FORENSIC analysis of mobile phones and vehicle movements was used to identify the gang who murdered a rival drug dealer, a court heard.

Detectives were able to trace the whereabouts of the key players in the murderous scheme in the days leading up the execution-style killing of Hemwand Ali Hussain.

Cleveland Police was able to piece together the movements of at least eight men involved in the plan to kill Mr Hussain, who was involved in the running of cannabis farms in Hartlepool.

The Kurdish-Iraqi was lured to his death in an empty terraced house in the town by a rival gang, Teesside Crown Court had heard.

In the days leading up to the father-of-two being shot at point blank with a sawn-off shotgun, the gang organised a meeting in Bolton before heading to the North East to carry out a reconnaissance of the house on Charterhouse Street.

Leanne Hodgson, an intelligence analyst for Cleveland Police's serious and organised crime unit, talked jurors through the digital data which helped identify Anxelo Xhaferi, Noza Saffari, Dorian Pirija and Qazim Marku's alleged involvement in the murder.

Miss Hodgson produced a detailed timeline showing every interaction the alleged co-conspirators had in the weeks leading up to the slaying in September 2019.

She said the gang's vehicle movements and mobile phone usage enabled detectives to place the suspects at the scene of the crime or being involved in its detailed planning.

Earlier the jury heard how Mr Hussain was discovered in the terraced property with a single gunshot would to the back of the head after being lured to the house.

CCTV footage showed five men running away from the scene.

Xhaferi, 24, of Acton Street, Middlesbrough; Saffari, 39, of Park Lane, Middlesbrough; 33-year-old Pirija, of Trillo Avenue, Bolton; and Qazim Marku, 24, of West Drayton, all deny murder.

The trial, which is listed for up to eight weeks, continues.