Murder trial hears how the alleged kidnappers and killers of a Wigan dad tried to cover their tracks

A murder trial jury has heard how the gang had arranged for the nearly new leased blue Audi - into the boot of which victim Christopher Hughes had been bundled - to be cut up.

But pieces were found by investigating officers hidden in a white Mercedes Sprinter van in a unit in Douglas Valley Mill in Standish.

Police vehicle examiner Jason Roberts told Liverpool Crown Court how the van was taken to Wigan police station where he examined it. Some of the parts were still in the van but others had already been put on the floor of the unit by colleagues before he arrived.

He was giving evidence at the trial of nine men who all deny murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and kidnapping. A 10th man denies two charges of perverting the course of justice.

John Elvidge, KC, prosecuting, has alleged that 37-year-old Mr Hughes had been hacked to death on with weapons including a machete after being hunted by a vigilante gang who suspected him of raping a teenaged girl behind the post office on Ridyard Street, Worsley Hall on February 17.

After being bundled into the boot of the Audi, Christopher Hughes had been driven to a quiet country lane where he was viciously attacked. His mutilated body was found four days later lying on grass having bled to death.

A dog walker made the shocking discovery about 11 am on February 22 this year while on White Moss Road South, Skelmersdale, near the M58, after she looked over a short embankment.

The jury has heard that a Home Office pathologist “catalogued over 90 sharp force injuries to the 37-year-old’s head, neck, body and limbs - the vast majority of these injuries were inflicted whilst he was still alive,” said Mr Elvidge.

In the opinion of the pathologist more than one weapon was used, including a machete or hatchet, which was wielded in a chopping motion to inflict deep wounds; these were very severe injuries and the main mechanism of death was external blood loss, the jury has been told.

He told the jury the prosecution claim that in the 24 hours before his death, “nine of the defendants before you were engaged in a manhunt.

“They formed a team to track, trace and capture him. Each lent his assistance and encouragement to the others in support of their common objective. They may have played different roles in this joint enterprise but they all acted with the intention that Christopher Hughes should suffer really serious bodily harm.”

He claimed that they took the law into their own hands and afterwards “continued to support one another, acting together and with others in what proved to be an unsuccessful attempt to conceal this brutal killing and their part in it.”

In the dock accused of murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and kidnap are Wigan men - Martin Smith, 34, of Greenwood Avenue; Andrius Uzkuraitis, 27, of Holly Road, Worsley Hall; Dean O’Neill-Davey, 30, of Conrad Close, formerly of Bulteel Street. Mohammed Razgar, 40, of Plane Avenue, Worsley Hall; Alan Jaf, 52, of Ridyard Street, Worsley Hall; Khalil Awla, 48, of Greenwood Avenue, Worsley Hall; Curtis Balbas, 30, of Matheson Drive, Worsley Hall - all from the Kurdish part of Iraq.

Also facing the same charges are Albanians Erland Spahiu, 34, of Uppingham, Skelmersdale and his cousin Erion Voja, 21, of Peall Road, Croydon, London.

Michael Gibbons, 47, of Bulteel Street, Pemberton, denies perverting the course of justice in the aftermath of the murder. This allegedly involves providing false information to the police and helping O’Neill Davey to dispose of the Audi.

Mr Roberts told the jury the Audi A4 had been manufactured late 2020 and the vehicle identification number had been ground off the driver’s side pillar.

He said the vehicle had been stripped of “the ancillary parts” before it was cut up. “All that was left was the basic skeletal frame.”

He said that later that day he went to the unit at Douglas Valley Mill where he saw the Audi engine, with its number intact, gear box, front suspension, petrol tank, rear axle and exhaust.

The jury has also heard how after the killing a “burial party” including O’Neill-Davey, Spahiu, Voja and Uzkuraitis, travelled to Skelmersdale and was busy digging a grave on waste land near where the body lay when they were disturbed by police cars.

The vehicles were in the area coincidentally engaged investigating a road traffic accident but their presence led to the men abandoning the burial.

“O’Neill Davey was still in the area when he was stopped by officers in another police car. He was dressed in his grave digging kit including wellies.

“Remarkably, he managed to retain his composure when spoken to and was allowed to go on his way by the police,” said Mr Elvidge.

Details about the positioning of the mobile phones of the defendants - some of whom are related - at relevant times were given by a technological expert.

The jury was warned at the start of the trial that members would be confronted with “gruesome" evidence at times during proceedings.

The trial has been scheduled to last around nine weeks and the defence is expected to begin the week after next.

Proceeding