FRIENDS who lured a drugs supplier to a rural layby and then shot him at point-blank range have been jailed for a total of 95 years.

Gurinderjit Rai was shot in his head and neck by a sawn-off Beretta 12-bore shotgun while in a hired Ford Fiesta.

He was found the following day by two horse riders. The plot to kill the father-of-two was the culmination of increasing tensions between drug dealer Aston Hannis and Mr Rai after a safe house where Hannis kept his drugs was raided. The prosecution said the defendants may have blamed Mr Rai.

An eight-week trial at Winchester Crown Court was told that Hannis was a dealer who supplied cocaine and cannabis to the Winchester area.

Following the burglary Hannis, of Leah Gardens, Eastleigh, had a large outstanding debt to Mr Rai, also known as G, who supplied him with the drugs.

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On the night of the murder, Hannis and arranged to meet Mr Rai, who was originally from Eastleigh but was more recently based in Cheshire, in Shepherds Farm Lane, Corhampton.

Mr Rai thought that the meeting was to collect money, but it was there that Hannis and friend Charlie Statham, of Crescent Close, Oliver's Battery, "carried out the execution".

The shots were fire from a Mercedes A-class saloon car containing Hannis and Statham.

The pair are believed to have then dumped the car in a field where it was set alight and they were picked up by Paul White, of 27, of Dyson Drive, Abbot’s Barton.

The gun used in the murder was supplied by Corin Barlow, 41, of no fixed abode, but formerly of Lumley Road, Horley, Surrey. Hannis and Statham were found guilty of murder, while White and Barlow were convicted of manslaughter.

Today (Thursday) the four men were given lengthy sentences for their part in the “quick, brutal and well-planned execution” of Mr Rai.

Hannis was jailed for life, but he must serve a minimum term of 35 years, Statham was also sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 28 years.

White was jailed for 15 years for manslaughter and Barlow was sentenced for 17 years for manslaughter. He was also jailed for two years and two months for possessing a sawn-off shotgun without a firearms certificate, which will be served concurrently.