Manchester 'hit squad murdered innocent man at drugs meeting'

'TEAM OF MUSCLE' BROUGHT IN AS PART OF GANG WAR, COURT TOLD

- REBECCA SHERDLEY and TODD FITZGERALD

AN innocent man was stabbed in the heart after a heavily-armed 'hit team' 'brutally' ambushed him as part of a 'war' between rival drugs gangs, a murder trial has been told.

Michael Anton O'Connor died from a single wound, a jury has heard.

A gang from Manchester plotted to attack a rival dealer, Nottingham Crown Court has been told.

Jurors were told Mr O'Connor, who was known to friends and family as Anton, was instead attacked.

He was, the court heard, the innocent victim of a raging drugs war he was not part of. Eleven people are charged with his murder. Two others are in the dock for related offences.

The court heard Mr O'Connor, 31, from Nottingham, arrived at the meeting on November 10, last year, after he was sent at the 'last minute' by a member of a rival drugs gang, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.