Tenth man charged in connection with Wigan dad's murder as trial venue for other nine is fixed

Michael Gibbons is accused of perverting the course of justice by concealing a vehicle used in the commission of a crime, namely the killing of Christopher Hughes, and to giving a false statement to police knowing it to be untrue.

The 46-year-old, of Bulteel Street, Pemberton, made his appearance before Wigan magistrates on two charges of perverting the course of justice before it was decided by a judge that the trial of nine men accused of conspirting to murder Mr Hughes will take place at Liverpool Crown Court rather than either of the courts in Manchester.

The Marsh Green 37-year-old disappeared on Friday February 18 after he was seen getting into the back of a vehicle on Almond Grove, Worsley Hall.

Police issued an appeal for help to find him, but his body was discovered on White Moss Road South, near the M58 in Skelmersdale, four days later.

A post-mortem examination concluded that he had died from multiple injuries in what had been described as a “frenzied attack”.

The nine men have been arrested in the intervening months and on Monday June 20, all of them appeared before a Manchester Crown Court judge to deny the single charge against each of them.

They are: Martin Smith, 33, of Laithwaite Road, Worsley Hall, Andrius Uzkuraitis, 26, of Holly Road, Worsley Hall; Alan Jaf, 51, of Ridyard Street, Worsley Hall; Khalil Awla, 48, of Greenwood Avenue, Worsley Hall; Erland Spahiu, 33, of Uppingham, Skelmersdale; Curtis Balbas, 30, of Matheson Drive, Worsley Hall; Dean Smeaton O'Neill-Davey, 29 of Bulteel Street, Pemberton; Mohammed Razgar, 40, of Plane Avenue, Worsley Hall; and Erion Voja, 20, of Peall Road, Croydon, London.

They have all be remanded in custody and are next due to appear again at Manchester Crown Square on July 29, although their trial, set to begin on October 17, will take place at Liverpool.

Gibbons, meanwhile, is alleged to have committed the offences with which he is charged on February 19.

Wigan magistrates released him on conditional bail until he appears before a Bolton Crown Court judge, also on July 29. He has not yet entered a plea.