A coroner has labelled witnesses of a mistaken identity shooting “shameful” for not coming forward to help police with their enquiries.
Married father Paul Foster, 46, was gunned down at the door of a friend’s home in Brunel Road, Luton, on April 9 2013 but after two years of investigations his killer has not yet been found.
A coroner’s inquest into Mr Foster’s death heard this morning that the 46-year-old’s death was the result of mistaken identity.
Beds Police detective sergeant Sam Khanna told the inquest that more than a thousand intelligence reports had been gathered, but reluctance within the Lewsey community to speak to police has hampered the probe.
He said: “All of the reports suggest Mr Foster was not the intended target of the shooting.
“We do not have the evidence we need, we need people who saw what happened to give us statements as we have exausted all lines of investigation.
“There would have been some planning around the shooting and there will be people who had contact with witnesses and suspects.
“I have no doubt that the answers lie out there in the community.”
During the inquest it was heard that Mr Foster was shot twice, once in the chest and once in the the leg.
After the incident three men drove the 46-year-old to Luton and Dunstable Hospital, where he was pronounced dead the next day.
A post mortem conducted by Dr Olaf Biedrzycki concluded that Mr Foster was most likely shot in the chest first,
A gunshot wound to the chest was given as Mr Foster’s cause of death.
It was heard that at the time of the shooting there were a number of people inside the Brunel Road address.
At the conclusion of the inquest senior coroner Tom Osborne slammed witnesses for failing to come forward.
He said: “The fact that there are people in the community that have information but have not come forward diminishes all of us.
“It is a shameful state of affairs.
“I make a further appeal for people to come forward even at this late stage.”
Following the inquest DS Khanna told the Herald & Post: “We are fairly confident we know what happened we just don’t know the reasons why or who is responsible for it.
“In terms of complexities there are one or two people who saw or knew what happened.
Them coming forward would allow us to convict those responsible.”
He added: “The overriding theme is that Mr Foster was not the intended target and that it was an error or mistaken identity.”
Last April Delaney Brown Snr, who is the uncle of Mr Foster’s widow Mandy, told the Herald & Post that the “despair is greater” because the killer has not been brought to justice.
He added: “There are several people in the community who know who pulled the trigger so we are appealing directly to them.
“They do not have to be in fear of reprisals as their identity will not come out.”