King: '˜I will put a bullet in both of you'
Kevin King, 30, of Lodge Lane, Lytham, denies conspiracy to murder Mark Walsh after Mr Walsh was gunned down in an alley behind his home in Accrington.
The gunman Donovan Wallace and his accomplice Jack Wilding are serving prison sentences for conspiracy to murder Mr Walsh.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdBut King denies he was behind the plot which saw Mr Walsh showered with more than 100 pellets from a sawn-off shotgun, just days before a court custody hearing about his daughter.
Giving evidence at Preston Crown Court, King’s former partner, Chloe Goodbier, said King had threatened her over the telephone on February 17 2012 – resulting in King being handed a two-year restraining order.
In a police statement, she said: “I received a telephone call from a blocked number from a male who said he was Kevin King. I recognised the voice to be Kevin.
“Kevin started asking questions about ‘where are you?’ and ‘who are you with?’. I just started laughing.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“Kevin then said, ‘I’m going to put a bullet through both of you.’”
Miss Goodbier, who has a child with King, said he went on to threaten to kidnap their daughter from nursery.
She said King threatened to drive straight into her vehicle if she or Mr Walsh went near the farm he lived at in Lodge Lane.
At the time of the shooting, on January 12 2015, King was in Alton, Hampshire in his HGV lorry.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdLarge amounts of mobile phone traffic link him to the gunman, Donovan Wallace, in the time before and after the attack.
But King denies he was involved in the plot, claiming Wallace was angry at Mr Walsh visiting his home in Accrington, the previous night.
Miss Goodbier told the court Mr Walsh had been with her throughout the evening of January 11.
She admitted she had previously provided a cover story for her partner during a separate police investigation in 2012.
However she did not continue with her alibi, and refused to make a statement about Mr Walsh’s whereabouts, and the charges against him were later dropped.
(Proceeding)