A MUSIC business manager accused of murdering a drug dealer told detectives he didn’t know the alleged victim and had nothing to do with his death.

Euan Peters is on trial with two co-defendants who deny killing Shafiul Islam, nicknamed ‘Chilly’, in the Shaftesbury area of Newport two years ago.

Peters, Conlan Dunnion and Perrie Dunwell have pleaded not guilty to murdering the 22-year-old in his flat in the city’s Tewkesbury Walk on November 14, 2019.

Peters, 42, from Dros-y-Morfa, Rumney, Cardiff, has admitted conspiracy to rob Mr Islam.

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Dunnion, 23, of Maesglas Avenue, Maesglas, Newport, and Dunwell, 33, of Cold Mill Road, Newport, deny conspiracy to rob.

Transcripts of interviews Peters gave to detectives were read to a Newport Crown Court jury by Timothy Evans, prosecuting, and DC Angela Smith from Gwent Police.

When asked if he knew Shafiul Islam or someone by the name of ‘Chilly’, he replied “I don’t know him. I’ve never heard of him. I played no part in his murder.

“I’ve never heard of that name in my life.”

Peters told murder squad officers he worked in the music industry and was at home at the time of the alleged killing with his partner and baby daughter.

In a prepared statement, he said: “I will not be forensically linked to this crime.

“I have never entered 52 Tewkesbury Walk.

“I have given samples to assist the process.”

Lead prosecutor Mark Wyeth QC, said Mr Islam died after he was repeatedly hit over the head with a Kopparberg cider bottle.

He told the jury: “The prosecution’s case is that he was killed during the course of a robbery – a planned robbery.

“The robbery was planned and carried out by all three of these defendants.

"Perrie Dunwell drove Peters to the scene. He arranged for Dunnion to open the communal door in order that the robbery could be carried out.

“He drove Peters and Dunnion away from the scene.

He was the link to Peters, a man who described himself as an ‘enforcer’.”

Mr Wyeth added: “Euan Peters, the prosecution say, hit him with the bottle of Kopparberg he’d taken earlier from a restaurant.

“There’s strong forensic evidence that links that broken bottle to Mr Peters.

“That was a deliberate, gratuitous and violent attack that was made by him with the concurrence of his two co-defendants.

“Mr Islam was taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital.

“A CT scan indicated that he had suffered ‘a devastating brain injury’.

“Sadly, he never regained consciousness and died on Wednesday, November 20, 2019. He was just 22 years old.

“Mr Islam was the defendants’ target because he was a drug dealer.”

The trial before Mrs Justice Jefford continues.