Fourth man appears in court to deny murder of Hartlepool dad Hemwand Ali Hussain

Albanian Qazim Marku, 24, of Maxwell Road, West Drayton, appeared with the others over a prison videolink at Teesside Crown Court accused of the murder of Hemwand Ali Hussain, 30, who was found dead with a gunshot wound at a property in Hartlepool last year.

The body of Mr Hussain, 30, who had suffered a gunshot wound, was found in a property in Charterhouse Street on September 14 last year.

Three other men Dorian Pirija, 32, also Albanian, of Trillo Avenue, Bolton, Greater Manchester, Noza Saffari, 38, an Iranian, of Park Lane, Middlesbrough, and Xhaferi Anxhelo, 23, a Greek, of Acton Street, Middlesbrough, who appeared with him over the link from Durham Jail, had already pleaded not guilty to murdering him.

The scene where the body of Hemwand Ali Hussain was discovered in Charterhouse Street, Hartlepool.

They were all remanded in custody until their trial estimated to last up to eight weeks starting on Monday, October 5.

Judge Paul Preston QC said that they could make an application for bail if they wished.

Prosecutor Peter Makepeace QC and other lawyers in the case appeared over a Skype coneference link because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The family of Mr Hussain said in a statement after his death: “We are deeply saddened by the death of our partner and father Hemwand, and we request that we are left to grieve in peace at this extremely difficult time.”

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.