A STUDENT asked his friend if he knew where to get a gun the day before he was found tied up and beaten to death at a Bolton beauty spot, a court heard.

Umair Waseem, aged 22, of Fern Street, Deane, was found dead in a car park at Anglezarke Reservoir, near Rivington, with his legs tied together and his hands tied behind his back.

Asim Khan, one of three people accused of conspiring to murder Mr Waseem, told Manchester Crown Court yesterday that Mr Waseem said he wanted a gun the day before he died.

Khan told the court: “He said: ‘Could you find out for me where I can get a gun or who I can get one off?’”

Khan explained that some of his friends from Bolton had become drug dealers since he moved to London, and Mr Waseem thought he might know someone who could get hold of a gun.

He said: “All I can presume is that it was because there is a close-knit Asian community and I know quite a few people in that area.

“Umair was a confused young lad because of his change of lifestyle. I told him to go and talk to the police if he had any problems.”

The court heard that Khan had brokered a deal between Mr Waseem and the families of two men who had been involved in an earlier attack on him.

Under the alleged deal, they would hand over £10,000 in return for Mr Waseem refusing to give evidence against them.

The prosecution alleges that Khan and another man, Faisal Aslam, were at the scene when Mr Waseem was “brutally murdered” last February.

Khan, aged 27, of Radcliffe Road, Bolton, and Aslam, aged 24, of Clarendon Road, Whalley Range, Manchester, deny conspiracy to murder.

Aroon Asad, aged 21, of Vaughan Road, Chorlton, also denies conspiracy to murder.

The case continues.

julian.thorpe@theboltonnews.co.uk