Jurors shown man being shot dead

Craig Hodson-Walker, 29, was seen defending his parents

CCTV footage of the moment a sub-postmaster's son was shot dead as he used a cricket bat to fight off raiders has been shown to a jury.

Craig Hodson-Walker died at Fairfield Post Office, Worcestershire, in January, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Timothy Raggatt told jurors after the video: "You have just seen a man fatally shot."

Anselm Ribera, Adrian Snape, Christopher Morrissey and his brother Declan deny murder.

The men, who are all from the West Midlands, also deny the attempted murder of Craig's father Ken Hodson-Walker, who was shot in the leg.

'Cocking handgun'

Twenty-nine-year-old Mr Hodson-Walker, who died when he was shot through the heart, was seen on the video striking out at raiders while wearing just his underwear.

The footage also shows a gunman cocking a handgun before shooting Mr Hodson-Walker as he tried to defend his parents at their shop, the prosecutor said.

Mr Raggatt said: "These were men who took a loaded gun and made it ready for instant use almost before they did anything else."

The images shown to Birmingham Crown Court also show his parents Ken and Judith attempting to fight off raiders at their post office and general store on 9 January.

The footage, which lasts about 90 seconds, was filmed by several cameras at the store. It was shown twice to the jury.

Sledgehammer shown

The prosecutor said the footage showed the gunman being "almost ushered" towards Ken Hodson-Walker by another member of the gang.

The video showed a customer inside the post office during the raid

"The gunman might not have gone to shoot Kenneth Hodson-Walker, but for the fact that he was almost dragged and instructed to.

"That's teamwork and that is a classic illustration you may think, of joint enterprise as well."

A female customer was seen standing motionless at the counter during the incident.

Mr Raggatt told the jury she was "trying to make herself invisible".

The footage also shows a raider smashing the shop's till with a sledgehammer.

Mr Ribera, of Topfield House, Druids Heath, Birmingham; Mr Snape, of Camelot Way, Small Heath, Birmingham; Christopher Morrissey, of Elmay Road, Sheldon, Birmingham, and his brother Declan, of Shirley Park Road, Shirley, Solihull, also deny possessing a firearm with intent to danger life.

The prosecution said Mr Snape had admitted driving a VW Golf allegedly involved in the raid and also admitted attempted robbery.

The other three defendants have denied attempted robbery.

The trial continues.

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