Armed guard as biker gang jailed

Armed police guarded Birmingham Crown Court as about 100 bikers supported gang members who were being jailed for murdering a rival Hells Angel.

Seven members of The Outlaws gang took part in the "ruthlessly planned ambush" of Gerry Tobin, 35, who was shot on the M40 last August.

He was travelling home to London from the Bulldog Bash biker festival in Warwickshire when he was murdered.

His killers will serve minimum terms of between 25 and 30 years.

As Outlaws members wearing the colours of their chapters from around the UK stood outside the court, Mr Justice Treacy told the defendants they had committed an "appalling murder".

'Gentleman Gerry'

He said: "A totally innocent man was executed with a firearm in broad daylight on a busy motorway for no reason other than that he belonged to a different motorcycle club than yours."

Mr Tobin, a Canadian mechanic who lived in Mottingham, south-east London, had been targeted because he was wearing Hells Angels regalia marking him as a "fully patched" - meaning fully initiated - member.

His fiancee Rebecca Smith, 26, had earlier arrived at court wearing an armband with the words "Gentleman Gerry" on it.

The judge said he was a decent and innocent man.

Sean Creighton and Simon Turner had fired at Mr Tobin from a Rover car, but the judge said the other defendants played a part in the "cold-blooded, premeditated, almost military plan".

Creighton, 44, from Coventry, described as president of the south Warwickshire Outlaws, will serve a minimum of 28 years and six months after pleading guilty to murder and firearms offences.

Simon Turner, 41, from Nuneaton, was said to be the gang's sergeant-at-arms, and was given a minimum term of 30 years for murder and possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.

Malcolm Bull, 53, of Milton Keynes, will serve 25 years and Dean Taylor, 47, of Coventry, will serve 30 years.

Both were convicted of murder and a firearms offence after the seven-week trial.

Karl Garside, 45, Dane Garside, 42, and Ian Cameron, 46, all of Coventry, were also found guilty of murdering Mr Tobin.

Karl Garside was given a minimum term of 26 years, Dane Garside 27 years, and Cameron was told he must serve at least 25 years in jail.

In sentencing the seven men, the judge also spoke of the effect Mr Tobin's murder had on those closest to him.

He said Mr Tobin's parents had found it difficult to come to terms with the fact their only son had been "cold-bloodedly executed".

No remorse

And he said the life of Mr Tobin's fiancee Rebecca Smith, 26, had been "utterly changed".

"She had hoped to marry him, have a family life with him, to have children with him," he said.

The judge added: "None of you has showed the remotest feeling, consideration or remorse for what you did."

The court heard that several of the gang had previous convictions.

Turner was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1993 for throwing petrol over a stranger and stabbing him to settle a debt.

Dane Garside had been involved in an axe attack in 1990 and various assaults while his brother Karl had convictions including battery, taking a knuckleduster to court and grievous bodily harm.

Taylor was charged with aggravated burglary after being involved in a biker-related incident in 1984.

He and seven other men had travelled to Leicester with three sawn-off shotguns over a dispute with the Hells Angels.

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