M40 killers 'waited for victim'

Gerry Tobin was shot after attending a biker festival

The killers of a biker shot dead as he rode home from a festival lay in wait until a target came by, a court has been told.

Six men are accused of murdering Gerry Tobin, 35, from Mottingham, south-east London, as he rode along the M40 in Warwickshire in August last year.

A seventh man has already admitted murder and firearms charges.

Birmingham Crown Court heard Mr Tobin, a Hells Angel, was targeted by members of rival gang, the Outlaws.

Prosecuting, Timothy Raggatt QC, said Mr Tobin was first spotted by his killers as he rode along the A46, while making his way home from the Bulldog Bash, a Hells Angel festival held in Long Marston, near Stratford-upon-Avon.

The car closed up on Mr Tobin and there were two shots Prosecutor, Timothy Raggatt QC

The jury was shown CCTV images of a Rover saloon, said to have been used in the shooting, and Mr Raggatt said the car, containing those who killed Mr Tobin, lay in wait in a layby for a suitable target to come along.

"The evidence shows plainly that the Rover car... had positioned itself quite deliberately and waited in that layby.

"They waited until a target came by," he said.

'Carefully aimed'

The car, with three men inside, then followed three motorcyclists, led by Mr Tobin, onto the M40 at junction 15 near Warwick.

The jury were then shown a computer-generated reconstruction of the shooting, which showed the Rover passing two of the bikes before pulling alongside Mr Tobin.

"The car closed up on Mr Tobin and there were two shots.

"Both shots, you may come to think, were carefully aimed," Mr Raggatt said.

He added there must have been two gunmen as just one would not have been able to take careful aim twice with different weapons and at different parts of the bike.

'Phone calls'

One of the shots hit Mr Tobin in the neck, passing through his spine and into his skull.

The jury also saw records of mobile phone calls made between the alleged killers minutes after Mr Tobin's death.

Mr Raggatt said the calls were made to notify gang members that the job was done and they could stand down.

Karl Garside, 45, pleaded not guilty to murder during a previous hearing in February, while Simon Turner, 41, Dane Garside, 42, Malcolm Bull, 53, Dean Taylor, 47, and 46-year-old Ian Cameron entered their not guilty pleas last December.

The full addresses of the defendants, who are from Coventry, Nuneaton and Milton Keynes, cannot be published for legal reasons.

Sean Creighton, 44, of Coventry, admitted the charges at a hearing last week and will be sentenced later.

The trial continues.