Hitman guilty of shooting dead Real Housewives of Cheshire star's brother Flamur Beqiri

A Swedish hitman has been found guilty of murdering a reality television star’s brother in Battersea in a tit-for-tat gang war.

Flamur Beqiri, 36, whose sister Misse Beqiri appeared in the Real Housewives Of Cheshire, was shot dead on his doorstep in southwest London, in front of his wife and two-year-old son on Christmas Eve 2019.

Beqiri, a kingpin in an international drugs gang, was targeted as part of a feud with a rival organised crime group headed by Amir Mekky, 24.

The gunman, professional kickboxer Anis Hemissi, 24, was found guilty of murder and possession of a firearm at Southwark Crown Court on Friday after a two-month trial.

Hemissi had earlier disguised himself as a litter picker to carry out reconnaissance, as part of a meticulous six months of planning for the shooting, the court heard.

He was wearing a latex mask when he opened fire 10 times with a pistol, hitting Beqiri with eight bullets from behind.

Fellow Swedish national Estevan Pino-Munizaga, 35, was acquitted of murder but found guilty of an alternative charge of manslaughter.

Tobias Andersson, 32, and Bawer Karaer, 23, also from Sweden, were acquitted of both charges.

Clifford Rollox, 31, from Islington, north London, and Dutch national Claude Isaac Castor, 31, from Sint Maarten in the Caribbean, were found guilty of perverting the course of justice after being hired locally to clean up the flat where the killers had stayed.

They were seen removing a large suitcase on Christmas Day, but police were on the scene before they could finish the job and evidence recovered included a ripped up flight ticket stub including Hemissi’s name.

Tap above to see Anis Hemissi dressed as a street cleaner, wearing a latex mask, sunglasses and high-vis work clothes, holding a litter picker and bin bag

Beqiri, who was also dad to a three-month-old baby, had installed a top-of-the-range CCTV system in his £1.7 million Battersea townhouse, which captured his brutal killing.

A trawl of other CCTV footage in the area in the days after the shooting meant detectives could trace Hemissi on foot, then by bicycle from the scene of the shooting on Battersea Church Road, down the Thames path, to a flat in Oyster Wharf.

Metropolitan Police Detective Sergeant Brett Skowron said that the defendants underestimated how much CCTV there is throughout London.

"We think they would never have thought that we would actually have been able to track them as far back to that flat in the first place.

"That’s because in Sweden they have much less CCTV due to the restrictions of what it can be used for."

Another error was made by Pino-Munizaga when he bought a distinctive green bicycle with a basket on the front, to be used by the gunman in reconnaissance.

It was the common "stepover" design ridden by men and women in Sweden but Skowron said that in the UK the bike was designed for women and would "stand out when you see a male riding it".

Additionally, Hemissi aroused suspicions when he was disguised as a litter picker because he was cleaning both a private estate and a council road.

Dog walker Jeremy Lyons asked the hitman: “Excuse me, who do you work for? Who do you work for?”

Hemissi walked off as he was told: "Get away from this estate please."

The Crown Prosecution Service said the case was one of the "most complex" prosecutions in recent years and involved extensive international liaison with Swedish Police and Prosecutors.

Senior Crown Prosecutor Louise Attrill said: "This was a shocking, cold-blooded and brutal murder of a man in front of his young family on Christmas Eve. The intention was clear – to kill.

"Flamur Beqiri was gunned down on his doorstep in front of his wife and two-year-old child. Multiple shots were fired at close range. The murder was deliberately carried out in a way that would cause maximum terror and trauma given the date, place and circumstances.

"The prosecution case included CCTV footage, telephone evidence, and eye-witness testimony. But the trail of evidence led through Europe – and in particular to Sweden.

"The roots of this horrifying violence stemmed from an organised crime gang war in Sweden. Something we had to work with our international colleagues to piece together."

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb said she will sentence those found guilty next Friday 18 February.