Flamur Beqiri: Murder trial hears gunman disguised himself as litter picker

A mask-wearing gunman disguised himself as a litter picker for surveillance before shooting dead a reality star's brother, a court has heard.

Flamur Beqiri, 36, whose sister Misse Beqiri appeared in Real Housewives Of Cheshire, was repeatedly shot in the back of the head on Christmas Eve 2019.

Four men are being prosecuted for the Battersea murder and another two for perverting the course of justice.

Mr Beqiri was holding his wife and two-year-old son's hands when he was shot.

The attack on Mr Beqiri, a Swedish-Albanian national, was caught on CCTV, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Jurors heard the alleged killer Anis Hemissi, 24, struck from behind around 21:00 BST on 24 December 2019.

The prosecution barrister, Mark Heywood QC, alleged Hemissi repeatedly fired a semi-automatic handgun "bang, bang, bang" at Mr Beqiri with the shots following him as "he went from vertical to horizontal" and "hit the ground".

"The intention was clearly very obvious," he said. "First, it was to kill. Second, it was to do so in a way calculated to cause maximum terror and shock.

"That much is clear from the way it was done, the time it was done, and the place it was done."

The alleged gunman, Swedish-Tunisian national Anis Hemissi, 24, denies murder and possession of a self-loading pistol.

Swedish nationals Estevan Pino-Munizaga, 35, Tobias Fredrik Andersson, 32, and Bawer Karaer, 23, who are said to have been part of the team "on the ground" sent to assist Mr Hemissi, also deny murder.

UK national Clifford Rollox, 31, of Islington, north London, and Dutch national Claude Isaac Castor, 21, from Sint Maarten in the Caribbean but resident in the UK, deny perverting the course of justice.

The jury heard a team of alleged killers from Sweden planned the murder of Mr Beqiri, a Swedish/Albanian national, for around six months, hiring locals to clean up once they had returned home.

Mr Heywood said the steps that led to the killing "involved planning, discretion, thought and effort and it was collaborative".

Hemissi flew into London on 20 December and went to Copenhagen, Denmark, in the early hours of Christmas Day, the court heard.

He is said to have stayed in a river front Battersea flat and carried out reconnaissance trips in disguise, using a bicycle and a litter picking device earlier bought by accomplices.

On one occasion, two days before the murder, Hemissi allegedly dressed in work clothing, including a jacket and trousers with neon flashes, boots a hat and gloves.

Mr Heywood told jurors he cycled to Mr Beqiri's home, then walked around the area for some four-and-a-half hours with a "black bag in one hand and a litter picker in the other".

"Not only was his head covered with a dark hat, his neck wrapped up high towards his face, his eyes covered with sunglasses, but also, it will be a matter for you to consider, it appears as if he was wearing a latex mask as well," he told the jury.

The trial continues.