Four in court on murder charge

A postmaster's son was shot dead in a "ruthless" attack as he tried to defend his family from a gang of robbers, a court was told today.

Craig Hodson-Walker died at Fairfield Post Office, near Stourbridge, when four men burst into the shop on January 9, a jury heard.

Mr Timothy Raggatt, prosecuting, said Anselm Ribera, Adrian Snape, Christopher Morrisey and his brother Declan Morrisey, had been armed with a gun and a sledgehammer. He said the men thought the post office a "soft target" because it was in a quiet rural area.

"All that Craig Hodson-Walker had done in terms of what led to his death was an attempt to defend his parents and their premises from a group of men who had chosen to attack. They went in with the plain intention of robbing that post office.

"The crime was ruthlessly carried out with great determination,"said Mr Raggatt.

Mr Raggatt told Birmingham Crown Court there had been a car waiting outside with the engine running with a driver inside so they could make their getaway.

Snape, of Camelot Way, Small Heath, Birmingham; Christopher Morrissey, of Elmay Road, Sheldon, Birmingham; Declan Morrissey, of Shirley Park Road, Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands; and Ribera, of Topfield House, Druids Heath, Birmingham, deny the murder of Craig Hodson-Walker, the attempted murder of his father Ken and also deny a charge of possessing a firearm with intent to endanger life.

The trial continues.