‘Murder victim lured to ambush’

A man from Rochdale, who lived a double life as a drug dealer, was murdered and his body was never found, Liverpool Crown Court was told.

Paul Brady, 43, had been lured to an ambush at a site in Bacup, said Richard Marks QC, prosecuting.

Mr Marks said father-of-four Mr Brady, had just taken delivery of £350,000 worth of cocaine a few days before his disappeared.

Paul Devalda, 35, of Manchester, denied murder and his girlfriend Stacia Crossley, 28, denied assisting an offender.

Heath Bowling, 38, of Stockport, denied perverting the course of justice.

The prosecution alleged a reported act of vandalism on an empty property on the site Mr Brady managed in Weir, had been a plan to get him to the site.

The following day when he arrived with a joiner at the development, a masked gang of 10 to 15 men armed with metal bars, baseball bats and a shotgun attacked him.

The joiner escaped but Mr Brady was bundled into a van and never seen again.

Proceeding.