M25 MURDER

Traveller battered to death with plasterer’s whisk at M25 service station was ‘killed by his COUSINS’

Quhey Saunders suffered catastrophic head injuries during the fight at Cobham service station in Surrey

A TRAVELLER killed at an M25 service station was the cousin of the two men who battered him to death, a jury heard yesterday.

Quhey Saunders stopped to buy drinks when Simon Baker, 22, and Mikey Coyle, 21 – looking for a row – spotted him, it's said.

The 20-year-old was hit with a metal plasterer’s whisk and died in hospital from a serious head injury, the court was told.

Quhey’s uncle Paddy Connor – on his way back from a wedding with him – witnessed the fight at Cobham services on the M25 on June 26.

He said he spotted Baker and Coyle's van and then noticed the pair who he had not seen for years in the shop.

"They are related to Quhey by my father's side," he told the Old Bailey yesterday.

"They are second cousins he explained.

"I walked up to them. I asked if everything was okay and they said ‘yes’."

But Paddy said an argument broke out and when asked what caused it he added: “I haven't the foggiest clue..

"I turned round and I heard my wife shouting: ‘Call the police.’

Quhey ripped his top off and Paddy continued: “There was a fight. I tried to stop it.

"I said to them: '’You're cousins, you're related.’

He said he tried to restrain Coyle but was kicked in the head and left dizzy.

He then said he saw Baker and Coyle grab a shovel and the plasterer's whisk from their van

He shouted: 'Boys, I know your family, please stop it.'

Quhey was smacked over the head with the whisk, the court was told.

Paddy added: “I went running into the shop. I said: 'You dirty b******s, what did you do that for?’

"Quhey was out cold. He was lying face down."

The jury was played CCTV in the lead up to the fight.

Baker and Coyle - also travellers - both deny murder.

The trial continues.

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