A Liverpool man allegedly tasked with being a getaway driver was unable to carry out his job because he became lost in Aberdeen, a court has heard.
Russell Clark, 31, told jurors that Darren Summers, 30, was to have ridden the motorbike to be used in a murder bid on Henry Stephen.
But the High Court in Edinburgh heard that Mr Summers didn’t know the layout of Aberdeen and that 24-year-old Jeff Binnie, an alleged accomplice, had to take over.
Mr Clark was speaking on the third day of proceedings against the two men who are standing trial with Warren Keating, 29, on a charge of conspiring to murder Mr Stephen almost two years ago.
The witness told prosecutor David Taylor: “I think it was supposed to be Darren. But he didn’t know his way around Aberdeen so it was Jeff.”
Mr Clark, of Aberdeen, told the court that he had grown up in the same area in Aberdeen as Mr Stephen and knew the people who were involved in the case.
He said Mr Stephen had fallen out with another alleged gangster because of a relationship with the criminal’s sister.
The witness said that had been a source of “tension” and had led to Keating and Summers travelling to Aberdeen from Liverpool.
He said the two Liverpudlians had joined with Binnie and another man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to begin plotting Mr Stephen’s death.
The court was told the men had obtained a gun, a motorbike, tracksuits and mobile phones.
Their plan was said to have involved using a motorbike to locate their target, with Keating riding as a pillion passenger and shooting Mr Stephen before being driven away from the scene.
The High Court heard that the men’s plans were set back, however, when the motorbike that was supposed to be used in the alleged attack was stolen.
Jurors heard earlier in the case that the theft had been reported to the police.
Mr Clark also said that the men told him and a former girlfriend about their plans to kill the man they knew by his nickname “Aitcher”.
He said: “They told us. They weren’t exactly discreet about it.”
Prosecutors claim the three men planned to murder Mr Stephen between May 1 and November 24, 2016 at a property in Aberdeen’s North Anderson Drive “in return for a payment of a sum of money.”
The Crown claims that in “furtherance” of the “conspiracy”, the men acquired a Colt Model DA41 “six shot” revolver and three live .38 cartridges.
The three men are also accused of firearms charges and a charge of possessing cannabis, while Binnie is also accused of supplying cocaine and heroin.
It is also alleged that on October 27, 2016, Keating and Summers robbed a branch of Coral Bookmakers at Cornhill Shopping Arcade in Aberdeen, threatening and assaulting two employees of the shop before robbing £2,800 from its safe.
The three men have entered not guilty pleas to all the charges facing them.
The trial, before judge Lady Scott and a jury of eight men and seven women, continues.
