No evidence to place accused at murder scene » Communities » 24dash.com

A man accused of being part of a gangland execution-style killing had never even been to the house where it happened, a court heard today.

St Alban's Crown Court was told Kevan Thakrar, 21, was only linked to the triple murder by circumstantial evidence.

Thakrar, and his brother Miran Thakrar, 24, both deny murder and attempted murder.

They are accused of gunning down Keith Cowell, 52, his son Matthew Cowell, 17, and friend Tony Dulieu, 33, with a Mac 10 sub-machine gun at the house in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, in August last year.

Drug dealer Ian Jennings survived the attack when he hid in the garden at the house, but his mother Christine Jennings and Matthew Cowell's girlfriend Clare Evans were stabbed - allegedly to eliminate witnesses.

Today Dorian Lovell-Pank QC, defending Kevan Thakrar, said none of the evidence offered by the prosecution linked him to the house, 2 Plaw Hatch Close.

He said: "Not a single fingerprint of Kevan at number two, no blood, no DNA, no firearms residue found on Kevan that puts him at number two.

"Central to what Kevan says to you and what I have been saying to you is this - Kevan Thakrar was not at number two on that night. He has never been there."

He said Ian and Christine Jennings' identification of Kevan Thakrar at the scene contradicted evidence given by Clare Evans about who the gunmen were.

He said evidence given by several people in Cyprus to police had not been tested in court and could not necessarily be relied on.

Mr Lovell-Pank said suggestions that Kevan was helping his brother by getting clothes and money did not mean he had been involved in the murders.

He added: "Everything that happened after the killings as regards Kevan is circumstantial evidence, it's not direct proof and it adds up to nothing.

"None of this activity, either taken by itself or when you put it together, none of it puts Kevan at number two. It simply doesn't.

"There is not one single piece of evidence in the whole case that puts him there.

"Kevan wasn't there, Ian and Christine Jennings are wrong when they said he was, and no amount of after-the-event activity can put Kevan at number two."

Ian Jennings previously told the trial he had been at Mr Cowell's house for a £30,000 cocaine deal with a man he knew as Mike.

He said Mike had threatened to shoot the Cowells and their family after an argument over a deal, but he had agreed to the second deal after he apologised.

Today Brendan Kelly QC, defending Miran Thakrar, said Mr Jennings had told "virulent lies" throughout the case.

He said: "Ian Jennings, from the very beginning, has lied and lied again.

"He is the bedrock of this prosecution case, their principle evidence, pivotal to their case."

Mr Kelly compared Mr Jennings' evidence to the foundations of a building, but said they were neither stone or cement but more like sand.

He said: "Every single time Jennings has been looked at, every time, he has lied.

"How can you be sure that when he arrived over there he treated you to the truth?

"These lies are virulent and they are lies to distract you in this case from the truth."

He said Christine Jennings was protecting her son and his lies had "infiltrated" her.

Mr Kelly said Clare Evans had described hearing Mike's voice come into the house as she sat upstairs, and later on hearing someone else come in and shout at everyone to get on the floor.

He suggested the gunman could not be Mike - Miran Thakrar - as he was already in the house, according to her evidence.

He said Clare Evans also told the court the second man was smaller - but Kevan Thakrar was not smaller than his brother Miran.

He added: "The only dispute between the crown and Miran Thakrar about Clare Evans' evidence is it's Miran Thakrar's case that he was led upstairs and given the knife."

He said reliable evidence from Nicole Cowell, who left the house minutes before the shooting, had described Mike as the only Asian man who had come to the house, and that he was already in the house when she left.

Miran Thakrar, 24, and his brother, Kevan, 21, deny murder and attempted murder.

Four other defendants appear alongside them accused of assisting them.

The case was adjourned until tomorrow morning at 10am.