The man accused of blasting a young father to

The man accused of blasting a young father to death was
‘framed’ by the pals of the real gunman, a top lawyer claimed during
the Luton murder trial.

The allegation was made by Mr William Clegg QC in his
closing defence speech on behalf of Colin Nicholls who is accused
of the murder.

Inner London Crown Court had earlier heard how Patrick
Frater, 27, literally had his face blown away as he peered out of
his bedroom window in Ackworth Crescent, Luton.

He and his live-in girlfriend, Laura Jowett, had been woken
by banging at their front door just after 2am on January 23 last
year.

But as he went to the window above the front porch a shot
rang out, the next instant a second blast from a sawn-off pump
action shotgun hit him full in the face.

Father of two Mr Frater died within minutes.

His death was the bloody culmination of a feud over a girl
who had switched her affections from one man to another, jurors were
told.

Tracy Woodcock had been dating Danny Frater, the dead man’s
brother, but left him and began going out with Gary Joseph, a
friend of Nicholls.

A couple of months before the killing, Danny Frater was
blasted with a shotgun as he sat in his car.

He escaped serious
injury, suffering only superficial wounds to his leg, in an
attack thought to be a ‘frightener.

‘
Prosecutor Mr Timothy Barnes QC alleges that it was
Nicholls who shot Patrick Frater – there is no suggestion that
he had anything to do with the earlier shooting – and that he was
driven to the scene by Andrew Urquhart, 26.

In the dock Nicholls, 25, of Clifton Road, Shefford, Beds.

,
denies murder, but admits possessing a firearm without a
certificate.

Urquhart, of Highfield Crescent, Brogborough, Beds.

, denies
manslaughter and the firearms charge.

Nicholls, was found asleep at a house a short distance from
Patrick Frater’s home within hours of the killing.

A number of other young men were at the house in Spear
Close, Luton, including Gary Joseph.

Two of those men, Lenos Wilson and Dudley Thomas, were later
to tell police and the court that Nicholls had confessed to the
shooting when he arrived at the house.

But Nicholls when interviewed by police and in evidence
insisted that he had delivered the shotgun to Gary Joseph.

He denied that it was his finger on the trigger and said he
had been looking after the weapon for Joseph.

He said he had asked Urquhart to drive him to Luton after
receiving a telephone call from Joseph.

He and Urquhart had
spent the evening in a pub before they set off.

He also said he thought the gun was to be for just ‘another
scare’ – and had nothing to do with the murder.

The jury have been told that Joseph had been questioned a
number of times by detectives, but had been released without
charge.

He made no admissions and claimed to have been playing
backgammon with Dudley Thomas at the time of the shooting.

His present whereabouts are not known.

Suspicion had turned to Joseph, not only because of his
relationship with the girl at the centre of the feud, but because
a neighbour of Mr Frater had seen a coloured man running from the
scene of the shooting – Joseph is of West Indian origin.

Addressing the jury Mr Clegg, for Nicholls said: ‘The
suggestion we make is that someone decided to frame Nicholls for
the shooting.

‘Dudley Thomas and Lenos Wilson have each played a part in
that exercise.

The purpose of seeking to frame Nicholls was to
protect an older, closer friend – Gary Joseph.

‘In order to frame Nicholls and protect Joseph, those two men
must say Nicholls had the gun,’ submitted Mr Clegg.

Wilson and Thomas said they hid the gun in various places,
but played no part in the shooting.

A few days later another man
handed it in to the police.

Counsel highlighted Thomas’s admission whilst giving
evidence that he had partly ‘lied’ in his statement to police.

He said he had been allowed to read Lenos Wilson’s statement
in the police station.

He also said Wilson ‘told me to put
things in that I had not seen,’ whilst they were together.

‘It amounts to nothing less than a conspiracy to pervert
justice in this trial,’ declared counsel.

‘The effect is that they (Wilson and Thomas) are utterly
discredited.

We have caught a glimpse of a plan to lie and deceive
you,’ he told the jury.

‘They (Wilson and Thomas) are the only ones who ever say
there was a shotgun in Spear Close.

They are the only people who
make it impossible to trace the movements of the gun.

They are
the only people who say Nicholls confessed and the only ones who
give Joseph an alibi.

‘In the light of all probability Joseph’s finger was on the
trigger,’ alleged Mr Clegg.

Counsel asked the jury why should Nicholls – if he were
the real murderer – simply go to sleep at a nearby address.

‘You may think a murderer would have made some attempt to
get away.

He was the odd one out of that group.

One white man in
a group of black friends who had known each other longer than he
had known them.

‘They – all people so close to him in friendship – they left
him there sleeping until the police arrived, apparently taking
the trouble, if they are to be believed, to take the shotgun
away.

‘He has been sacrificed, in their eyes as somebody who can
carry the can for Gary Joseph, an older friend, a better friend
and somebody who in their eyes was more worthy of their help than
Nicholls.

‘Don’t fall for it,’ Mr Clegg urged the jury.

‘Look behind
that evidence and ask yourselves that question.

Are you sure it
was Nicholls’ finger on that trigger when it was discharged?
We, the defence, ask you to say we are very far short of that.

‘
Urquhart did not give evidence.

Mr James Mulcahy, QC, defending Urquhart, told the jury
that to convict him of manslaughter they would have to be
sure he did something unlawful that led to the killing.

‘An act of driving had nothing to do with Mr Frater’s death.

He didn’t do anything that directly caused death.

‘
Counsel also ridiculed the notion that Urquhart was
‘selected’ to be a getaway driver.

‘Does it not strike you that he is the most unlikely getaway
driver in the world?’ said Mr Mulcahy, referring to the fact that
Urquhart was drunk, was a disqualified driver and his car was
virtually out of petrol.

He in fact ran out of fuel on the way home after dropping
off Nicholls.

The jury are expected to retire on Monday to consider their
verdicts.

ENDS
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