Gurinderjit Rai trial: 'Drugs supplier was murdered by gang'

A drugs supplier was shot dead over a large debt and the theft of cocaine and cannabis, a court has heard.

The body of Gurinderjit Rai, 41, was found in a parked car in a rural lay-by at Corhampton, Hampshire, in July 2019.

Aston Hannis, 29, and Charlie Statham, 30, are accused of being in the car where the fatal shot was fired from.

Mr Hannis, who denies murder along Mr Statham and two others, was angry about his safe house being raided and owed Mr Rai of money, jurors were told.

Prosecutor Andrew Langdon QC said Mr Rai, who was known as "G", had been in dispute with the Hampshire-based crime gang he supplied drugs to.

He said Mr Hannis, from Eastleigh, was a dealer who supplied cocaine and cannabis to the Winchester area with evidence suggesting he sold drugs worth £240,000 in a six-week period.

Mr Rai had been Mr Hannis' supplier but "tensions" had risen after a safe house where Hannis kept his drugs was raided, Winchester Crown Court heard.

The prosecution said when Mr Rai arrived at a rendezvous point in Corhampton he would have been in no doubt that Mr Hannis was about to give him some money he owed him.

The court heard two shots were fired from a Mercedes saloon car containing Mr Hannis and Mr Statham.

Mr Langdon told jurors the pair are believed to have then dumped the car in a field where it was set alight and they were picked up by Paul White, 27, and taken to the home of Phillip Hodan, 43, in Owslebury.

He told the court the sawn-off Beretta 12-bore shotgun believed to have been used in the shooting was supplied by 41-year-old Corin Barlow and was later recovered from woods in Whitchurch.

"Whatever their motivation, one thing the prosecution say you will not doubt is that it was Aston Hannis, Charlie Statham and Paul White and Corin Barlow, the man who supplied the gun, who effected this killing.

"They were, in law, jointly responsible, each of them parties to a joint enterprise which resulted in the murder of Mr Rai."

Mr Rai, originally from Eastleigh but had moved to Cheshire, was found dead by horse riders in Shepherds Farm Lane.

Mr Barlow, from Horley, along with Mr Statham and Mr White, both from Winchester, all deny murder.

Mr Hodan, from Owslebury, denies participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group.

The trial continues.