Lord Patten's son-in-law involved in shooting at Indian restaurant
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Lord Patten of Barnes’s son-in-law was involved in a shooting at an Indian restaurant in a plot to terrorise its owners, a jury has found.
Elton Charles, 51, who is married to the daughter of the former Hong Kong governor, was convicted for his part in the shooting at the PBK curry house in Greenford, west London.
The court previously heard how the prosecution suggested Charles had acted as the getaway driver, and had helped his half-brother to carry out the attack.
As the verdicts were read out at Kingston Crown Court on Tuesday following a five-week long trial, his wife Laura, 48, put her head in her hands and wept.
Jurors took seven hours to convict Charles of conspiracy to possess a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence.
He was convicted alongside co-defendants Nicolas Grant, 46, and Lee Morgan, 42.
His half brother, Nathaniel St Aimie, previously pleaded guilty to the same charge.
During the trial, jurors were shown CCTV footage of a hooded gunman getting out of a white Volkswagen van on Sept 6 last year before walking towards the restaurant and opening fire.
Prosecutors said it was only by sheer “good fortune” that none of the diners were killed by the shotgun which shattered the window.
Footage showed one customer moving to protect their child from the gunshot and Judge Jonathan Davies praised them for their courage.
Charles told the court that on the day of the shooting he had received texts from his brother on a burner phone telling him he had some marijuana for him and to meet him in Greenford.
Charles claimed he had left his family home to smoke cannabis with St Aimie as “his wife didn’t like him smoking”.
He added: “My wife doesn’t like me smoking cannabis and she definitely doesn’t like me smoking that in the house.”
After the pick-up, Charles claimed he was asked by his brother to “hang about”.
He claimed he knew nothing about the shooting and said he was shocked to be arrested.
Charles said his West Indian single-parent mother raised him and six other siblings. After finishing school at 16, he got a job in painting and decorating.
Following his high-profile marriage in 2002 he became the building manager for the Groucho club in Soho.
Giving evidence, he said: “I managed the building and we had 20 exclusive bedrooms. I worked there for six years.”
He said his wife, had previously worked as a beauty journalist for Tatler but has “been a Pilates instructor for some years”.
‘Devoted friends’
The couple are understood to have met in the mid-1990s and were “devoted” friends for years before announcing their engagement in June 2001.
Charles told the court he and his wife earned around £120,000 a year and had a £1.5 million home with a mortgage.
Laura’s father, Chris Patten, was elected to Parliament in 1979 as MP for Bath before he was unseated in 1992.
Later that year he was made the 28th and final governor of Hong Kong.
His five-year tenure ended in July 1997 after the transfer of sovereignty to China.
He was made a life peer in 2005 and has been Chancellor of the University of Oxford since 2003.
The defendants were released on conditional bail and will appear in court on Sept 15 for sentencing.
