'Killer kept gun as trophy'

A British bank worker was shot dead in an apparently “motiveless attack” as she sat in her sports car, the Old Bailey in London was told today.

Pauline Peart, 25, died within minutes of the bullet passing through her back and into her heart, said Orlando Pownall QC, prosecuting.

Three months later, the gun – which may have been kept as a “trophy” – was recovered from a kitchen flip-top bin at a flat where Maurice Miller, 20, had been staying, he said.

Mr Pownall said: “Did he keep the gun as a trophy? What other reason would he have for keeping a gun which was used to kill a woman in a motiveless attack?”

Miller denies murdering Miss Peart in March last year, and having the gun with intent to endanger life.

Miss Peart, who lived on her own in Essex was a customer account manager with Beneficial Finance, in north London.

Mr Pownall said Miss Peart, who did not know Miller, was in her car talking to her friend Yemmi Johnson as he sat in the passenger seat.

Mr Johnson told police three youths walked passed them in Hampden Road, Tottenham, north London, at around 11.30pm.

A few minutes later he saw a youth with a white top who appeared to be trying to open the driver’s door.

Mr Pownall said: “The door was locked but the window was slightly open.

“The youth was crouching and looking in. He saw the barrel of a gun through the aperture.

“Understandably, Mr Johnson ducked down. He heard a shot and screamed to Miss Peart to start the car.

“She replied that the car was on. She arched her back and began convulsing.”

Mr Johnson had run across to a friend’s house to call for help and then carried Miss Peart across.

But Miss Peart had lost an enormous amount of blood and was dead within minutes, said Mr Pownall.

Miller was arrested with two other men after police observation on a nearby pub.

It was alleged he claimed in interview with police that one of the other men had returned to fire the shot because Mr Johnson had “shown him disrespect” in the past.

The trial was adjourned until tomorrow.