A MURDER trial has heard how one of the four men accused of the 'gangland-style execution' was not in the area when the fatal gunshot was fired.

Nicholas Lumley QC, who is representing Anxhelo Xhaferi, quizzed Leanne Hodgson, an intelligence analyst at Cleveland Police, about his client's movements on the days leading up to the killing of Hemwand Ali Hussain in Hartlepool in September 2019.

The barrister said there was nothing to place Xhaferi in Greater Manchester, Bolton, Sheffield or London when the plot to kill the 30-year-old was allegedly being pulled together. Miss Hodgson replied: "Yes, that is correct."

Mr Lumley added: "In other words it was not dropped, it didn't go there, it was being used right up until the moment of his arrest." She replied: "Yes, that is correct."

Anxelo Xhaferi, Noza Saffari, Dorian Pirija and Qazim Marku were charged with his murder.

The jury at Teesside Crown Court had heard detailed analysis of mobile phone records, CCTV and automatic number plate recognition data which the prosecution says connects the four men to the murder.

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 continues.