Man drove killer to murder scene

A MAN on trial for the murder of a shop worker in Salford has dramatically admitted driving the alleged gunman.

Ryan Manning is accused of taking Simeon Henderson to Brookhouse Wines in Eccles, where Nasar Hussain was shot dead as he worked behind the counter.

Manning is then alleged to have driven Henderson to a near-by street where he was picked up by another getaway driver.

Manning (22), of Bird Street, Higher Ince, denies murder — but giving evidence in his own defence he admitted for the first time that he had driven for Simeon Henderson on that day.

But he denied knowing that Henderson planned to shoot anybody.

The jury at Manchester Crown Court has been told that Henderson — who has admitted murder — was hired to carry out the shooting for Bolton-based drug dealers called the Castle Street gang, who were in a tit-for-tat conflict with the owners of the shop.

Manning told the jury that he had originally been asked to carry out the shooting at Brookhouse Wines by the gang.

He claimed that the gang’s boss — named in court as Tanveer Akbar — asked him if he was prepared to “light up the shop”, which he understood meant to shoot at it.

But, he told the jury, that at 1pm on the evening of July 4 last year, he was contacted by Akbar and told “you don’t have to shoot up the shop you just be the driver of the car.”

Manning said: “I wasn’t happy with it. I didn’t want to do it with anybody else.”

Manning said he drove Henderson from a pick-up point in Oldham to Eccles. He claimed he was shocked when Henderson asked him to pull up outside the shop and run inside.

Manning had previously denied he was the driver. But he told court that he had lied in his defence case statement because Henderson had promised he would not implicate him.

He said he was now telling the truth because his previous version was “never going to wash” with the jury in the face of the other evidence against him.

Manning’s DNA has been found on the murder weapon — a machine gun capable of firing 600 rounds a minute.

Also charged are: Arfan Rafiq (25), of Villa Road, Oldham, denies murder, conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm, and possessing a prohibited weapon; Mohammed Hafiz (43), of Woodlands Road, Cheetham Hill, denies murder and two charges of conspiring to commit grievous bodily harm; and Akmal Afzal (25), of no fixed address, who denies assisting an offender and possessing a prohibited weapon.

Henderson (28), who has admitted murdering Nasar Hussain and awaits sentence, has testified that Mr Hafiz was one of the men who recruited him.

Proceeding