Mark Duggan death: Police 'removed body and gun from cab'

Mark Duggan's death sparked a riot in Tottenham

Police at the scene of the Mark Duggan shooting removed a body and a gun from a minicab in which he was travelling, a court heard.

Giving evidence at Snaresbrook Crown Court, a woman contradicted police accounts of the shooting in Tottenham.

She said she saw an officer emerge from the cab, a gun in the palm of his hand.

Previous accounts placed an armed Mr Duggan outside the cab when he was shot dead. Kevin Hutchinson-Foster denies supplying a gun to Mr Duggan.

'Gun found'

The woman, speaking from behind a screen and referred to as Miss J, told the court that after hearing two gunshots she emerged from her home to see a police officer dragging a body from the back of the minicab and placing it beside some railings.

"I saw officers pull out a body and place it near railings," she said.

One officer had previously told the court the gun was later found on grassland 10ft (3m) away, on the other side of railings.

The prosecution said that when found it was wrapped in a black sock containing traces of blood from Mr Hutchinson-Foster.

But the woman told the court: "At the time [the police officer] came out he seemed like he'd found gold or something."

She added that "when he got to the end of the car he put a black cloth over it and pushed it into a bag".

Miss J was asked why her account contradicted an original statement in which she said she saw the gun in a police forensic bag.

She said she had not read the statement when she signed it

Mr Hutchinson-Foster denies selling or transferring a prohibited firearm to Mr Duggan between 28 July and 5 August 2011.

Mr Duggan's death on 4 August sparked riots in Tottenham, which led to disorder in a number of English cities and towns.

The trial continues.