EXACTLY a year ago today, a teenage girl was shot down on a Blackburn street in broad daylight.

It was an event that shook the town and left a family mourning the loss of a daughter, sister and friend.

Aya Hachem had been walking along King Street in the town at shortly after 3pm on May 17 when she was struck by a bullet from a passing car.

Emergency services attended and the Lebanese national was taken to hospital but pronounced dead a short time later.

It soon became apparent that Aya, who had been returning home from buying groceries, had not been the intended target of the attack.

A wide-scale investigation was launched for the law student’s killers and today, precisely 365 days later, eight people will stand trial accused of her murder. They are:

n Feroz Suleman, 40, of Shear Brow, Blackburn

n Kashif Manzoor, 26, of Shakeshaft Street, Blackburn

n Judy Chapman, 26, of St Hubert’s Road, Great Harwood

n Uthman Satia, 29, of St Hubert’s Road, Great Harwood.

n Abubakr Satia, 32, of Oxford Close, Blackburn

n Ayaz Hussain, 35, of Calgary Avenue, Blackburn

n Zamir Raja, 33, of Davyhulme Road, Stretford, Manchester

n Anthony Ennis, 31, of Grasmere Court, Partington

All eight defendants are charged with the murder of Aya Hachem and the attempted murder of Pacha Khan.

The trial is to be held at Preston Crown Court and is due to last 10 weeks.