Jury shown victims' car attack before they were shot

CCTV footage has been shown to jurors of the moment two men, who were later shot in the head, smashed a car linked to their alleged killer.

Mohammed Maneer Khan, 39, is accused of murdering Duaine Mills, 28, and Syed Zain Ali, 32, in Harrow Street, Wolverhampton, in the early hours of 19 September last year.

Sounds of "smashing and striking" filled Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday, as a clip showed Mills, Ali and a third man attacking the tyres and windscreen of a black Audi RS6 in the moments leading up to the shooting.

Khan denies two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life.

He has admitted fraud after attempting to obtain a passport in a false name, jurors have heard.

Prosecutor Michael Burrows KC called Det Con Steven Thorpe, of West Midlands Police, to the stand to talk the jury through the footage used in the investigation.

Earlier that morning, the car the defendant was travelling in, the RS6, passed the victims' car, a silver Audi A4, travelling in the opposite direction outside West Park, the court heard.

Khan then continued his journey towards Harrow Street where he parked the car. He was living at an address in nearby Great Hampton Street, Thorpe confirmed.

The court heard the silver Audi A4 travelled toward where the RS6 was parked. Before arriving at the scene it made a stop at Chester Street and travelled along Leicester Street.

At about 03:06, Mills, Ali and a third man, who was unhurt in the shooting, surrounded the SUV-style vehicle armed with weapons, including a hammer, and as one bent down near the tyre, a loud hissing noise was heard on CCTV.

In a minute-long attack, the trio struck the windscreens and windows of the car.

Thorpe told the court: "Duaine Mills is near the driver's side and on CCTV you can hear numerous sounds of smashing and striking. They continue banging and smashing and the car alarm is heard."

The investigator told the court that Mills and the third man ran around the vehicle while striking it. They were then spotted on camera fleeing the scene back to the silver Audi A4.

Mobile phone footage of the attack was also shown to the court.

In a previous hearing, it was alleged the damage was linked to an incident a month earlier in Manchester, in which a vehicle was also smashed.

But Burrows previously told the court the damage was caused before the shooting and afterwards "Syed Zain Ali got into the driver's seat. Duaine Mills got into the front passenger seat, and [a third man] got into the back."

They attempted to drive away before eight gunshots were fired in the direction of their car.

Mills died at the scene of the shooting on Harrow Street, having suffered a head wound, while Ali suffered an "unsurvivable" brain injury and died five days later.

Two other defendants deny perverting the course of justice in relation to the fraudulent attempt to obtain a passport in the weeks following the shooting.

Yaseen Patel, 35, of Bromford Way, Birmingham, and Samir Patel, 43, of St Catharines Close, Walsall, both deny doing acts intended to pervert the course of justice between 18 September and 21 November last year.

The trial continues.

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