DNA matching an alleged murder victim was found on a metal bar recovered from the house of a man accused of killing him, a court heard yesterday.

Karl Drummond, 36, of Attlee Court, George Glover, 39, of Graham Court, and Shahid Rafiq, 36, of Bryn-yr- Ysgol, all Caerphilly, are on trial at Newport Crown Court accused of murdering and conspiring to rob Newport man Tony Singh.

All three deny the charges.

Mr Singh, who was described as a drug dealer in court, was attacked on November 11 after the trio earlier handed over £100 to another man for what they believed was heroin, but was actually beef powder, jurors heard.

Continuing the prosecution opening yesterday, Paul Lewis, QC, said the three men travelled to Newport planning to rob a drug dealer to get their money back. He said Rafiq, who was one of Mr Singh’s existing customers, called Mr Singh to arrange a meeting.

The court heard Glover drove his two co-defendants to Caerau Road, where he parked and the other two got out. CCTV footage taken from the Spar shop in Clytha Park Road was shown to the jury, which, Mr Lewis said, showed Rafiq and Drummond walking towards the meeting and then returning to Caerau Road around five minutes later.

Mr Lewis said Rafiq and Drummond met Mr Singh near the law courts, but the precise location was only known to the three men present at the meeting.

The court heard the two men approached Mr Singh on the pretext of buying drugs and then Drummond hit Mr Singh twice on the back of the head with a metal scaffolding pole, causing Mr Singh to fall to the floor, trembling. Mr Lewis said Drummond searched Mr Singh, stealing £15 cash and a Blackberry phone, while Rafiq kicked Mr Singh on the ground. Drummond and Rafiq then returned to the van and Glover drove them back to Caerphilly.

Mr Lewis said Mr Singh managed to get to his Bryngwyn Road flat, but collapsed in his bedroom, where his body was found four days later.

The court heard when police searched Drummond’s home they found a metal pole in a shed in the garden, from which a DNA profile matching Mr Singh was obtained. Mr Lewis said Drummond’s DNA was also found in the pocket of jeans recovered from Mr Singh’s flat.

Proceeding

Cash was pooled for drugs deal

GIVING evidence, Glover’s business partner, Timothy Burrows, said he met Rafiq, Glover and his ex-partner, Nina Sayer, who is now in a relationship with Drummond, to get heroin to smoke on November 11, 2010.

He said Rafiq arranged for them to go to Newport and he drove Rafiq and Glover to Maesglas to pick up the drugs.

Mr Burrows, who was a daily heroin user at that time, said the four of them pooled their money to buy £100 worth of heroin.

The court heard after getting the drugs they returned to Drummond’s flat, where they discovered it was gravy granules or stuffing mix.

Mr Burrows said it was agreed they should go to get the money back, but he stayed behind as he does not like confrontation.

He said he could not remember who suggested going to get the money back or anyone taking weapons.

Mr Burrows told the jury he was withdrawing from heroin when he was interviewed by police and could not remember much about what happened on November 11, 2010.