Mark Duggan shooting cab police seals 'broken'

Mark Duggan was travelling in a Toyota minicab when he was stopped by police

Police seals on the minicab Mark Duggan was travelling in before he was shot by officers were broken a day later, Snaresbrook Crown Court has been told.

Jurors heard a vehicle recovery driver saw a police officer seal the doors but soon after driving it away he was told to return the car to the scene.

Another recovery driver said when he later collected the car from north London the seals had been broken.

Kevin Hutchinson-Foster, 30, denies giving Mr Duggan an illegal handgun.

Mr Duggan's fatal shooting in Tottenham last year sparked riots which spread across London and then to other cities in England.

'Unusual' instruction

Mr Hutchinson-Foster is accused of handing over a gun to Mr Duggan 15 minutes before he was stopped by police in Tottenham on 4 August.

Nicholas Goldmsith, the driver of a recovery vehicle used by the police to transport the car away from the scene in Ferry Road, told the court he had watched a police officer seal each of the doors on the Toyota minicab.

En route to the police pound in Perivale, west London, with the car on his trailer, he received a call telling him to turn around and take the minicab back to Ferry Road, the court heard.

He said he was told to put it about 40ft (12m) from where he collected it, in an area he was told had already been searched.

Mr Goldsmith, who had worked for the private recovery contractor CNS Motors for two years, said he was not told the reason for what he described as an "unusual" instruction.

Jurors also heard that in a statement given to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, a second recovery vehicle driver, Colin Hodge, said when he picked up the car from the scene later the same day, the seals on the doors were broken.

David Cunningham, a police forensic pound officer, told the court the car arrived at the pound in Perivale on 5 August with the door seals broken and he resealed them.

The case continues.