Gerry Tobin murder trial - Simon Turner denies being Outlaws' Sergeant-at-Arms

Murder accused biker denies being Outlaws' Sergeant-at-Arms

A biker accused of murdering a Hell's Angel has denied being the Sergeant-at-Arms of a rival gang alleged to have been responsible for the killing.

Simon Turner told Birmingham Crown Court he had no official title with the South Warwickshire chapter of the Outlaws when Gerry Tobin was killed.

Turner, from Nuneaton, is among six defendants who deny the murder of Mr Tobin, who was shot as he rode along the M40 near Warwick at around 90mph in August last year.

Under questioning from his QC, Turner said he had not fired a shot at the deceased and was not present in the car from which Mr Tobin was gunned down.

The 41-year-old mechanic, who claims he was at an industrial unit in Coventry on the day of the killing, also told his trial that co-defendant Malcolm Bull had insulted his fellow Outlaws by making statements to the police.

Under questioning from Bull's counsel, Turner rejected suggestions that he had been the group's Sergeant-at-Arms but conceded Bull had been "blanked" by his co-defendants because the Outlaws' Rule 14 imposed a strict no comment policy on its members.

"Everything about Mr Bull is disreputable to me," Turner told the court. "Mr Bull has turned on everything that we are - he has brought us to this junction in our life."

Asked to explain his remarks by Bull's counsel, James Burbidge, Turner claimed the fellow Outlaw had "turned his back on everything he was" by speaking to the police.

The jury was told that Bull, from Milton Keynes, is being held at Long Lartin prison in Worcestershire, while the other defendants are housed at HMP Woodhill in Buckinghamshire.

Turner told the court on Wednesday he had handed over his phone on the day Mr Tobin was shot to another man who has admitted his murder.

Mr Tobin, from Mottingham, south-east London, died instantly when he was hit in the neck by a round which passed through his spine into his skull. He was travelling back home after attending the Bulldog Bash bikers festival at Long Marston, near Stratford-upon-Avon.

Bull, 53, and Turner are on trial alongside four men from Coventry - Karl Garside, 45, his brother Dane Garside, 42, Dean Taylor, 47, and 46-year-old Ian Cameron.

A fifth man from Coventry, 44-year-old Sean Creighton, pleaded guilty to murder and both firearms charges on the day before the trial began.

original article
birminghampost


Hells Angel murder accused gives evidence

A mechanic accused of murdering a Hells Angel from south-east London in a shooting on the M40 near Warwick has told a court he was working at an industrial unit on the day of the killing.
Simon Turner also told Birmingham Crown Court that he had handed over his phone on the day Gerry Tobin, form Mottingham, was shot to another man who has admitted his murder.

Turner, 41, told a jury that he was a member of the South Warwickshire chapter of the Outlaws, which is alleged to have been responsible for Mr Tobin's death.

But Turner, from Nuneaton, claimed he had been suspended from the chapter after arguing with other members of the group at a motorcycle repair unit in Coventry in the hours before Mr Tobin, from south-east London, was shot on the M40.

Giving evidence during the third week of the trial of six men accused of murder, Turner said he had been suspended by Sean Creighton on the morning of August 12 last year.

He also told the court that Creighton had instructed him to stay at the industrial unit in Coventry, where he worked on the suspension of a van.

The Crown allege that Mr Tobin was fired at by two gunmen from the rival Outlaws gang on the M40 near Warwick after pulling into the middle lane to allow their speeding car to pass him.

Mr Tobin died instantly when he was hit in the neck by a round which passed through his spine into his skull.

Malcolm Bull, a 53-year-old from Milton Keynes, and Turner are on trial alongside four men from Coventry - Karl Garside, 45, his brother Dane Garside, 42, Dean Taylor, 47, and 46-year-old Ian Cameron.

Creighton, aged 44 and from Coventry, pleaded guilty to murder and both firearms charges on the day before the trial began.

original article
business.scotsman