TWO men have been found guilty of the manslaughter of a drugs supplier, who was shot by their co-defendants in remote layby.
A jury at Winchester Crown Court this afternoon (Tuesday), after 31 hours and 55 minutes of deliberation, found Paul White and Corin Barlow guilty of manslaughter.
The verdicts came after a majority direction was given, which meant that 10 of the panel came to a guilty verdict, while two others considered the defendants were not guilty.
Earlier today the jury unanimously found Aston Hannis and Charlie Statham guilty of the murder of drugs supplier Gurinderjit Rai, in Shepherds Farm Lane, Corhampton, on July 12, 2019. He was discovered the following day with gunshot wounds to his head and neck.
Read next:
- Aston Hannis and Charlie Statham guilty of Gurinderjit Rai's murder
- Murder is 'example of misery' drugs can inflict, police chief says
A fifth man, Philip Hodan, 43, of Longwood Dean Lane, Owslebury, was found not guilty of participating in the criminal activities of an organised crime group by providing his address to be used as an operational base and/or a false alibi to supply class A drugs and the murder of Mr Rai.
On the night of the murder White, 27, of Dyson Drive, Abbot’s Barton, took Hannis’ Audi Q7 from his home in Leah Gardens, Eastleigh.
He then went to the vicinity of Longwood Dean Lane, where he waited for a call from Hannis and Statham to pick them up from a field where they had burnt the Mercedes A-Class saloon that they had used to travel to the layby where they killed Mr Rai.
During the trial, the prosecution claimed that the trio then went to Mr Hodan’s house.
The gun that was used to kill Mr Rai was a sawn-off Beretta 12-bore shotgun, which was supplied by Barlow, 41, of Lumley Road, Horley, Surrey.
In the weeks following the murder, Barlow offered his work colleague Morgan Tarrant £4,500 to hide the gun.
Tarrant later showed police where he had hidden the weapon. He has pleaded guilty to assisting an offender and having a firearm without of a certificate.
They will be sentenced on April 23 at Winchester Crown Court.
Judge Mrs Justice Cutts said to Barlow and Hodan that “a lengthy custodial sentence is inevitable”.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article