Murderer who told ‘web of lies’ before escape to Pakistan jailed

A gang member who escaped to Pakistan has been jailed nine years after fatally shooting a man seven times.

Abdul Ahsan told “a web of lies” as he avoided justice for nine years over the murder of Andre Marshall in Greater Manchester, prosecutors said.

The 29-year-old victim was shot near Manor Park, Urmston in 2015 before the offenders sped away in a car.

Ahsan, now 28, was jailed for murder for a minimum of 28 years at Manchester Crown Court.

A post-mortem examination showed the victim was shot all over his body and that he also had a fractured skull, which was consistent with a gun being used to inflict a blunt force injury.

Ahsan and Mr Marshall had travelled together to Urmston, under the pretence of seeing someone near Manor Park, Greater Manchester Police said.

Witnesses heard loud bangs after midnight on 20 May 2015 and saw a BMW car reverse before a man was seen getting out of a back passenger door.

Ahsan, originally of Upper Chorlton Road in Old Trafford, was then seen going over to a parked car, where he bent down before another bang was heard.

He then returned to the BMW which sped off.

Mr Marshall’s body was found beside the parked car in the morning.

Ahsan contacted police shortly afterwards to say he had been with Mr Marshall on the night before his body’s discovery and he was interviewed as a witness.

He was then brought in again the following week as a suspect, after forensic examination of Mr Marshall’s vehicle revealed blood and gunshot residue.

He was released on bail but immediately boarded a plane to Pakistan, which does not have an official extradition treaty with the UK.

Two of his accomplices were sentenced in 2016 for assisting an offender.

Police located the offenders’ locations at the time of the crime by using mobile phone analysis and CCTV camera in what they called “a complex, complicated investigation”.

In some footage, Ahsan was seen running away from the scene of the murder.

Det Supt Chris Doggart, from GMP, said Pakistani authorities detained him in 2017 and arrested him with the intention of extraditing him to the UK.

However Ahsan lodged a number of appeals and was released on bail but he escaped again.

“He was finally located, still in Pakistan, in 2022 for breaching his bail conditions,” Det Supt Doggart said.

He was then returned to GMP custody this January.

Det Supt Doggart added: “Time and distance are not barriers to justice. Anyone who thinks that they have a shot a freedom by skipping the country is sorely mistaken. We will find you.”

During sentencing, Mr Marshall’s mother told the court: “Losing your only child in evil and brutal circumstances has a double impact.”

She said it had been “a rollercoaster of emotions, not knowing if the defendant was ever going to be extradited to the UK”.

“However, I never gave up on hope and to be honest, the police didn’t too.”