Murder accused took the train to Scotland, jury told

TRIO TOOK A TAXI TO STATION, COURT HEARS

- By DAVID HUNTLEY

Floral tributes are left near the home where Barry Dawson, left, was fatally shot

THREE men accused of murdering a grandad who was shot dead in his County Durham home took a train to Scotland shortly after the shooting, a jury has heard.

Barry Dawson was fatally shot through a downstairs window of his terraced house on Elm Street, South Moor, Stanley, on April 5, this year.

Five men were later charged with the murder of the 60-year-old and are standing trial at Teesside Crown Court.

Kevin Dorward, 38, of New Durham Road, Stanley; Thomas Lee Sterling, 22, of The Avenue, Stanley; Kelvin Craig Lawson, 37, of Frosterley Gardens, Stanley; Keith Edward Dorward, 38, of no fixed address, and Sean Reay, 30, of Sabin Terrace, Stanley, all deny murder.

A sixth defendant, Michaela Hetherington, 35, of South View Gardens, Annfield Plain, Stanley, is also standing trial accused of perverting the court of justice. She denies the charge.

On the second day of the trial yesterday, the jury heard that not long after the alleged murder, Reay, Lawson, and Sterling caught a train to Edinburgh.

Prosecutor, Francis Fitzgibbon KC, said that shortly before 8pm on April 5, Lawson had booked a taxi under the name 'Seymour'.