A mechanic accused of being part of a motorcycle gang which shot and killed Hells Angel Gerry Tobin on the M40 motorway has denied taking part in the killing.

Simon Turner has claimed that he was at an industrial unit in Coventry at the time when Mr Tobin was shot in the head by a revolver fired from a car on August 12 last year.

Timothy Raggatt QC, prosecuting at Birmingham Crown Court, said Mr Tobin, aged 35, held a senior position with the Hells Angels and before he was shot he had attended the Bulldog Bash, a festival for bikers at Long Marston, near Stratford-upon-Avon.

He said that Turner and five other defendants were all members of rival bikers group The Outlaws and that at the heart of what happened, was the rivalry between the two gangs.

Mr Raggatt said that on the day of the killing, some of the Outlaws, who were in a car, had waited in a lay-by before following Mr Tobin, who was riding in convoy with other bikers. Turner said he had been a member of the South Warwickshire Chapter of the Outlaws for three years before the incident and that the other defendants were also part of the Chapter.

He said one of the Chapter had previously been given a “kicking” by Hells Angels and that as a result, he and others had carried out “monitoring” activities in and around the Bulldog Bash looking out for a particular group of bikers from the Thames Valley area on the days leading up to the shooting.

Turner (41), from Nuneaton, Malcolm Bull (53), from Milton Keynes, Ian Cameron (46), of no fixed address, Karl Garside (45), his brother Dane Garside (42), and Dean Taylor (46), all from Coventry, have all denied a charge of murder and possessing two shotguns.

Turner and Dane Garside have also pleaded not guilty to possessing a firearm with intent.

Creighton (44), from Coventry, pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Tobin before the start of the trial.

The trial continues.