Murder plot getaway 'rehearsed'

Joan and John Stirland were shot at their seaside bungalow

A jury has heard eight men charged with conspiracy to murder a couple at their Lincolnshire home held a "rehearsal" with the getaway car before the attack.

A dark-coloured car was seen near John and Joan Stirland's home in Trusthorpe, the night before they were shot.

The prosecution said the shootings were revenge for a murder carried out by Mrs Stirland's son Michael O'Brien in Nottingham in 2003.

All of the eight men have denied the charges at Birmingham Crown Court.

This was a well planned, well organised operation Timothy Spencer, QC, prosecutor

Prosecuting, Timothy Spencer, QC, said two witnesses reported that the vehicle was acting suspiciously in a country lane.

He told the jury that a black-coloured Volkswagen Passat was found burnt out in the same lane, after the couple's bodies were found on 8 August 2004, which he said indicated the gang responsible for the double murder had finalised their plan the night before.

Mr Spencer said: "This was a well planned, well organised operation and it would involve planning and to some extent a rehearsal of where vehicles would have to go."

He said the gang's alleged planning also involved a large amount of "reconnaissance" work in the village of Trusthorpe.

Prowler spotted

Mobile phone analysis showed the 38-year-old defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons made five separate trips to the area the day before the killings taking with him certain members of the gang.

Call records showed he had left the area by 10.30pm, but defendant John Russell remained in the village, possibly with another man.

At around the same time a neighbour spotted a "prowler" jumping over a fence at the back of the Stirland's bungalow.

Another witness saw a man emerge from between the couple's home and the property next door.

Ingoldmells base

"They both saw a prowler, between them maybe they saw two prowlers. Of the defendants only Russell is in the area at the time," said Mr Spencer.

He said by the early hours of the morning, Russell had rejoined the 38-year-old defendant and three other members of the gang at the Kingfisher Caravan Park, in nearby Ingoldmells, which they were using as a temporary base.

Mr Stirland, 55, and his 51-year-old wife were killed following the conviction of Mrs Stirland's son Michael O'Brien for the murder of Marvyn Bradshaw in Nottingham in 2003.

A teenage friend of Mr Bradshaw's who witnessed the shooting suffered a subsequent decline in health and died of pneumonia, the court heard.

The eight defendants allegedly blamed O'Brien for both deaths and sought to avenge them by murdering his parents.

John Russell, 29, of Northcote Way, Nottingham; Michael McNee, 20, of no fixed address; Shane Bird, 38, of Carlton Hill, Nottingham; and Kevin Holm, 38, of Cliff Road, Carlton, Nottingham, all deny a charge of conspiring to murder Mr and Mrs Stirland.

Andrew McKinnon, 21, of no fixed address and Lanelle Douglas, 20, of no fixed address, also deny the same charge along with a 38-year-old man and a 40-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The case continues.