A gunman wearing a latex mask disguised himself as a litter picker to carry out reconnaissance before shooting dead a reality star’s brother in front of his family, a court has heard.
Flamur Beqiri, 36, whose sister Misse Beqiri appeared in Real Housewives Of Cheshire, was murdered outside his home in Battersea, south-west London, at around 9pm on Christmas Eve 2019.
The father-of-two had been hand in hand with wife his wife, Debora Krasniqi, and their two-year-old son, moments before the alleged killer Anis Hemissi, 24, struck from behind, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Prosecutor Mark Heywood QC said Hemissi repeatedly fired a semi-automatic handgun “bang, bang, bang” at Mr Beqiri with the shots following him as “he went from vertical to horizontal” and “hit the ground”.
Undated handout file photo issued by the Metropolitan Police of Flamur Beqiri who was fatally shot in front of his family on Christmas Eve. A 22-year-old man has been arrested in Denmark on suspicion of murdering the Swedish national.
Metropolitan Police
“The intention was clearly very obvious,” he said.
Flamur Beqiri was fatally shot in front of his family on Christmas Eve.Metropolitan Police
“First, it was to kill. Second, it was to do so in a way calculated to cause maximum terror and shock.
“That much is clear from the way it was done, the time it was done, and the place it was done.”
The jury has heard a team of killers from Sweden planned the murder of Mr Beqiri, a Swedish/Albanian national, for around six months, hiring locals to clean up once they had returned home.
Mr Heywood said the steps that led to the killing “involved planning, discretion, thought and effort and it was collaborative”.
Hemissi, a Swedish/Tunisian national, flew into London on December 20 and left the country to Copenhagen, Denmark, in the early hours of Christmas Day, the court heard.
He is said to have stayed in a river front Battersea flat and carried out reconnaissance trips in disguise, using a bicycle and a litter picking device earlier bought by accomplices.
On one occasion, two days before the murder, Hemissi allegedly dressed in work clothing, including a jacket and trousers with neon flashes, boots a hat and gloves.
Mr Heywood told jurors he cycled to Mr Beqiri’s home, then walked around the area for some four-and-a-half hours with a “black bag in one hand and a litter picker in the other”.
“Not only was his head covered with a dark hat, his neck wrapped up high towards his face, his eyes covered with sunglasses, but also, it will be a matter for you to consider, it appears as if he was wearing a latex mask as well,” he told the jury.
But the court heard he aroused the suspicions of a local who dog walker, who challenged Hemissi, causing him to walk off.
“The litter picker outfit was not worn again because his cover is blown, it is as simple as that,” said Mr Heywood.
He said Hemissi wore a latex mask with another disguise to carry out reconnaissance the following day and the same dark clothing when he shot Mr Beqiri.
Hemissi denies murder and possession of a self-loading pistol.
He is on trial with Swedish nationals Estevan Pino-Munizaga, 35, Tobias Fredrik Andersson, 32, and Bawer Karaer, 23, who are said to have been part of the team “on the ground” sent to assist Hemissi. They also deny murder.B
UK national Clifford Rollox, 31, of Islington, north London, and Dutch national Claude Isaac Castor, 21, from Sint Maarten in the Caribbean but resident in the UK, deny perverting the course of justice.
Mr Heywood earlier said the pair were involved in “clearing up and removing the tools of the killer’s trade” at the flat where the alleged shooter stayed on Christmas Day and December 27 2019.
Karaer’s cousin, Ahmet Karaer, is alleged to have had a hand in the “planning, money movement and most probably in the giving of instructions”, helped by his partner and the mother of his children, Azadeh Etesamipour.
Neither are on trial, which continues.