'Cold blooded' murder was well planned, court told

A jury has been told four men carefully planned the "cold-blooded assassination" of a rapper in 2020.

Speaking at the opening of their trial, prosecution barrister James Curtis KC said Tamba Momodu, 20 - a rapper known as Teerose - was shot near a gym in Telford, Shropshire.

He said police had "painstakingly pieced together" evidence and that it was his case that: "All four of these defendants worked together as a team."

Mahamud Tarabi, 32, of Whiteleys Parade, Hillingdon, London, Ahmed Karshe, 30, of no fixed address, Deria Hassan, 32, of Ferrymead Avenue in Greenford, London, and Merje Ngoy, 24, of no fixed address, all deny charges of murder.

Hussain pleaded guilty to arson while the other three denied the same charge.

Curtis told the trial on Thursday the killing had been "meticulously pre-planned" by Momodu's killers.

He also told jurors that, while one man pulled the trigger, it was clear all four men knew of the intention to murder him when they set off for Telford.

"You would only take with you people who were of the same mind," he said.

The trial was shown CCTV footage of the car park where the shooting took place and heard the sound of gunshots being fired on the footage.

Curtis told the trial the killer used a Luger handgun to carry out the attack.

The judge told jurors to expect the trial to continue until the end of March.

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