A gunman has been found guilty of shooting a man dead in his own car nearly a decade after the gangland execution.
Abdul Ahsan, then 18, blasted Andre Marshall seven times at close range in May 2015. He then pistol-whipped the 29-year-old to the head and dumped his body in a car park next to a church. As reported by the Manchester Evening News, prosecutors described the killing as an ‘execution style killing’ committed ‘against a background of gang crime’.
After being arrested in the days following the murder, Ahsan skipped bail. He then fled the UK for Pakistan, claiming he left the country after fearing that his ‘life was in danger’. Authorities in the UK and Pakistan worked together to ensure he was brought back to Manchester to face justice.
Following a trial at the city’s crown court, Ahsan, now 28, has been found guilty of murdering Andre, who was said to have been a member of the “Gooch Gang”, an organised crime group based in Manchester. Ahsan, who had been acting as a courier for Andre at the time, now faces a life sentence. Andre had been driving his BMW with Ahsan in the passenger seat when he opened fire around midnight on May 20.
The pair, said to have been ‘criminal associates’, had spent the hours before the shooting together. Later at about 10.30pm, Andre was in his BMW and met his cousin in Old Trafford. Mr Ahsan and another man got in the car. The two other men were later dropped off, leaving Andre and Ahsan alone in the car. Andre drove the BMW to Urmston and turned onto Manor Avenue, into a car park near St Clement’s Church.
“They had apparently gone to Urmston on the pretext that they were going to be collecting a drugs debt,” prosecutor Andrew Thomas KC said. “However, the prosecution say that the true purpose of the trip was the murder of Andre Marshall.”
Mr Thomas said the incident occurred ‘very quickly’. Residents in nearby flats reported hearing a ‘scream’ then a ‘series of bangs’. Ahsan shot Mr Marshall seven times. The first four shots were fired while Andre was sitting in the front seat of the car, and another three after he had got out.
Ahsan then got out of the car and repeatedly hit Mr Marshall with the gun. The BMW was moved by Ahsan and parked on the pavement outside the nearby Lord Nelson pub. Andre’s body was ‘dumped’ in the car park and was not discovered until the next morning. Mr Thomas said that Ahsan had recruited an unknown ‘accomplice’ who then drove him away from the scene.
Ahsan was arrested on suspicion of murder at the time but was released on bail. He then fled to Pakistan and only returned to the UK on January 16, 2024 after being extradited. At trial, he claimed that he had ‘jumped out’ of Andre’s BMW moments before the shooting took place. The jury rejected his case and found him guilty of murder. He is due to be sentenced tomorrow.
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