Two members of the Outlaws biker gang have been convicted at Birmingham Crown Court of shooting dead Gerry Tobin, who belonged to the rival Hell’s Angel gang, as he rode at 90mph along the M40.

Simon Turner, 41, from Nuneaton, and Dane Garside, 42, from Coventry, were found guilty today of murdering Mr Tobin by firing shots at him from a car as he returned home from the Bulldog Bash bikers' festival last year.

The 35-year-old mechanic, from Mottingham in south-east London, was hit in the head as he rode his Harley-Davidson near Warwick services on August 12.

Mr Tobin died almost instantly from one of the two rounds fired at him - an attack arising purely from gang rivalry, prosecutors said.

Turner, who claimed in court that he was at a workshop in Coventry at the time of the killing, was also unanimously convicted of possessing two shotguns which were found in the city after the murder.

Garside is also accused of possessing shotguns, but a verdict has yet to be returned on that charge. He admitted during the eight-week trial that he was the driver of the Rover car from which Mr Tobin was shot, but denied playing any role in the killing.

Jurors have been told that the victim was targeted by members of the Outlaws motorcycle gang simply because he was a "fully patched" member of the rival Hell’s Angel gang. His killers had never met him and held no personal animosity towards him, simply carrying out a military-style "execution", the court heard.

Prosecutor Timothy Raggatt QC said at the start of the trial: “This wasn’t a case of a man being killed for any motive or for any personal reason.

“This was a man who was targeted not because of who he was, but because of what he was.”

It has been stressed that Mr Tobin, a Canadian, was a law-abiding citizen and devout Christian who had never been involved in any violence through his membership of the biker gang. His girlfriend, Rebecca Smith, who moved with him to Britain in the late 1990s, has said that they frequently used to discuss becoming missionaries as Mr Tobin wanted to deliver humanitarian assistance to people in developing countries.

During the trial, large crowds of bikers, some wearing denim and leather jackets emblazoned with the "Outlaws" insignia and with masks covering their faces, frequently descended on the court. Jurors were told that the evidence showed that the gang regarded Long Marston, where the Bulldog Bash was held, as its territory.

The jury, which heard seven weeks of evidence, has yet to return verdicts on four other defendants who face the same charges. Following the verdicts, Mr Justice Treacy sent the jury back out to continue its deliberations, which have so far taken more than 21 hours.

The judge also gave a majority direction to the jury, allowing the panel to return verdicts on which at least 10 of its members are agreed.

Malcolm Bull, 53, from Milton Keynes, and three other men from Coventry - Karl Garside, 45, Dean Taylor, 47, and 46-year-old Ian Cameron - face the same charges as Turner and Dane Garside.

A seventh defendant, 44-year-old Sean Creighton, pleaded guilty to murder before the trial began. The jury has been told that Creighton, from Coventry, also admitted two firearms charges.

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