Man who hid drugs in Oxford court for murder gang jailed

Four of Saffon Fakir's co-defendants were jailed for murder last October

A man who tried to deal cannabis in Oxford Crown Court while on trial over a murder has been jailed.

Saffon Fakir, 27, was one of eight men charged in connection with the murder of Christopher Lemonius, who was attacked with a machete in Oxford.

He was on trial for perverting the course of justice when he left a 10g package of drugs in a bin inside toilets behind the court's dock.

Fakir's barrister said he "succumbed to pressure" from his co-defendants.

Fakir was recently released from prison after serving three months of a nine-month sentence for conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Judge Ian Pringle has now jailed him for a further six months for what he described as "a very serious offence".

A "savage, brutal and shocking" machete murder

Christopher Lemonius was found in an alley in Oxford

In October four members of a gang received life sentences after being convicted of murdering a 27-year-old man in a machete attack.

Christopher Lemonius suffered more than 80 injuries in the attack by the gang, who were also armed with golf clubs and bits of wood, in Oxford on 1 June.

The 27-year-old was killed after a confrontation between two groups outside the Premier Store in Blackbird Leys.

He was chased to a property in Jourdain Road before being dragged into an alley and beaten.

Carlos Spencer, Connor Woodward, Rashaun Stoute and Othman Lamzini were found guilty of murder.

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Fakir was on bail during the murder trial while other defendants were remanded in custody.

Prosecutor Jane Brady said Fakir went to the toilet in the defendant area and placed the package in a bin.

She said it was "likely to be placed by a bin for the collection of another".

The package was sausage-shaped so it could be hidden and brought into prison by one of his co-defendants, she added.

The attack happened in the Blackbird Leys area

Defence barrister Sumita Mahtab-Shaikh said Fakir "succumbed to pressure" and threats against his family from some of his co-defendants "already in prison".

She said: "[They said] if he called the police they would find out."

Judge Pringle said he accepted pressure was put on Fakir and his family, and that the BMW Mini plant worker was well thought of in his community.

But he added: "I must treat it as if you took that drug into prison, which is effectively what you did."

Fakir must also pay a victim surcharge.