A businessman who tried to help a convicted killer get away with murder has been jailed. Khayam Khurshid was one of three men convicted of the murder of 18-year-old Cole Kershaw, a promising boxer who was shot dead in the street.
In the days after the fatal shooting, Dane Blaney provided police with a false alibi for Khurshid. Blaney, who previously ran a valeting business, also broke into a community centre and stole CCTV footage which would have disproved Khurshid's claimed alibi.
He falsely told police that Khurshid was in a car near to the Chesham Fold community centre at the time when Cole was gunned down, Manchester Crown Court heard. Cole was murdered on nearby Chesham Road, about half a mile away.
Khurshid, 29, Kamran Mohammed, 20, and Mohammed Izaarh Khan, 22, were all convicted of murder following a trial in May 2021, and handed life sentences. Now, Blaney, 26, has been jailed for three years after admitting perverting the course of justice and burglary.
The murder trial heard how Cole was shot as he tried to run away from a car crash following a chase. Prosecutors said he was gunned down amid a violent dispute between Kamran Mohammed and Cole's friend, Spencer Woods, with tensions rising between the two months before the killing, on August 12, 2020.
Cole was with Mr Woods at a house party when he spotted a BMW 5 Series, which Mohammed, Khan and Khurshid were travelling in, drive past the house. Moments later, Cole, Mr Woods and three other men left the party and climbed into Mr Woods' Ford Mondeo and began chasing the BMW.
At some point, the two cars switched positions and two shots were fired from the BMW. When the cars crashed in Chesham Road, Cole and the others got out of the Mondeo and tried to flee.
Mohammed then fired a further shot from the BMW, which struck Cole in the side of the chest. Prosecutors said Cole may not have been the target, saying it 'may well be that it was Mr Woods that was the intended target that night'.
Following the shooting, Khurshid fled the country and was arrested by armed police in Amsterdam as he tried to escape to Pakistan.
Blaney's lies to help convicted killer
During Blaney's sentencing last week, the court heard that there was a break in at Chesham Fold community centre five days after the killing.
When police visited the centre two days later, they found the CCTV system had been removed, prosecutor Tom Storey said. Blood was found at the centre and DNA tests showed it belonged to Blaney.
Blaney also gave a false alibi for Khurshid to police investigating the killing. Defending, Oliver Jarvis said it was a 'watershed' moment for Blaney, who is married and whose first child was born while he was on remand in custody awaiting sentence.
Sentencing, Recorder Imran Shafi KC told Blaney: "This was not any ordinary burglary, seeking to obtain goods of value. It was not financially motivated and the sole motive and purpose was to retrieve the CCTV system, that's where the gravamen of this offence lies.
"The fact that you burgled those premises and took the CCTV meant that the evidence could not be corroborated or undermined." Speaking of the alibi, the judge added: "By pleading guilty to that today you accept that that was false.
"Thankfully the course of justice was not perverted and so the killers of Cole Kershaw were brought to justice, and his family can have solace in that your actions did not get in the way of securing justice for Mr Kershaw. That is not to say that your offending was not serious, it was incredibly serious."
Blaney, of Wolstenholme Avenue, Bury, was also sentenced for leading police on a high speed chase for about eight miles through Bury, reaching 80mph in a 30mph zone and speeds of 100mph on the M66. He pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, burglary, dangerous driving, drink driving, possession of cocaine, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance and being in breach of a suspended sentence.
Blaney will serve half of his three year sentence in prison. He has already spent 13 months in custody so is expected to serve a further five months before being released.
Greater Manchester Police said Blaney's mugshot could not be released as he is expected to be released in five months. The force usually releases custody images when defendants are jailed for a year or more.
In May 2021 Mohammed, of Kingsdale Close, Bury, was sentenced to life in prison to serve a minimum term of 27 years. Khayam Khurshid, of Eton Hill Road, Bury, was also jailed for at least 27 years. Mohammed Izaarh Khan, of Palace Street, Bury, was ordered to serve 24 years.
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