UK biker killed in 'military-style operation'

A motorcyclist riding home from a Hells Angels festival was shot dead with "great skill and precision" by a gunman in a car speeding along a motorway at up to 90 mph, a court heard yesterday.

Prosecutors said mechanic Gerry Tobin, 35, from east London, was a random victim killed during a "military-style operation" after the Bulldog Bash in Warwickshire in August last year. "The incident was a thoroughly ruthless one executed with great skill and precision, great timing... and was the product of a great deal of planning," prosecutor Timothy Raggatt told Birmingham Crown Court, according to the Press Association.

"It was a thoroughly carefully aimed shot delivered by someone in a vehicle... travelling at something like 85-90 mph, approaching carefully from behind.

"This wasn't a case of a man being killed for any personal motive or any personal reason. This was a man who was targeted not because of who he was, but because of what he was. In one sense, Gerry Tobin was a random victim."