THE partner of a man killed in a 'gangland-style execution' - said to have been planned out in Bolton - believed his death could have been connected to his cannabis farm activities.

Hemwand Ali Hussain was lured to his death in Hartlepool by a rival drugs gang, including a Bolton man, and blasted to the head with a sawn-off shotgun, jurors heard.

Jennifer Buller told police investigating the murder how the 30-year-old had received a telephone call on the Saturday when he was killed and he left the shop they ran together.

In a pre-recorded police interview, the mother-of-two was asked if she could think of anything or anyone who would want to see her partner killed.

The officer asked: "It there any other reason that he could have been murdered?"

She replied: "No, this is the only thing."

The officer then asked her if she was sure, she replied: "That is the only thing I can think of. There is no other reason."

Ms Buller's father, Craig, told how Mr Hussain had spent the night before his murder sleeping in a shed on a piece of land he owned on the outskirts of Stockton.

The witness told jurors how he he got the impression that 'Hamo' didn't want to be at the site with him.

Francis Fitzgibbon QC, prosecuting, asked Mr Buller: "Did he say why he didn't want you to be there, if that was the sense that you got?"

He replied: "No he never."

When asked how Mr Hussain appeared, the witness replied: "He was just very quiet and seemed different from normal."

Earlier in the trial the jury heard how Mr Hussain was involved in running cannabis farms in and around the Hartlepool area and had been lured to Charterhouse Street to inspect another potential site.

Anxelo Xhaferi, Noza Saffari, Dorian Pirija and Qazim Marku are all charged with Mr Hussain's murder.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the father-of-two was shot dead within minutes of arriving in Hartlepool where he met some of the men charged with his murder.

A statement from a paramedic, who attended the scene, was read out to the jury who heard how Mr Hussain's body was discovered inside the house in a pool of blood and brain matter.

Jurors had been told that Mr Hussain suffered a fatal gunshot wound to head within minutes of arriving at the terraced property in Hartlepool.

CCTV and mobile phone records were used by detectives to identify a number of men seen running away from the scene, which includes some men still being hunted by police.

One of the cars involved in transporting the alleged killers to and from Hartlepool for the 'assassination' was found burnt out near Mount Grace Priory in North Yorkshire.

Xhaferi, 24, of Acton Street, Middlesbrough; Saffari, 39, of Park Lane, Middlesbrough; 33-year-old Pirija, of Trillo Avenue, Bolton; and Qazim Marku, 24, of West Drayton, all deny murder.

The trial continues.