Flamur Beqiri murder case: Wife denies husband was a gangster

Flamur Beqiri is the brother of Misse Beqiri, who appeared in Real Housewives Of Cheshire

A woman whose husband was shot dead in front of her and their two-year-old son has denied he was involved in drug trafficking for a gang.

Anis Hemissi allegedly killed Flamur Beqiri, 36, outside the family's Battersea home on Christmas Eve 2019.

Prosecutors claim Mr Beqiri's killing was part of escalating violence between two rival networks from Sweden.

His wife, Debora Krasniqi, rejected this suggestion, saying he had no enemies to her knowledge.

Ms Krasniqi told Southwark Crown Court she had met her husband in the Netherlands, where he was working in the music industry.

The court heard the couple had borrowed £750,000 for their three-floor home in south-west London, with a £950,000 down payment, and also rented a property in Dubai.

Mr Hemissi's barrister Abbas Lakha QC told the court: "It is the prosecution suggestion that he was part of an organised crime group in Sweden involved in large-scale importation and supply of drugs."

Asked if this was true, Ms Krasniqi said: "No."

The killing was captured on CCTV

The court heard Ms Krasniqi had told police her husband had been "very stressed" in the period before he was shot, because he had invested their life savings into a Swedish bank through a broker who turned out to be a fraudster.

Mr Lakha said: "Did you believe that had something to do with your husband's death?"

She replied: "I didn't believe anything. I just explained why I believed he was stressed."

A man wearing a latex mask posed as a street cleaner in the days before the shooting, Southwark Crown Court heard

The jury has heard that Mr Beqiri was hit by eight bullets as he was shot at 10 times.

Jurors have been shown footage of him and his wife approaching their front gate holding hands with their son. Gunfire is visible in the film as Mr Beqiri is shot in the back of the head.

Alleged gunman Mr Hemissi, 24, is said to have donned disguises, including latex masks and a litter-picker's outfit, to carry out reconnaissance in the days before the murder.

Mr Beqiri was shot dead on Battersea Church Road

Mr Hemissi, who flew to London on 20 December and left the UK to go to Denmark in the early hours of Christmas Day, was allegedly part of a team of four men from Sweden.

They are accused of planning Mr Beqiri's murder for about six months, before hiring locals to clean up after them once they had returned home.

Mr Hemissi and three other Swedish nationals deny murder. British national Clifford Rollox, 31, from Islington, north London, and Dutch national Claude Isaac Castor, deny perverting the course of justice.