Hitman shot father dead
A hired hitman walked into the home of a Staffordshire businessman and blasted him in the chest with a sawn-off shotgun as he lay in bed, a jury heard.
Father-of-two Richard Deakin was at his Burntwood home alone when he was shot dead by a balaclava-clad gunman who fled in a waiting car.
David Harrison pulled the trigger while Darryl Dickens waited in the getaway car, Birmingham Crown Court was told yesterday.
Both men, from Bilston, deny murdering 27-year-old Mr Deakin, who worked as a skip hire boss in Walsall.
Just minutes before he was shot at around 8.30am on July 5 2010, his partner had left to take the couple's two daughters to school from their home in Meadway Street, said Mr David Burrows, prosecuting.
He told the jury: "David Harrison and Darryl Dickens pulled up in a car outside. Harrison was wearing a balaclava and carrying an sawn-off shotgun. He went into the house through an unlocked back door, went up to the bedroom and shot Richard Deakin dead.
"He then left and got back into the car and Dickens drove off. Harrison was paid to shoot Richard Deakin."
Mr Burrows said passers-by raised the alarm after seeing the gunman flee. Mr Deakin, who ran On Time Skips, was confirmed dead at the scene. He had been shot in the chest and also had received five gunshot wounds to both his legs.
Harrison, aged 63, of Rainbow Street, was arrested following an appeal on TV's Crimewatch. A former associate named him to police. Dickens, 34, of Powell Place, was picked out in an identity parade by Mr Deakin's partner.
The trial continues.
