Home page
Top Stories
Video News
Croydon
Elmbridge
Epsom
Hounslow & Chiswick
Kingston
Richmond
Staines
Streatham
Sutton
Wandsworth
Wimbledon, Mitcham and Morden
National News
National Video News
Entertainment News
Smarter Travel Sutton
London Mayor
Levi Bellfield Trial
Sally Anne Bowman
Crystal Palace Park
Youth Editor
Archive
Weather
Travel latest
Polls
Text your pics
Tributes
Features
Readers' Comments
On This Day
Site Map
Search Advanced Search
Top Stories  RSS Feed RSS feed | About
    WHEN NEWS HAPPENS
Send Your Photos
Local Info Channel
Video
News
Movie Trailers
What's On

Blogs

Have your say
EDITOR'S CHOICE
NEWS
French students murder suspect was treated for burns
Firefighters battle Thornton Heath factory blaze
AFC WIMBLEDON
CRYSTAL PALACE NEWS
Warnock expects Flahavan to push Speroni
COMPETITIONS
UGLIEST PET COMPETITION
Tickets to the Haribo Summer Sports camp and other sports goodies.
ON THIS DAY
BIZARRE LONDON
Do you have clutter stranger than a pickled monkey?
'UFOs' spotted in Cheam
VOTE
Did you enjoy Saturday night's Doctor Who finale?
Yes, it was full of twists and turns
No, it wasn't as good as I was expecting
I don't watch Doctor Who
GET OUR NEWS BY E-MAIL
Most read Comments
Shot man's family 'set up his killing'

The wife and stepdaughter of a businessman offered £5,000 to have him killed, a court heard yesterday.

Charles Butler, 50, was gunned down near his Dagenham home in October 2004 and died nine months later from the shooting.

The Old Bailey heard how his wife Yvonne and stepdaughter Marcia offered money to have him killed.

David Austin, 41 from Thornton Heath, and Douglas Johnson, 27 from New Addington, deny murdering Mr Butler.

A businessman was shot dead in a contract killing set up by his wife and stepdaughter, a court has heard.

The jury watched CCTV footage of a man pulling out a gun, which appeared not to go off at point blank range, allowing Mr Butler to escape. But after he tripped he was shot by the gunman, who was then seen running off to a waiting car.

Following the shooting Mr Butler fell into a coma and died nine months later, never regaining consciousness.

Prosecutor Mark Dennis QC said alleged gunman Johnson and getaway driver Austin boasted of the shooting while on remand and said it had been set up by his family.

Mr Dennis told the court how eight months before the incident, police were called to Mr Butler's home over a domestic incident.

No criminal complaint was made but Mrs Butler told an officer she wanted a divorce.

Afterwards Marcia, who is in her 20s, asked Austin's brother Peter "if he knew anyone who could shoot her stepfather, adding that her mother was going to put up the money," Mr Dennis added.

Johnson and his girlfriend Caroline Lavender, 27, deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by lying about a car used in the shooting.

The trial continues.

7:44am Friday 9th May 2008

Print   Email this
Archive
'
This panel uses JavaScript
Click here to read your local newspaper online
Click here to read about the Green Guardian Awards 2008
Croydon Champions
Click here for more information
CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST NEWS ON GREEN GUARDIAN
Find out what's on
Get the latest events using our database
Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy © Copyright 2001-2008
Newsquest Media Group
A Gannett Company
This site is part of Newsquest's audited local newspaper network