Accused silent 'because of rules'

Hells Angel Gerry Tobin was shot near Warwick last year

A biker accused of murdering a Hells Angel on a motorway in Warwickshire has told the jury he refused to speak to police because it was "club rules".

Dean Taylor, 47, from Coventry, is one of six men who deny shooting Gerry Tobin, 35, of south-east London, as he rode home from a festival last year.

Under cross-examination, Mr Taylor said he said "no comment" after his arrest because of rules of his biker group.

The men on trial at Birmingham Crown Court also deny firearms offences.

Mr Tobin, a mechanic, was riding home on the M40 from the Bulldog Bash, near to Stratford-upon-Avon, when he was shot in the neck, the court has heard.

Mr Taylor is on trial alongside Ian Cameron, 46, Dane Garside, 42, Karl Garside, 45, all from Coventry, Simon Turner, 41, from Nuneaton, and Malcolm Bull, 53, from Milton Keynes.

'Mouth shut'

All six deny murder and firearms charges.

Sean Creighton, 44, of Coventry, has admitted murder and firearms charges and will be sentenced later.

Mr Timothy Raggatt QC, prosecuting, suggested that Mr Taylor had seen three of his colleagues drive off together on the morning of 12 August 2007, and asked him why he had not become more suspicious after seeing the shooting on the news.

Mr Taylor said: "I chose to keep my thoughts to myself and keep my mouth shut."

Prosecutors allege that Mr Tobin, from Mottingham, south-east London, was a senior member of a London chapter of the Hells Angels and was a victim of gang rivalry.

The court has been told that the six men on trial and Mr Creighton were the entire membership of the South Warwickshire chapter of the Outlaws.

The trial continues.