Boxing Day killer was 'trying to be cool'

Friends of an Indian student shot dead as he made his way to Boxing Day sales described how a gunman "hip-hopped" and "bounced" towards his victim moments before killing him.

Witnesses in the trial of Kiaran Stapleton, 21, said he acted like a "wannabee" as he approached Anuj Bidve last year during the early hours in Ordsall, in Salford, Greater Manchester. In a written statement, Anuba Gupta, who was one of eight friends with the post-graduate student at the time of the shooting, said she saw a man in a hooded top with his hands in his pockets walk diagonally across the road in their direction.

She said: "He was hip-hopping, bouncing, trying to be all cool. When he walked to us it was as if he was someone who wanted to be a wannabe."

Another friend, Danica Lobo, described the man walking to them "pretty fast", Manchester Crown Court heard. She said: "He walked with a bit of a bounce… a chalk in his walk. He was very confident when he was walking."

The court was told Mr Stapleton made a number of internet searches on Google and news websites via his phone from about five hours after the killing. Words typed included "Salford shooting".

Mr Stapleton admits manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, which the Crown Prosecution Service does not accept. He denies murder.