Five deny murder of M40 biker

Dec 21 2007

FIVE men have denied murdering a Hell's Angel on the M40 in Warwickshire.

Gerry Tobin, 35, was shot dead as he rode his motorbike along the motorway on August 12.

Simon Turner, 41, Dane Garside, 42, Malcolm Bull, 53, Dean Taylor, 46, and Ian Cameron, 45, pleaded not guilty to the murder.

The addresses of the men, who entered their pleas by video link at Birmingham Crown Court, cannot be given for legal reasons.

Judge Frank Chapman set their trial date for October 1.

Two other men also charged with the murder will enter pleas at Birmingham Crown Court on a date in January to be fixed.

Mr Tobin, a mechanic from Mottingham, south-east London, was returning from the Bulldog Bash bikers' festival at Long Marston, near Stratford-upon-Avon, when he was killed with a single shot to the back of the head near junction 12 of the motorway.

After emigrating to Canada when he was two, Mr Tobin returned to the UK about 10 years ago and worked at a Harley Davidson dealership.

He lived with his fiancee Rebecca Smith in a flat just yards away from the garage in Mottingham.