Shot for no reason

A banker was shot dead as she sat in her sports car talking to a friend, the Old Bailey heard today.

Pauline Peart, 25, was parked in a Tottenham street with her friend sitting in the passenger seat when she was shot in the back in an "apparently motiveless" attack, the court heard. Today Orlando Pownall QC, prosecuting, outlined the case against Morris Miller, 20, and 22-year-old Nebra Bennett.

He told the jury Miller was the gunman, but Bennett should be guilty of murder as well because he knew his companion would be prepared to kill. Both men deny the

charges. The court also heard how when Miller was arrested, he claimed Bennett pulled the trigger, but had meant to kill Miss Peart's friend for "showing disrespect". The prosecution rejects Miller's claim.

Miss Peart, of Waltham Abbey, Essex, was a customer account manager with a finance company in north London. In March last year she was sitting in her left-hand-drive Audi TT in Hampden Road, close to Tottenham Football Club, at about 11pm, the jury was told.

She was talking to her friend Yemmi Johnson when the single, fatal, shot was fired through the open window. It pierced her left lung and aorta. She died within minutes. Mr Pownall told how Mr Johnson saw three youths approaching, one wearing a bandana, one a white hooded top. Then he saw the one in the hooded top on the driver's side trying to open the door.

"Mr Johnson ducked as he saw the barrel of a gun coming through the window. He heard a shot and screamed, encouraging Miss Peart to start the car," said Mr Pownall. "She replied the engine was on and arched her back as if in

pain. He didn't see blood." Mr Johnson ran to a friend who lived nearby to call the police.

When Bennett and Miller were arrested three months after the killing, both denied being at the scene. But, Mr Pownall said, Miss Peart was shot with a gun police found in a flip-top bin at Miller's Enfield home.

Bennett, of Tottenham, was picked out of an ID parade by Mr Johnson. Mr Pownall said: "There does not appear to be any apparent motive for the shooting. There is no evidence that she knew either of the two defendants."

Miller later changed his story, Mr Pownall added. "When Miller was interviewed by police he claimed Bennett had the gun and fired the shot. He says Bennett's motive was Johnson had shown disrespect to Bennett."

But, said Mr Pownall, it was Miller who pulled the trigger. He added: "You will be entitled to infer on the evidence that Bennett knew Miller had a gun, and there was a real possibility Miller would use it to kill. If that was your view, Bennett would also be guilty of murder." The case continues.