Botched bid to kill criminal cost Slade his liberty

It is now believed Slade had been planning for several days for someone to shoot his intended victim before the final incident on March 4, 2008.

But at the time the gang’s sudden interest in the East End Park area of Leeds was thought to be in a security depot.

Robert Smith QC prosecuting told the jury at a trial last year at Leeds Crown Court, which could not previously be reported, that police believe his target was probably Ralph Roberts. He also had a criminal record.

The jury was not told a reason why Slade might want him dead, but after the case an officer said: “It wasn’t really a personal problem, more of a financial problem.”

The gang were unaware that they were already under police surveillance when they went in a couple of cars to the area of Dawlish Crescent where a car was attacked with a baseball bat.

At 7.40pm a resident was sitting in his living room when he suddenly heard noises outside.He went out to investigate and found the windscreen and some side windows of his Vauxhall Vectra had been deliberately smashed and the bodywork damaged.

Mr Smith told the jury that man was not the intended target but Mr Roberts’s partner lived nearby on York Road, with the rear of the property on Dawlish Crescent. It is believed that the car was attacked in an attempt to lure him out to investigate what was happening.

However, the police hearing the sound of smashing glass thought it was gunfire and quickly moved in.

Although some of those involved escaped in one car and on a motorbike, taking away a sawn-off shotgun, another car containing Slade, Richard Pearman and Michael Baxter was found nearby.

The gang’s operation was “planned with care involving the use of not only vehicles but also sophisticated technical equipment capable of tracking the movements of the intended victim,” said Mr Smith.

Slade tried to dispose of a tracking device he had made himself and which he probably intended to put on the target’s car if the plan did not succeed that night.

An earlier attempt had already failed when the gun jammed at the critical moment.

In the event no-one was injured. One of the cars involved was later found burnt out.