A CONVICTED killer has denied plotting to murder a Bury man as part of a "deadly" gang war.

Mark Fellows, 40, has gone on trial at Manchester Crown Court accused of conspiring to murder Abdul Rahman Khan, who lives in the borough.

Khan and a second man, Aaron Williams, are said to have been targeted by Fellows and criminal associates due to their connections with gangland boss Paul Massey.

Fellows was convicted of the murder of Massey in July 2015, when he was gunned down outside his home.

Manchester Crown Court heard that Khan was shot and injured by two masked men who had ran up to his car and "started blasting".

Williams suffered injuries to his body, head and neck when confronted in the street in Irlam by balaclava-clad assailants armed with bladed weapons.

Prosecutor Jaime Hamilton QC told the court both failed attempts took place amid “gangland warfare” in Salford between the A Team, led by a man named Stephen Britton, and the Anti-A Team, headed by Michael Carroll, a former associate and friend of Britton.

He said: “It was a deadly war fought with lethal intent. At the heart of the dispute it only mattered which side you were on.”

On trial alongside Fellows is Warren Barnes, 32, from Radcliffe, and Liam Gee, of Prestwich, as well as Jamie Rothwell, 33, and Aaron Parkin, 32.

All are said to owe their allegiance to the Carroll gang at the time of their alleged involvement, the court heard.

He said the dispute started in January 2015 when A Team members used a chainsaw to remove the roof of a car belonging to Carroll’s ex-girlfriend, who was also threatened.

Tracker devices were then placed on Khan’s Mercedes and a VW Scirocco connected to Williams to trace their movements, the court heard.

A string of incidents between the two gangs followed, including the fatal shooting of Massey, 55, who had been in the company of Khan and Britton on the day he died.

Mr Hamilton said Khan was targeted shortly after midnight on February 18 as four shots were discharged, with three coming from the same weapon – probably a pump-action shotgun.

He said: “Mr Khan refused to provide a formal statement. However, he spoke with a police officer when being treated in hospital and told the officer he was sitting in his car when he saw two masked men run up and start blasting.”

A month later on March 23, Williams was discovered lying bleeding on the pavement after he was attacked with a machete, said the prosecutor.

Fellows, Rothwell, Parkin and and Gee deny conspiring with Carroll and others to murder Khan.

And Fellows, Rothwell, Parkin and Barnes deny conspiring with Carroll and others to murder Williams.

Parkin has pleaded guilty to alternative counts of conspiring to cause grievous bodily harm to Khan and Williams with intent.

Jurors were told Carroll fled to Spain in August 2015 and that several members of the A Team went there at the beginning of 2016 with the intention of tracking down and killing him.

The trial continues.