Murder suspects from North West and London 'traced to Hartlepool day before shotgun killing' of cannabis farmer

Four men are standing trial at Teesside Crown Court for the murder of Kurdistan-born Hamawand Ali Hussain, 30, at a derelict house in Charterhouse Street, off Oxford Road, on September 14 in 2019.

And the prosecution say at least four more suspects have evaded arrest.

CCTV footage said to show one of the accused, Albanian Anxhelo Xhaferi, 24, and other men on and around Charterhouse Street on September 13 was shown to the jury on Wednesday (January 20).

Leanne Hodgson, a Cleveland Police intelligence analyst, told the jury that Dorian Pirija, 33, of Trillo Avenue, Bolton, and Qazim Marku, 24, of Maxwell Road, West Drayton, London, were tracked from Bolton to Hartlepool that morning.

The movements of their mobile phones, traced by the location of masts they connected to, are said to have mirrored the movement of a silver Mercedes car which was later seen on CCTV on Oxford Road, Hartlepool.

A grey Fiat 500 carrying Xhaferi and another man not on trial, was seen to park in Marlborough Street and they walked into Charterhouse Street at around midday.

At around the same time a black Hyundai Santa Fe vehicle was also seen on automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras arrive in Hartlepool and turn into Westbourne Road.

Earlier that morning it had been seen in the Rochdale area.

At around the same time as the activity in Hartlepool, defendant Noza Saffari, 39, of Park Lane, Middlesbrough, is said to have tried to call Mr Ali Hussian three times.

By early evening the Fiat and Santa Fe were seen travelling away from Hartlepool. The Santa Fe said to be carrying Marku was seen on the A19 south and arrived back in Bolton corresponding with the location of Marku’s phone.

The silver Mercedes was also seen in the Bolton area that evening along with Pirija’s phone.

Mr Ali Hussain, said to have been involved in setting up cannabis farms in the Hartlepool area, was killed with a sawn-off shotgun after being shot at close blank range.

The prosecution say each of the four men on trial “took an active part” in the murder.

The case continues.

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