Man ‘accidentally shot dead with submachine gun by friend while preparing attack’
Mohamed Muhyidin found in ditch near Heathrow Airport with gunshot wound to back
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A 28-year-old man was shot dead when his friend accidentally opened fire with a submachine gun as they prepared to go on a “ride-out” attack, a court has heard.
Mohamed Muhyidin was found in a ditch near Heathrow Airport with a single gunshot wound to the back on the morning of 31 October last year, around an hour after he was allegedly killed by Chiragh Amir Chiragh.
Prosecutors claim they were about to embark on a “ride-out” in a Toyota Prius to attack unknown targets when 39-year-old Mr Chiragh shot his friend in the back with an Agram 2002 submachine gun fitted with a silencer.
The victim was sitting in the front passenger seat when the gunman got into the back of the car, shooting Muhyidin seconds later before getting out of the vehicle and firing the gun into the ground, jurors at Isleworth Crown Court heard.
Jurors heard that Mr Chiragh told police he had been asked to transport the gun, which went off when he put it on the back seat.
But prosecutor Anthony Orchard KC said Mr Chiragh was “lying” about delivering the gun, which could take a total of 29 bullets, and was “readied and primed for use in an attack”.
He said Chiragh and Muhyidin, who was from Southall, in west London, along with Mohammed Shakeel, 28, and Bilal Ahmed, 43, “were intent on going on a ‘ride-out’ that night”.
“They had with them the loaded submachine gun and Shakeel’s imitation revolver,” he told the court. “We suggest they were intent on using the submachine gun to endanger life.”
Mr Orchard added: “The attackers were to be Chiragh, Muhyidin and Ahmed, as driver. The armed Mr Shakeel played a role in assisting them by helping to organise the attack.”
Mr Chiragh, from Kenton, northwest London, Mr Shakeel, from Barking, east London, and Mr Ahmed, from Hounslow, west London, deny manslaughter, possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life and an alternative count of possessing a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
Ahmed and Mustafa Malik, 66, from Harlington, west London, deny possession of the silencer, and, along with Mr Shakeel and James Connors, 45, from Hammersmith, west London, further deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
They are jointly alleged to have moved Muhyidin’s body, moved the gun and silencer and destroyed the Toyota by fire, while Mr Ahmed is said to have falsely reported the robbery of the car to an insurance company.
Mr Chiragh has pleaded guilty to the charge, as well as to charges of possessing the submachine gun and silencer, while Mr Shakeel has admitted possessing an imitation handgun.
Mr Connors denies a further count of driving while disqualified.
Additional reporting by Press Association