The trial into the murder of drugs supplier Gurinderjit Rai is taking place at Winchester Crown Court THE jury in the trial of five men accused of being involved in the murder of a drugs supplier has asked for a majority verdict. The panel at Winchester Crown Court had been deliberating for close to three and half days when they asked Mrs Justice Cutts for her assistance this afternoon (Thursday). Gurinderjit Rai, 30, was murdered in Shepherds Farm Lane, Corhampton, on July 12, 2019. Mr Rai was found the following day with two gunshot wounds. Aston Hannis, 30, of Leah Gardens, Eastleigh; Charlie Statham, 30, of Crescent Close, Oliver s Battery; Corin Barlow, 41, from Horley, Surrey; and Paul White, 27, of Dyson Drive, Abbotts Barton, all deny murder.
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The friends allege that they had made plans to go to Hodan’s on the night of Mr Rai’s murder to watch Amir Khan’s comeback fight, but the defendant said that White did not arrive until around 11.30pm, and Hannis and Statham around five minutes later, presuming that they had smoked a cigarette outside. Before they arrived Hodan text Hannis: “Don’t leave it too late though people start snooping” and explaining why he said that: “It was more of a message to say, don’t turn up too late as it p s my neighbours off. It was more of a message to say that if you’re coming round come now or leave it.”
Shepherds Farm Lane, Corhampton. Inset, Gurinderjit Rai A MAN alleged to have been involved in the murder of drugs supplier said that he was “a bit of a blagger” but denied that he ever said that his friends had killed a man, a court heard. Corin Barlow is one of four men accused of killing of Gurinderjit Rai on July 12, 2019, in a layby in Shepherds Farm Lane, Corhampton. A trial at Winchester Crown Court was told earlier that Barlow was referred to as the “king of bullshit” and he admitted that on occasions he exaggerated, saying that this was “make myself [the] big I am – gangster”.
The trial is taking place at Winchester Crown Court Giving evidence in his own defence today (Friday), Barlow said that around the time of July 2019 he had moved in with his partner in Hayward’s Heath, Sussex, and she did not want the gun in her house. He told the court: “He (Tarrant) wanted to have a look at it a few times. He wanted to fire it, he kept going on about wanting to fire it. I said it doesn’t work.” Barlow told the court that Tarrant said he wanted to fire the gun at friend’s dad’s pig farm.