Father shot dead 'after four hunted in a pack'

A father unloading Christmas shopping from his car near Queen's Park Rangers football ground was shot dead after a 15-year-old boy spotted him and alerted friends using a mobile phone, the Old Bailey was told today.

Craig Brown was killed in revenge for biting off part of an ear of the teenager's friend, the jury heard.

The killers wore hoodies in the late afternoon dark and were armed with two guns. They "hunted in a pack to ensure success".

Four defendants have pleaded not guilty to murder.

They are the 15-year-old, now 16, a teenager then aged 16 and now 17, and Adil Saed, now 21, all from Shepherd's Bush, and Khalid Elsheikh, 21, from Hammersmith.

Aftab Jafferjee, QC, for the prosecution, said that Mr Brown, 20, had been in a fight the previous summer with Elsheikh and others.

When he was spotted shopping in the same Shepherd's Bush area with his girlfriend on Christmas Eve, the 15-year-old took action.

"He set off a series of mobile phone calls involving him and his three co-defendants.

"Revenge was to be as swift as it was brutal and less than 35 minutes later Brown was shot dead outside his girlfriend's home," said Mr Jafferjee, adding: "The Crown cannot say which of the four fired the weapons."

Mr Brown and his girlfriend, Denica Date, 21, had a six-year relationship and a son aged four.
The case continues.