Friends, relatives and partners helped murderers, court is told

THEY ARE ALLEGED TO HAVE HIDDEN KILLERS AFTER FATAL STABBING IN LACE MARKET

- By MARTIN NAYLOR

PARTNERS, relatives and friends of three murderers helped hide them before two of the killers tried to flee to Jamaica after they stabbed a man to death in Nottingham, a trial has heard.

Nottingham Crown Court was told how each of the gang played a role in trying to conceal Malcolm Francis, his brother Daniel Francis or Richard Anderson after they carried out the "revenge" killing of 33-year-old Ricardo Cotteral in the Lace Market.

After being ambushed by the group, the victim ran but was chased and repeatedly stabbed, punched and kicked in Broad Street, before he was pronounced dead.

Malcolm Francis dealt the fatal blow and the men only stopped when one of them was heard saying "he's dead, let's go", that trial was told.

The murder was in April 2022 and, after a trial in the summer of 2023, Malcolm Francis, then 29, of no fixed address, Daniel Francis, then 27, of Shakespeare Street, Nottingham, and Richard Anderson, then 25, of no fixed address, were all jailed for life along with "lookout and getaway driver" Lavelle Moore, then 31, of Woodfield Road, Broxtowe.

Now, more than three years later, their associates are all on trial charged with assisting an offender. They all deny the charge.

Prosecutor Sarah Knight said: "The prosecution's case is that, in the aftermath, following the killing of Ricardo Cotteral, each of these defendants, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, provided assistance in a variety of ways to the individuals involved in the murder.