Jasem Asakerh

Jasem Asakerh was shot in the chest whilst sitting in the back of a car.

His shooting was said to have been a targeted execution.

He had been sat in an Audi Q7 with some friends at the time when a masked man in a hooded top approached the car at 3.45am and fired two shots, one into the car and the other into the street. He had approached the car from the side of the Thornton Lodge Community Centre and afterwards had gone off along the rear of Brook Street towards Moorbottom Road.

After he had been shot he had jumped out of the car and tried to chase the gunman but collapsed after a few yards. He was then helped back into the car and driven to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary where he died shortly after.

There had been five people in the car at the time and it was thought that they had been to strip clubs on the night. The police said that Jasem Asakerh had been drinking alcohol and taking cannabis and taking other soft drugs.

Another man in the car was hit in the leg by some of the pellets from the shot. He had fled on foot leaving behind one of his training shoes.

Police found the fore end of a gun on Brook Street and thought that it might have come away whilst the gun was fired. It had the digits 584 on it and was said to have been part of a Spanish made gun.

The gun was probably a double-barrelled shotgun.

Two men were arrested on suspicion of murder in April 2009 but released.

The inquest heard that some witnesses had failed to fully co-operate with the police. It was also said that police believed that many people in the local community knew who was responsible but were not saying.

Jasem Asakerh was said to have had a criminal record. He was born in Iran and had moved to the UK in 2003. His inquest heard that he was a drug dealer and had lied about his background when seeking asylum in Britain.

His inquest heard that his real name was Mohammad Kalban and that he had gone to Greece via Turkey in 2001 where he was jailed for entering the country illegally for three months after which he had gone to Germany where he had claimed asylum but was refused. He had then gone back to Greece and then on to the UK under the false name of Jasem Asakerh saying he was from Iraq. He was allowed to enter and stay in the UK and given accommodation in Huddersfield.

The police said that he later became involved in the drugs scene and had begun dealing drugs on a regular basis. They said that the day before he was murdered he had been in court on charges of attempted kidnap and grievous bodily harm.