Liverpool

Delta taxi bosses give evidence in commercial pilot and currency trader Jason Osu murder trial

Court hears how one of the men accused of killing the city dad was taking an "unhealthy interest" in his south Liverpool home

Delta taxis bosses gave evidence in the trial of three men accused of murdering a Liverpool dad who was ambushed and shot to death on his driveway.

Paul Croxton, who is accused of being one of the masked men who assassinated Jason Osu in a hail of bullets, was a Delta taxi driver at the time and much of the evidence centres around the GPS system he had installed in his cab.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Croxton’s black Ford Mondeo taxi was fitted with a GPS system that operated non-stop, unless it was disconnected, transmitting data to Delta’s computer servers.

Prosecutors said that, based on that data, for three months leading up the shooting of Jason Osu on November 19 2012 Croxton, 21, was taking an “unhealthy interest” in his home address on Woolton Road, Wavertree .           

Brian Cummings, QC, said that Croxton’s taxi would pass the house on Woolton Road and Beauclair Drive, did laps of the block and parked up near the house for more than an hour two nights running less than a month before the shootings.

After shooting 31-year-old Jason Osu, who was hit by seven bullets as he returned home in his car, prosecutors say the gunmen travelled in a stolen car to Halsnead Avenue, Whiston, and that Croxton’s taxi had made exactly the same journey two days before in what Mr Cummings called “a dry run of the getaway route”.

Mr Cummings also accused Croxton of deliberately disabling his taxi’s GPS on the night of the murder, and a week before when he was planning it, because he did not want his whereabouts to be known.

On the third day of the trial Barry Lord, who is in charge of communications for Delta’s 2,100 taxis, said that GPS data was transferred by their two-way radios and as a back up by a 3G mobile network.

Mr Cummings asked how many times it had failed. He replied: “It has happened four times (in four years) and every time in a car park, mostly in Manchester airport.”

Asked for a possible explanation why Croxton’s GPS wasn’t on he replied: “If someone has pulled the fuses out of the battery or from the fuse box. You’ve got to physically take the fuse out.”

Neil Flewitt, QC, defending Croxton, suggested it was possible that signals bouncing off buildings could give a false reading as to where the car was and Mr Lord agreed in principle.

Asked if he could tell that the system had been disconnected he said: “No, because it’s not a software issue.”

Croxton, Thomas White, 29, and George McGovern, 54, deny murder. Their addresses cannot be published.

Paul Croxton also denies possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence, relating to a series of shootings around Maghull, and the attempted murder of Darren Alcock, a friend of Jason Osu, in April last year.