Eight men in court over riot killings

The murder trial of eight men accused of deliberately driving at and killing three men trying to protect their community from looters during last summer's riots began yesterday, amid dramatic scenes that led to the public gallery being cleared.

The court was shown CCTV footage of the moment Haroon Jahan, 21, and Shazad Ali, 30, and his brother Abdul Musavir, 31, were thrown into the air after being struck by a car in the Winson Green district of Birmingham. The three Asian men were all pronounced dead in hospital.

There were audible gasps from the public gallery at Birmingham Crown Court and family members sobbed as they watched the footage from 10 August last year. Mr Justice Flaux ordered the court be cleared after a heated argument erupted in the public gallery.

The defendants Ryan Goodwin, 21; Shaun Flynn, 26; Juan Ruiz-Gaviria, 31; Joshua Donald, 27; Everton Graham, 30; Adam King, 24; Ian Beckford, 30; and a youth who cannot be named for legal reasons, all deny murder. The trial is expected to last 10 weeks.