Hoogstraten claim is 'scraping barrel'

Multi-millionaire property owner Nicholas Van Hoogstraten would have organised a "vastly more sophisticated" plot if he had wanted a business rival murdered, the Old Bailey heard today.

Murdered businessman Mohammed Raja was not the victim of a contract killing but "a bungled farce" of an attempted robbery.

The Crown was "scraping the barrel" in even charging Hoogstraten with murder, the court was told.

Richard Ferguson QC opened the defence case today on the 35th day of the trial.

Hoogstraten and two others are accused of killing Mr Raja. Hoogstraten is said to have been the mastermind while David Croke and Robert Knapp shot and stabbed Mr Raja at his home in Sutton in July 1999.

Mr Ferguson told the jury: "The knife and a single-barrelled sawn-off shotgun are hardly the weapons of a contract killer. The raised voice, the shot through the ceiling, the moved furniture and the bag to carry away the loot are much more suggestive of a bungled robbery."

The Crown has claimed that Hoogstraten masterminded the murder in revenge for accusations of fraud made against him by Mr Raja and a number of court actions.

Hoogstraten of Framfield, East Sussex, Croke, of Brighton and Knapp of County Limerick all deny murder. Hoogstraten has also pleaded not-guilty to conspiring to murder Mr Raja between January and July 1999.

The case continues.