A BLACKBURN father has appealed for a retrial exactly a year after he was found guilty of a street shooting in New York.

Solicitors working on behalf of Manzoor Qadar have asked the judge to overturn the findings of a Brooklyn court and allow a new trial to go ahead.

But the US attorney working on the case today revealed that they would be opposing the motion on the grounds that there was insufficient new evidence for the trial to be heard for a second time.

And if the judge throws out the appeal, Qadar could be sentenced in a matter of weeks.

The father of six has always protested his innocence despite being found guilty by the Federal Court in Brooklyn last April of conspiring in a hitman shooting which killed his cousin Shaukat Parvez seven years ago.

He was found guilty of three serious crimes including using a firearm for murder-for-hire.

The 42-year-old faces life imprisonment under the American courts but has been using different routes of appeal before appearing for sentence.

The case has been dealt with by several different solicitors in their efforts to uncover new information.

And it has been opened and adjourned more than five times over the past twelve months.

But now the case has been officially removed from the court listings as solicitors await the court's decision.

Samantha Schreiber, assistant US attorney, said: "The findings of the court are being contested by various routes of appeal.

"The team of solicitors working for Qadar have moved for a motion of a new trial. We will oppose that motion.

"If the judge concludes that there is not enough justification for a retrial, Qadar will be sentenced and would have the right to protest those findings at a court of appeal."

But for his family in Blackburn, the hope that Qadar could still be found innocent is a huge relief.

Brother Khaild, 45, of Holland Street, Blackburn, said: "We have not heard anything since December but we know the solicitors have been working very hard to find new evidence.

"It sounds like very good news if there is a chance of a retrial. We all still miss him terribly."

Qadar, who formerly worked as a nurse at Queen's Park Hospital, has been held at an FBI-run Metropolitan detention centre in Brooklyn since his extradition from England in 2001.

According to US probation documents, Qadar was caught up in a bitter saga over an arranged marriage in Pakistan which culminated in the killing of Shaukat Parvez by a single bullet wound to the chest.

Qadar sends regular letters to his family living in Holland Street, Blackburn, where his wife of 19-years Fehmeeda and his six children wait patiently for news.

Secret marriage and alleged gun plot

A COMPLEX conspiracy preceded the New York shooting on the night of November 22 1996, according to US probation documents.

Qadar is said to have become embroiled in a bitter saga over an arranged marriage originating with a family in Pakistan.

According to the official documents submitted before the courts, the drive-by shooting was worth £41,000. The money was allegedly offered by the bride's father, Malik Rahmat, a wealthy Pakistani land owner.

He had betrothed his daughter, Rubina, to her first cousin Khurram Khan. But she protested the betrothal and secretly married Qadar's cousin Shaukat Parvez, 33, in March 1994.

Under death threats from her father she married Khan in December 1994 but fled to the United States with Parvez soon after.

Records from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Non-Immigrant Information show that Qadar arrived at Newark International Airport aboard a flight from Manchester on November 15.

He reportedly spent seven days looking for the pair in New York.

On November 22 Parvez was shot in the chest as he went out to run an errand. The court was told that shots were fired from the passenger-side window of a parked car containing Qadar and another man, Malik's son, Omar.

Qadar, a 42-year-old father of six, was arrested in January 2001 when he was returning from working in Holland. His wife Fehmmeda said he had been away earning money to support his family and docked at a London port on a 10am ferry.

But the police had called at their Holland Street property three times in 1999 in a bid to contact Qadar, before his arrest. After an agreement with the US government, Qadar, was extradited on October 11 last year. The American authorities agreed that as a condition of the extradition he would be spared the death penalty.

Qadar's trial was brought before the Federal Court in Brooklyn. He was found guilty of murder-for-hire, conspiring to murder-for-hire and using a firearm for murder-for-hire.

Qadar's wife Fehmeeda and brother Khalid flew to America for the trial. Both sat in silence as the verdict was announced.

Omar Malik was also charged but has been fighting extradition in a Pakistani jail.