Following an 8 week trial at the Preston Crown Court before Sir Peter Openshaw, Mark Ford QC and Richard English secured the acquittal of their client, Jon-Paul Chatwood, of charges of murder and attempted murder.
On the 19th November 2019, a car owned by Mr Chatwood was deliberately driven into two people, Christian Rivers and Alison McBlain, as they were walking along a pavement in the centre of Blackburn. Mr Rivers was injured, but Ms McBlain was killed.
The prosecution alleged that Mr Chatwood, as the leader of an organisation supplying class A drugs known as the ‘Bully Line,’ directed the attack in retaliation for a robbery Rivers and McBlain had carried out on an employee of the drug line, Kaylib Connolly.
Mr Connolly was convicted of murder and attempted murder. Co-accused Dean Qayam, Joshua Titterington and Karis Poynton were also convicted of murder.
Mark and Richard were instructed by Nichola McTear at Forbes solicitors, Preston.