Son of Bilston shooting victim tells of horror

The teenage son of an innocent bar owner shot dead after an alleged row over a laser pen being shone into a car has spoken of the moment he saw his father gunned down.

Gavin Batth, aged 19, said he heard a "really loud bang" as he and his father Swinder Singh Batth, of Moxley, prepared to walk back inside Gavin's Sports Bar in Bilston.

The pair had earlier witnessed an argument between a group of men after a laser pointer had allegedly been shone into the car of a woman near to the Hall Street bar.

That woman's boyfriend, Jasbir Takhar, had returned to the bar later with a number of other men at around midnight, Mr Batth junior told the jury at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday.

A row had developed between Takhar and a man called Craig Martin, who was allegedly overheard to say: "It was only a laser pen". Prosecutors say a team was "recruited" to return.

Eight men and a woman deny charges of murder or witness intimidation. Takhar has admitted conspiracy to commit violent disorder, a charge which the seven accused of murder deny.

Mr Batth junior, who worked behind the bar at Gavin's which his father owned, said the pair had witnessed the argument on July 28 last year.

He said: "I said to my dad, 'Let's go inside because tomorrow we're going to get phonecalls off their dads. I honestly didn't think anything was going to happen. My dad was trying to stop it. My dad turned around to look back. I just heard a really loud bang. Everybody dropped. Everybody just went down. I went down to the floor and my dad was next to me." Prosecutors say the gunman was Sukwinder Singh Sanghera, 24, of West Brom- wich, who worked at Wickes DIY in Perry Barr.

Those accused of murder and conspiracy to commit violent disorder are Gurpreet Singh Ottalan, aged 22, of Western Drive, Bilston; Onkar Singh Sangha, 22 of Babors Field, Bilston; Narinder Kumar, 26, of Slade Close, West Bromwich; Neesha Dubb, 20, of Western Drive, Bilston; Jarnail Singh Bajwa, 25, of Bickley Road, Bilston; and Sukwinder Singh Sanghera, 24, of Albion Road, West Bromwich.

Jasbir Singh Takhar, 23, of Birmingham New Road, Coseley, is charged with murder.

The jury heard that Takhar has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit violent disorder. Amardeep Narwal, 25, Sedgley Grove, Birmingham, and Shiv Dubb, 18, of Western Drive, deny witness intimidation.

The trial continues.