(Image: Family handout)
Man 'dumped' in car park after gangland 'execution' was shot to the heart, jury told
by Andrew Bardsley · Manchester Evening NewsA man whose body was found ‘dumped' in a car park had been shot several times, including to the heart, a jury has heard.
Andre Marshall, 29, was blasted seven times after driving to the car park near St Clement's church in Urmston, Trafford, in 2015. Abdul Ahsan, who was said to have been his passenger, denies murdering Mr Marshall.
Mr Ahsan, then 18, was arrested at the time but ‘fled’ to Pakistan after being released on bail, jurors have heard. Now aged 28, he is on trial at Manchester Crown Court having been extradited back to the UK from Pakistan.
Prosecutors described Mr Marshall's death as an ‘execution-style killing’, and claimed it has 'all the hallmarks of a deliberate killing carried out against a background of gang crime'. Mr Marshall was said to have been a member of the Gooch Gang, and had previously received a seven-year prison sentence for possessing a firearm and assault, the court heard.
Mr Ahsan was also said to have been involved in ‘gang related crime’, including acting as a ‘courier’. Jurors heard that the pair, said to have been ‘criminal associates’, had spent the hours before the shooting together. They met up in Chorlton at about 6pm on May 19, 2015.
Mr Marshall was driving his BMW with Mr Ahsan being a passenger in his car. Mr Marshall drove to Urmston and turned onto Manor Avenue, into a car park near St Clement’s Church.
Prosecutors claim that they travelled there 'on the pretext that they were going to be collecting a drugs debt'. “However, the prosecution say that the true purpose of the trip was the murder of Andre Marshall," Andrew Thomas KC said in his opening speech.
(Image: Andy Lambert)
Mr Marshall was repeatedly shot and his body was ‘dumped’ in the car park, and lay undiscovered until the next morning, the jury has been told. As the prosecution case continued, pathologist Dr Philip Lumb told jurors that he attended the scene in Urmston on the morning of May 20, 2015. Mr Marshall's body was 'in situ', covered by a forensic tent.
There, he noted several injuries compatible with gunshot wounds, the jury heard. Dr Lumb said that he carried out a post-mortem examination the following day.
He said that Mr Marshall's cause of death was ruled to be 'multiple gunshot wounds'. Asked about one particular wound which caused internal bleeding, he said: "It is a major injury.
"It has gone through both lungs and also gone through the heart as well. This injury in particular was associated with severe internal bleeding."
Mr Ahsan, of no fixed address, denies murder.
Proceeding.