M40 Murder Trial Continues

Bikers describe motorway shooting

Gerry Tobin was shot after attending a biker festival

Two men travelling with a biker who was shot dead on a motorway as he rode home from a festival have described how they saw a weapon being pointed from a car.

Gerry Tobin, 35, a mechanic from Mottingham, south-east London, was killed while riding along the M40 in Warwickshire in August last year.

Prosecutors allege Mr Tobin, a Hells Angel, was killed by members of a rival gang, the Outlaws.

Six men deny murder and firearms charges. A seventh has admitted murder.

Pawel Lec, speaking through a Polish interpreter, told Birmingham Crown Court he moved into the middle lane to allow a speeding Rover car to pass.


I thought it was some kind of joke or something
Witness Marcin Cichocki

"I saw hands holding a pistol or some other kind of weapon.

"There were two shots fired...the car drove off and it looked like nothing had happened to Gerry."

Two or three seconds later, he saw Mr Tobin let go of his bike handles and fall underneath Mr Lec's bike.

The shots were fired one after another, with a short time lapse and from a weapon being held by two hands, he added.

His pillion passenger Marcin Cichocki said he noticed the car even out its speed alongside Mr Tobin.

'Weapon held'

"From the left-hand side window a hand appeared holding what looked like a weapon.

"I am not 100% sure but I think he made some small movements with his hand - I thought it was some kind of joke or something," he said through an interpreter.

He then described how the hand went back into the car and Mr Tobin fell to the ground.

Mr Tobin had been returning from the annual Bulldog Bash festival in Long Marston, near Stratford-upon-Avon, when he was shot.

Karl Garside, 45, pleaded not guilty to murder during a previous hearing in February, while Simon Turner, 41, Dane Garside, 42, Malcolm Bull, 53, Dean Taylor, 47, and 46-year-old Ian Cameron entered their not guilty pleas last December.

The full addresses of the defendants, who are from Coventry, Nuneaton and Milton Keynes, cannot be published for legal reasons.

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

The case was adjourned until Thursday.

original article
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