| Wannabe in my gang?
- Articles |
05/10/03 - Man killed at gym
is boxer's second bodyguard to be gunned down
The Mail on Sunday
THE career criminal gunned down in a gangland assassination
on Friday was a minder and friend of Nigel Benn - the
second of the former world champion boxer's bodyguards
to die in a hail of bullets.
David King, 32, who had a long police record, was killed
as he left a gym in the Hertfordshire town of Hoddesdon.
Police say the murder was meticulously planned.
They believe the hitman and his driver waited in their
van while King, a celebrity-minder from nearby Stevenage,
finished a regular workout at the Physical Limit fitness
centre. The killer fired up to 40 bullets from a Kalashnikov
AK47 automatic rifle. King, 6ft 2in tall and 17 stone,
was dead on arrival at hospital.
A man with him was wounded. He has been released from
hospital and last night was under police guard at a
safe house. They are investigating his possible connection
with local drug gangs.
Last night a spokesman for Benn said: 'David King was
a friend of Nigel's and Nigel is very shocked to hear
about what happened to him. But I have no further comment
to make.' It is likely police will interview the celebrity
boxer in the next few days.
Detective Superintendent Steve Read, who is leading
the hunt for King's killers, said: 'We will be looking
at all aspects of Mr King's life and business, including
his financial transactions, and speaking to his associates.'
In 1995, Tony Tucker, 38, another of Benn's former minders,
was shot dead along with two fellow drug dealers in
a parked Range Rover in what turned out to be a contract
killing. Known collectively as The Firm, the three had
earned up to [pounds sterling]1 million a year supplying
ecstasy to the rave scene.
Tucker, the most feared of the criminal trio, supplied
the ecstasy tablet that had killed teenager Leah Betts
a few weeks earlier.
Detectives believed the men had been lured to the remote
country lane in Rettendon, Essex, to finalise a £20,000
contract for the murder of a rival drug dealer and were
caught in an ambush.
Benn was devastated by Tucker's death. His then manager
Peter DeFreitas said: 'Tony was part of all Nigel's
big fight nights and became firm friends with Nigel.
He used to team up with us on the day of a fight and
lead Nigel into the ring as a sort of standard-bearer.'
But other scandals were to follow. In March 2001, another
of Benn's minders, Terry O'Neill, was exposed as a drug
user and big-time dealer.
O'Neill, 34, was a senior operations manager at security
firm Topguard, which had contracts for a number of high-profile
celebrities. But he had a profitable if deadly sideline
- peddling drugs.
The 6ft 7in, 18-stone bodybuilder was at the hub of
a network of elite cocaine pushers who delivered drugs
to the stars. During an investigation by a tabloid newspaper,
O'Neill also revealed that violence was an integral
part of his world.
When offering to secure drugs, he told a reporter:
'The people I deal with are 150 million per cent trustworthy
because they know I'll kill them.' Benn, who retired
from the ring in 1996, became a household figure again
last year when he appeared on the TV reality show I'm
A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here!
He now lives in Majorca.
Within hours of the very public slaughter of King,
which took place as dozens of shoppers milled about
in Hoddesdon town centre, another driveby shooting took
place in Berkshire.
Three men, all in their mid-twenties, were seriously
wounded in a shotgun attack just before 10.30pm on Friday,
opposite Battle Hospital in the west of Reading, close
to the Tilehurst area.
One victim needed surgery for serious facial injuries
while the others had back and arm wounds.
Last night police confirmed that those men had also
been 'targeted'. They believe there were at least two
gunmen in the car and that two weapons were involved.
They are appealing for information about the driver
of an old, darkcoloured Volvo.
Police do not believe the Reading and Hoddesdon shootings
are connected but have refused to rule out the possibility.
Yesterday the gym where King died was closed. A notice
read: 'As a mark of respect the gym will close till
Sunday.' Friends left flowers and tributes at the scene.
People who had witnessed the aftermath of the execution
were yesterday trying to come to terms with what they
had seen. Eric McIllwraith, who lives nearby, said the
gunfire was so loud that he ran out of his flat to see
what was going on.
'Bullets were everywhere,' he said. 'They hit the fence,
the fish and chip shop next door and bullet casings
were on the forecourt. It looks like it was very well
planned. They must have known his routine and were waiting
for him.
The van they used was on fire within a minute of the
shooting.' In Hoddesdon last night, police officers
on their hands and knees were continuing a fingertip
search of the area and of what was left of the hitmen's
vehicle.
In Reading, investigations also continued as residents
spoke of how the streets had been taken over by men running
gangs to trade heroin and cocaine. |
| Contact : bernard.omahoney@bernardomahoney.com |
|
|
|
