Grass 'hired as hit man in Brindle feud'
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Your support makes all the difference.A police informant warned his handlers that he had been hired for a contract killing and then went ahead with an attempt to assassinate a man with family links to the criminal underworld, a court heard yesterday.
An Old Bailey jury was told that police marksmen posing as gas workers lay in wait for Michael Boyle, 48, as he carried out the hit in south London.
Mr Boyle, from Dublin, had fired three bullets into Anthony Brindle, his intended victim, and was "intent on finishing him off" when two armed officers opened fire hitting him five times, said Nigel Sweeney, prosecuting. Both men survived.
The shooting was part of a bloody feud between a south London family, the Brindles, and others with underworld connections, the jury was told.
Mr Sweeney revealed that before coming to England, Mr Boyle had been working as an informant for the Garda in Dublin. He allegedly told the police of a plan to murder members of the Brindle family in London and admitted that he had been recruited to carry out one of the contract killings.
He was warned by the Dublin police that he must distance himself from the hit and was told that they intended to inform the London police of the plot, the jury heard.
Mr Boyle then turned "rogue informant" as far as the Dublin police were concerned and secretly returned to London, said Mr Sweeney.
He denied attempting to murder Mr Brindle outside his home in Rotherhithe, south London, on 20 September last year. He has also denied possession of two high-powered handguns with intent to endanger life.
The prosecution alleges he was armed by David Roads, who acted as quartermaster in the operation. Mr Roads, 52, from south London, denies attempted murder and possession of firearms.
Mr Boyle and Mr Roads were part of a plot to murder Anthony Brindle and possibly his brothers, Patrick and George, the court heard.
Mr Boyle told the police that a well-known Dublin criminal, George Mitchell, was arranging to hit the Brindles on behalf of his friend, Peter Daly. Ignoring the police warning to stay out of the plan, Mr Boyle, disguised in a wig, drove in a stolen van to the square where his victim lived. Mr Boyle had a Browning semi-automatic pistol and a fully loaded Magnum with him, said Mr Sweeney. But police had learned of the plan and two armed officers hid in the square inside a British Gas van.
But the police were taken by surprise. As Mr Brindle emerged from his home and walked to his car Mr Boyle opened fire from inside the van, hitting his victim in the elbow, chest and thighs.
As Mr Brindle ran back to his house in a bid to escape, Mr Boyle allegedly got out of the van to give chase. "He was holding his gun with seven bullets still in it - obviously intent on finishing him off," the prosecution told the jury.
The two armed officers got out of the gas van and challenged Mr Boyle. When he refused to stop they fired, hitting him in the elbow, chest, shoulder blades and left heel, the court was told.
The case continues.
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