LATEST UPDATE: Eight men not guilty of Blackburn murder attempt ​

A DRUG dealer plotted a murder from his prison cell to get revenge on a man who refused to take the blame for heroin offences, a court was told.

Shots were fired at a dark grey Fiat Punto which was parked in a Blackburn alleyway - but the target, Suheal Patel, had left the scene, a Crown Court jury heard.

Mr Patel's cousin Sameer Kanwadkar, who was visiting from India, was sitting in the passenger seat of the car.

He escaped injury in the shooting which took place off Accrington Road, at around 9pm on February 15, 2007.

The court was told Baber Qasam, 29, of Blackburn, planned to murder Mr Patel with the help of contacts and a network of prisoners in jails across the country, who he spoke to via mobile phone.

The court heard that Mr Patel was told by Qasam that he would be killed if he did not take the blame when police found the drugs.

But Mr Patel, who escaped with a community punishment, would not co-operate and Qasam was jailed for six years.

Tony Cross, QC, prosecuting, told the jury that Qasam wanted both "revenge and satisfaction. He said the conspiracy was borne of the grudge he bore towards Mr Patel, 19, because of what had happened at the time of the 2005 trial.

Qasam, 29, of Chestnut Walk, Yasser Khan, 24, of July Street, Blackburn, Gary Powell, 29, of Old Trafford, Manchester, Gareth Curtis, 31, of Stretford, Manchester, Ashley Duhaney, 21, of Old Trafford, Manchester, David Corbett, 22, of Timperley, Manchester, Craig Monaghan, 23, of Timperley, Manchester and Ibrahim Choudhury, 22, of Oldham, all pleaded not guilty to conspiring to murder.

Mr Cross said Mr Patel had left the alleyway after seeing a man carrying a black handgun, a converted Russian Baikal self-loading pistol.

He said that Mr Patel and Quasam had been accused of being in possession of heroin and cannabis with the intent to supply.

Qasam and members of his family put pressure on Patel to take the blame for the quantity of drugs that belonged to Qasam, he said.

Mr Cross said: "He sought the assistance of his prison associate Powell who in turn sought the assistance of Curtis. Curtis recruited people he knew from South Manchester (Dehaney, Monaghan and Corbett) to travel to Blackburn and carry out the shooting.

"They were in contact with Khan on the day of the shooting. Khan was in Blackburn on the evening in question and the evidence suggests that he met with those who had travelled from Manchester immediately prior to the shooting.

Yasser Khan had local Blackburn knowledge that the Manchester conspirators lacked, including the location of Patel's home, the court heard.

The prosecution told the court that much of the evidence for this case has been derived from telecommunications data from mobile phone companies.

(Proceeding)