashed through a bollard and onto the cycle path, aiming directly at the fleeing Arlind.

Arlind was pinned to a tree by the vehicle and killed.

Heath, Jones and Arnold abandoned the pick-up truck at the end of the path.

Heath set it on fire in an attempt to conceal his actions and the trio’s link to the previous robbery.

All three men were tracked down and arrested.

Heath was traced to an address in the town, which was surrounded by armed officers from our Force Support Unit on 31 March.

He was promptly detained and taken into custody.

Arnold had suffered serious injuries during the collision and was later admitted to hospital, where he was arrested on 1 April.

Jones, with the help of associates, fled to an address in Sheerness, Kent, where he hid.

He was tracked down and arrested on 2 April.

Heath denied charges of murder, robbery, possession of a knife in a public place, and perverting the course of justice.

Jones and Arnold denied robbery, and Jones further denied possession of a knife in a public place.

Due to the weight of evidence, they were convicted on all counts at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday 26 January.

At a sentencing hearing today, Heath was jailed for life, with a minimum term of 27 years.

Jones was jailed for four years, and Arnold for two years, for their parts in the robbery.

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Harlow man Jeremy Heath convicted of murder with pick-up truck