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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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0 9 - 0 7 - 2 0 0 5 Firearm cops guard court
hertsessexnews.co.uk
ARMED police surrounded a courthouse this week, as the trial of three men charged with the murder of Stevenage bodybuilder David King got under way. Dozens of firearms officers patrolled the streets around Luton Crown Court and a police surveillance helicopter hovered overhead, as the four defendants arrived in a prison van on Monday morning.
The 32-year-old father of four was blasted to death with shots from an AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifle in a drive-by shooting as he left the Physical Limit gym in Brewery Road, Hoddesdon, on October 3, 2003. It was the first time the automatic battlefield weapon had been used by criminals anywhere in Britain.
A police spokesman said of the security at the court: "Because of the nature of the offences involved, we need to take relevant precautions to ensure the safety of members of the public."
Roger Vincent, 33, of Penn in Buckinghamshire, David Smith, 33, of Elstree in Hertfordshire and Jason Attridge, 36, of North Harrow in Middlesex are charged with the murder of David King. Julian Elfes, 38, of High Wycombe, Bucks, is charged with assisting an offender and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
King was associated with the criminal underworld and police appealed directly to criminals for information during their investigation. The £1.6m estate of the 32-year-old former celebrity minder, which includes £550,000 property The Darlings in Wood End, Ardeley, near Stevenage, remains frozen, as Government investigators look into King's background.
The Assets Recovery Agency has declared that King's legitimate sources of income were nowhere near enough to fund his lavish lifestyle and his ownership of several properties.
It is believed that King set up bogus companies and various accounts both in the UK and abroad in order to hide his dubious financial arrangements. The court proceedings, which began on Monday, were embroiled in detailed legal argument all this week and the jury are not expected to be sworn in until today (Friday, 08 July) at the earliest.
The trial is expected to last between six and eight weeks.
1 3 - 0 7 - 2 0 0 5 Ruthless execution of bodybuilder
Wednesday 13th July 2005
A BODYBUILDER was "ruthlessly executed" in a hail of bullets fired from an AK47 Kalashnikov assault rifle as he left a gym, a court was told. Dave King was murdered after a contract was taken out on his life by criminal associates who thought he had become a "grass", a jury heard on Monday. The 32-year-old fitness fanatic from Julians Road, Stevenage, died almost instantly when a van pulled up beside him in the middle of a market town and a masked gunman began firing through the open window. Such was the power of the weapon, described as a "killing machine", it discharged 26 bullets in just a second or two. Five of them hit their target. The story was unfolded at Luton Crown Court when four men went on trial in connection with the killing outside the Physical Limits gym in Hoddesdon. Andrew Bright QC, for the prosecution, said the rifle was "more commonly associated with terrorist activity in Afghanistan". On trial are Roger Vincent, 33, of St John's Road, Penn, Bucks; David Smith, 33, of Schubert Road, Elstree, Herts and Jason Attridge, 36, from Broadfields, North Harrow, who all deny murdering Mr King on the morning of October 3, 2003. A fourth man, Julian Elfes, 38, of De Havilland Drive, Hazelmere, High Wycombe, pleads not guilty to embarking on a course of conduct intended to pervert the course of justice and assisting an offender. The jury heard that Mr King was known as "Muscles" and "DK" and lived with his girlfriend and their two children. The prosecutor said: "He was a man with a history of involvement in crime. The prosecution say there is a clear link between his criminal past and why he was murdered. Mr King met his death because he had made enemies amongst his former associates, probably because he was thought to be a police or a customs and excise informer - a grass. The murder was nothing more than a ruthless execution." In June 2002 Mr King and four other men had been arrested in a customs and excise operation investigating the importation of 14kgs of heroin into the UK from France. All were charged with importation offences, but before the trial began the charges against Mr King were dropped at a preliminary court hearing. Mr Bright said a co-accused, David Sharma, was heard to say in court that Mr King was a grass and he had had charges dropped because he had somehow helped customs. As a result, said Mr Bright, "he became a target for murder several weeks before he died. The prosecution case is that a contract was in existence to have him killed." The jury heard how another man, 30-year-old Londoner Dean Spencer, had earlier admitted conspiring to kill Mr King and possessing a Webley .38 revolver. Just days before Mr King's death, Spencer had been seen parked in a stolen Saab car close to Mr King's home and had the gun with him. "He was plainly intent on doing Mr King in that day, but he didn't," said Mr Bright. The prosecution say Vincent wanted King dead and was upset that Spencer had failed to do the job. He decided if he wanted the job done, he would have to do it himself. As Mr King stood next to a friend's car a van went past and he was hit in the arm, hip, abdomen and thigh, but died from a chest wound. "Vincent very probably was the one to fire the gun and Smith was probably the driver of the van," said Mr Bright. Attridge, said the prosecutor, although not present at the time of the killing, was nonetheless part of the murder team and had provided one of the getaway cars the killers used. Forensic and DNA evidence gathered by police linked Smith and Vincent with the murder, said Mr Bright. Case proceeding. 2 2 - 0 7 - 2 0 0 5 Did King's threat lead to his murder?
Herts and Essex News Online STEVENAGE bodybuilder Dave King was slaughtered after a Scotland Yard detective advised an associate of the men facing trial for his murder that he was in danger from King, a court heard. Det Chief Insp Keith Butler advised David Sharma to take measures to protect himself from King, who lived in Julians Road, Old Town. In a dramatic development, Mr Butler, who is now with the Flying Squad, told Luton Crown Court on Monday that he phoned Sharma to warn him that Scotland Yard had learned of King's intention to kill him. Insisting he did not mean for Sharma to break the law, he said: "I just told him to get out of London and to advise me where he had got to." Sharma was a friend of 33-year-olds Roger Vincent and David Smith, two of three men facing murder charges at Luton Crown Court. King, a bodybuilder who had minded celebrities including pop star Robbie Williams, died in a hail of bullets fired from an AK-47 outside the Physical Limit gym in Hoddesdon in October 2003. He lived with his girlfriend and two children in Old Town, and owned a home in Wood End, near Ardeley. Last week, the court heard the prosecution's claim that assassins killed King because he was a police or customs informant. Andrew Bright QC, prosecuting, said Sharma made the accusation after King escaped heroin smuggling charges that they both faced, along with two other men, in June 2002. Mr Butler told the court that Scotland Yard received information in January 2003 that King had made "threats to the life or well being" of Sharma, who was forced into hiding. A further warning went out to Sharma in May 2003. Following King's murder, it is alleged that Vincent made a phone call to the south of France, possibly to Sharma. "Is Vincent ringing up David Sharma and saying 'Job done mate'? Because the prosecution say the job had been done," said Mr Bright QC. Vincent, from Penn, Bucks, Smith, from Elstree, Herts, and Jason Attridge, 36, of North Harrow, north London, all deny murder. A fourth man, Julian Elfes, 38, of High Wycombe, Bucks, denies perverting the course of justice an assisting an offender. The prosecution claims Vincent was the masked gunman who fired the assault weapon from a white Peugeot Boxer van as King spoke on a mobile phone outside the gym. They also allege that Smith was the driver while Attridge provided a stolen Mercedes saloon to be used as a getaway car. The role of Elfes, according to Mr Bright, was to help Vincent lie low after the killing and to provide him with an alibi. Vincent was arrested on August 2 last year at Heathrow Airport, having just returned from Malaga. He was taken to Royston police station but answered "no comment" to all questions. Smith followed suit when arrested the same day and interrogated at Hertford police station. The case continues. 0 5 - 0 8 - 2 0 0 5 'I was hung over at home when King was killed'
HEN News A MAN accused of murdering Stevenage bodybuilder David King told a jury this week that he was at home nursing a hangover at the time of the brutal killing. Roger Vincent, one of three men facing murder charges at Luton Crown Court, claims he first heard on the news that his "good friend" King, of Julians Road, Old Town, had been killed by drive-by assassins with an AK-47 Kalashnikov. Vincent's barrister Nick Rhodes QC told the jury his client "is no angel" and made a living "within the criminal world" as well as through legitimate means. He added: "Many of his associates and friends are underworld characters of one kind or another." Mr Rhodes said father-of-four King, 32, was an "ambitious and violent criminal" who made a large number of enemies and had issued contracts to have others killed. Vincent, a former ABA Champion bantamweight boxer, admitted he had an expensive lifestyle, drove luxury cars and had property abroad. He made his money from nightclubs, security firms, doormen, property and "moving people's money from A to B". Asked if by "people" he meant other crooks, Vincent replied: "Yes". He met King in the late 1990s at a boxing tournament and became good friends after being reintroduced at a London lap-dancing club. King's illegal interests included drug dealing, said Vincent. He claimed that on October 2, 2003, the day before King was shot dead outside the Physical Limit gym in Hoddesdon, he received a call from co-accused and boyhood friend David Smith asking if he could collect a van from the A10, south of the M25, drive it to the Lampits area of Hoddesdon and leave it there. It was this van that the prosecution claim was used by the drive-by assassins. Vincent said Smith, who he knew was a cannabis dealer, drove the van while he was in another car driven by his friend Lance Clarke, from Chelmsford, Essex. Vincent saw Smith "wipe down" the car and assumed he was driving drugs around. That evening, Vincent lent Mr Clarke a "throwaway" mobile phone and told him he could stay the night at his flat in Harrow. Vincent claimed he was at home nursing a hangover the next morning when King was murdered. Mr Rhodes asked: "When did you hear he had died?" Vincent replied: "I think it was on the news, it was the same day." The prosecution say King was "ruthlessly executed" because his associates thought he had "grassed" over a heroin smuggling deal. Vincent, 33, of Penn, Bucks, Smith, 33, of Elstree, Herts, and Jason Attridge, 36, from North Harrow, north London, deny murdering King. Julian Elfes, 38, of High Wycombe, Bucks, denies assisting an offender. On Monday the jury were directed by the judge to find Elfes not guilty of perverting the course of justice. The prosecution claims Vincent fired the gun, Smith drove the van while Attridge provided a getaway car and Elfes helped Vincent lie low after the murder. 1 3 - 0 8 - 2 0 0 5 'Murder? I thought it was kidnap?
Stevenage Mercury,br>
HEN News A MAN accused of being involved in the gangland execution of Stevenage bodybuilder Dave King has admitted driving the van used for the murder — but claimed he thought it was to be a kidnap vehicle. David Smith, 33, told Luton Crown Court this week that he believed his criminal associates were going to "grab someone" over a drugs debt when he drove the van to Hoddesdon the day before the murder in October 2003. King, who lived in Julians Road, Old Town, with his girlfriend, died in a hail of bullets fired from an AK-47 Kalashnikov as he left the Physical Limit gym in Hoddesdon. It is claimed he was killed because criminal associates thought he was "a grass". Smith, a cannabis dealer, told the court that he had also been offered £500 by co-defendant Jason Attridge to follow King for a day. Smith, from Elstree, was giving evidence on Wednesday during the sixth week of the murder trial. Joining him in the dock are Roger Vincent, 33, of Penn, Bucks, and 36-year-old Attridge, from North Harrow, north London. All three deny murdering the father-of-three. A fourth man, Julian Elfes, 38, of High Wycombe, Bucks, pleads not guilty to assisting an offender. Talking about the £500 offer to follow King, Smith said: "I asked what it was about and he said he was someone who had ripped someone off for a load of drugs. "They wanted to know his movements so they could grab him." Smith agreed and was given King's description, his home address, his car's registration number and the name of the gym he regularly used. But the bungling Smith managed to lose King as soon as he left his Old Town home and was unable to track him down. He said Attridge's brother rang him some time later telling him to pick up a van in Enfield and take it to Hoddesdon. Smith roped in Vincent to pick him up from the Lampits estate, and once there used towels from the other man's boot to wipe down the van to remove fingerprints. The jury have heard that the van was set alight after the shooting. Smith denied being anywhere near the murder scene at the time of the shooting. "I wasn't the driver of that van when Dave King was shot," he told the jury. He claimed he was told later by Attridge that the van had been used in the shooting. "I felt like I had been smacked in the face with something. I saw it on Sky News and saw pictures of the van burnt out. I was relieved that they would not find any fingerprints." Asked why his DNA was found on the magazine of the AK-47, he said: "I don't know how it got there, but it wasn't from me touching it. I've never touched a gun or magazine." The case continues. 2 5 - 0 8 - 2 0 0 5 Dave King Murder Trial: GUILTY!
24 August 2005 THE murderers of Stevenage bodybuilder Dave King in a gangland slaying were given life sentences yesterday (Tuesday). One was ordered to stay in prison for no less than 30 years while the other faces at least 25 years behind bars. Mr King, a 6ft 2in 17-stone muscleman who was said to have been a drug dealer, died almost instantly in the drive-by shooting as he left a gym where he had been working out. The weapon, an AK47 Kalashnikov assault rifle described by police as "a weapon of war", discharged an incredible 26 rounds of armour-piercing bullets in just three seconds. The man who pulled the trigger was wealthy London villain Roger Vincent, 33. At Luton Crown Court Mr Justice Wilkie told him: "This was a thoroughly planned, ruthless and brutally executed assassination of a criminal led by you. "It was committed in a public street in daytime and involved an automatic firearm and it is only by great good fortune that no other passers-by were seriously injured or worse." It was the first time such a weapon had been used on the streets of Britain. Vincent's boyhood friend, David Smith, 33, who had driven the stolen Peugeot Boxer van from which he fired the murderous weapon, was told he must serve a minimum of 25 years. But who ordered the killing of Mr King still remains a mystery. Mr Justice Wilkie said Vincent had carried out the contract killing at the behest of "others" not before the court. During the six-week trial the jury heard how, in the days leading up to the murder in Hoddesdon on October 3, 2003, Vincent had been in regular contact with fellow hitman Gary "Tyson" Nelson who was being held on remand in Belmarsh Prison. In a series of phone calls that were taped by prison authorities Vincent and Nelson, who is now serving a life sentence for firearms offences, spoke in code using criminal speak to confuse the authorities they knew would be listening. But it was clear that, on occasions, the pair talked about a shadowy senior underworld figure of the "old school" who they referred to as "Dad". Mr King, 32, was known as "Muscles" and lived in Julians Road, Stevenage, with his girlfriend and their two children. After his death, police discovered he had been heavily involved in crime and established that that was the link to his murder. But the prosecution said he died because he had made enemies among his former associates, probably because they thought he was a police or customs and excise informer. His fate was sealed after heroin importation charges against him were dropped. An assassination attempt outside Mr King's home in September of 2003 was aborted after the would-be killer, Londoner Dean Spencer, saw the size of Mr King and realised he was wearing a bullet proof vest. But others struck with deadly force the next month. |
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